Having already judged 12 photography competitions, I know that every year thousands upon thousands of avid photographers enter various digital photography contests across the globe. While each of these contests may vary in theme, number of applicants and popularity, they all have one underlying characteristic in common, and that is that each of them will have their winners and their losers. There are a number of ways you can increase your chances of taking home first prize such as ensuring you thoroughly read through the rules of the competition, practicing and improving your technical ability, researching past winners and adding your own unique personality and charisma to your photos. This article will explore a few of the most effective ways you can increase your potential of winning just about any digital photography contest.You’ll find that each digital photography competition has it’s own set of terms and conditions that applicants must abide by. A good use of a contestants time is to thoroughly read through the rules and regulations of the contest before submitting their entry, you might be surprised by some of the terms that are imposed. For example, I once entered a competition in Europe whereby only one photo was allowed per contestant. Had I not have known this, I could have wasted a large amount of my time taking and entering other photos, when that time could have been valuably spent making my one entry as technically fantastic as possible!As you may know, judges place great value on technical ability and any kind of mediocrity may very well get your shot eliminated in the very early stages of the contest. Sharpness is one of the most important technical elements to think about, your photo should be in focus and perfectly sharp, if it’s even slightly blurry – take another one. Exposure is the other most important technical detail to consider and one you should place great emphasis on. Your captured image should show colors in perfect clarity, if it doesn’t – try taking another one. You have to strive for the very best you possibly can and if you find yourself running out of ideas, you can always try looking at past winners entries as a good form of inspiration.Although the judges may vary from year to year, the fact holds true that a photograph that wins a contest out of hundreds, if not thousands of entries is usually a pretty good one. This is why researching the previous years winning entry can be a valuable and effective way of stimulating some good ideas. This does NOT mean completely copying the winning photo from four or five years ago in the hope that the judges may have forgotten about it. Judges of photo competitions are usually very passionate about photography and will more than likely spot a plagiarised entry from a mile off. A good way to come up with a good photo from looking at past winners is to mimic something subtle you like about the photo whilst adding your own personality to the image, making it your own.Standing out from a crowd of lots of similar entries may seem difficult, but it is very much a requirement if you wish to win any digital photography contest. Technically brilliant photos that lack emotion, personality and a ‘soul’ will always end up at the bottom of the pile, whereas photos that might not technically be as good, but tell a story and connect with the viewer, these are the photos that judges are always on the look-out for.As you can probably tell by now there are many different aspects that go into taking and creating a contest-winning photograph, but by following the above advice you will have a strong advantage over the majority of the other applicants mediocre and plain entries and in no time you should be rolling in the glory of winning your first digital photography contest.
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12 Fabulous Websites for Web Design Portfolios
Since the Internet has grown so much, so has the number of web designers and web developers, so sometimes it can be hard to get attention. It’s better not to focus on all the competition and rather, place your focus on your portfolio and what you can do to get more attention. One really great way to get the attention you deserve is to showcase your portfolio on web design or art sites.Below is a list of 12 websites that are awesome for showcasing your portfolio.1. 50up.net50up is more for the design student or new designers. They have an attractive layout and there isn’t a lot of advertisement clutter. The site is easy to use and very easy to navigate, plus it’s free. They have also made available a “fresh list” so that all the best works are featured.2. CargoCollective.comCargo showcases those who are creative at heart. The site is complete ad free, simple and has easy templates to use. They also have a feature for fans and clients to “follow” the works that they best like.3. PimpArtworks.comPimpArtWorks keeps the urban style alive which is a great place for both photographers and street artists to showcase their work. The site is free, easy to use and offers tools to share on social networking sites. You may also choose to sell your work through the site.4. Coroflot.comCoroflot showcases all different types of design works from the web to print. It is said that it’s the largest and oldest site for showcasing design portfolios. This site is also easy to use, free and offers tools for sharing your works. Your account will allow unlimited uploads for you work.5. FigDig.comFigDig uses HD quality showcasing for designers. Figdig uses a 1223c792 HD resolution which can really make your work jump off the page. Another neat feature they offer is that viewers can download your work in a PDF format as a sample. If your portfolio is well received on their site, they may also induct you into their “Hall of Fame.” This recognition is by far incomparable to other design sites.6. DeviantArt.ComIf your designs encompass fantasy or 3D art, deviantart is one of the best showcasing sites available. When you create an account, you get a personal URL and can collaborate and critique with other users. It’s also free to use.7. Vimeo.comVimeo is specific to motion graphic designers. The site has original content and it is simple to use. Each week you will