Picture Frames Express Blog

Archive for the ‘Photo Competition’ Category

March 5, 2013

Picture Frames Express Photo Competition – A Year On

This month marks a full year since our very first photography competition and it’s been a busy year, we’ve had thousands of entries from hundreds of people. Our Facebook community has grown to over 5,000 many of whom or extremely talented photographers and artists. Below is a recap of all of our fantastic winners over the past year.

March 2012 – Ian Mayou

April 2012 - Kayleigh Parsons-Matcham

May 2012 – Martin Munn

June 2012 – Brigitte Spencer

September 2012 – Sarah Booton

October 2012 – Kerri Bartup

January 2013 – Ellie Street

February 2013 – Tim Matthews

If you thought we were going to stop there you would be very mistaken, the photo competition continues this March with the theme “Step into Spring”. Get your photos of all things Spring submitted via the competition tab on our Facebook page for your chance to win up to £200 in vouchers to spend on our site and join the exclusive club occupied by the few talented men and women mentioned above.

That’s not all; we also have a whole host of other great promotions and competitions in the pipeline. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Google+ to ensure you get all of your Picture Frames Express updates in a timely manner!

November 15, 2012

October 2012 Photo Competition Winners

The October competition saw some great takes on the theme of “friendship” and making a decision on a winner proved very difficult for our judging panel.

Winner – Kerri Bartup

Friendship isn’t just a