receive 500MB of upload space. They also offer several tools for showcasing your work.8. Flickr.comFlickr is operated and owned by Yahoo.com so you’ll have to sign up for a yahoo email account. Flickr is a really great place for photographers to showcase works, but also is equally well received amongst graphic designers. They offer editing online and tagging features. Flickr operates similarly to search engine sites, but with the results being users. They also encourage connecting with others and they offer embedding features.9. Behance.netBehance is a very clean and popular social networking platform for many designers. It also encourages feedback and collaborations with other designers and visitors.10. Society6.comSociety6 is a place for designers to showcase their illustration design portfolios and is completely free to use. It’s somewhat similar to Flickr except there are no advertisements. It’s is very community-oriented and works hard to focus on the promotion of those who join their site.11. NOTCOT.orgNotcot is more of a site to market your portfolio vs. showcasing it. You are able to upload one image from your portfolio and then add a link to your entire portfolio. It actually tends to be a really great site for networking and gaining new client interest.12. Flavors.meFlavors is actually a really cool site and takes your accounts from other sites and incorporates them into one. Sites they include are Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, Tumblr, and Netflix. They offer several customization features so that creating a portfolio is fun and easy to do.Now that you have an awesome list of designer portfolio sites, there should be no reason not to give them a try. Get out there and start showcasing your web design portfolio.
Project Management – The Risks
No project is ever without risks, but it is the nature and complexity of the project that are likely to determine the impact of the risks on the overall success of the project. But whether the project is small or large, simple or complex, an effective risk management strategy will minimise the impact if, and when, the risks occur. In order to manage the risks it is necessary to identify and analyse them both before the project starts and throughout the lifecycle of the project.The main tasks involved in Risk Management are:
Creating a Risk Management Plan which will assist in identifying and analysing the risks, monitoring the risks and responding to them.
Establishing and maintaining a Risk Log listing the risks and their severity. This is a useful document not only for monitoring the risks but also for communicating the risks to all the stakeholders.
Analysing the probability of each risk occurring and its impact at task level and on the overall project in terms of deliverables and scheduling
Developing a strategy for responding to risks that occur
Including contingency funds and building time contingency into the Project ScheduleRisk Management is not only the responsibility of the Project Manager but also of the stakeholders as they have a vested interest in the project being successfully completed. So the stakeholders should also be aware of all the risks identified and the plan that is put in place to manage and mitigate them.There are common causes of risk that are easily identifiable in many projects, such as:
Skilled members of the project team leave during the project
Equipment Failure
Business decisions and agreements not reached in good time
Poorly managed customer expectations
A lack of clarity in the business requirements document
Inaccurate estimates
Technology limitations such as performance or capacity issues
Poor communication between customer and providerBut the Risk Management Plan must also be flexible enough to deal with those risks that could not have been predicted and so were not identified before they occurred. It is very often the strategy that is used to deal with these unexpected risks that determines the ultimate success of a project.For all the risks that have been identified either prior to the project starting or during the project the project manager would typically have determined a solution. These risks can potentially cause delays to the schedule and prevent the delivery of a task but are relatively easily managed by an experienced project manager with good management and communication skills.There are various ways to respond to a risk that has occurred but the most common ways are:Accept- the risk can be accepted, in which case the project manager will have to persuade the customer that the schedule, budget or deliverables will not be met. The customer will have to accept such deviations if the project is to be deemed a success.Transfer- if the risk that has occurred is such that a particular task, feature or function cannot be delivered then it could be transferred to a future project thereby deferring the need to deal with it in the present. This response would require handling through a formal change management process.Mitigate- it may be possible to provide an acceptable workaround that will minimise or eliminate the issue.It is worth noting that risks can occasionally have a positive effect and can actually lead to improvements or enhancements to the project that had not been considered at the outset.The Risk Management Plan will also include prioritisation of the project risks and ranking them in relation to the budget, the project schedule and the deliverables. The ranking will recognise that some project risks could be acceptable while some are unacceptable and would require a feasible solution.Risks will never be eliminated from a project but it is possible to lessen the impact of risks by learning from the experiences of both your own projects and others. It is extremely valuable to document the lessons learned from a project to improve the process of risk management on future projects.Managing risks within a project is necessary to keep the project on track and these are essential skills for a project manager. The ability to accurately identify and measure risks in a project and how to respond to predicted and unknown risks can be learnt on professional project management courses in recognised methodologies such as APMP, PRINCE2 and PMP.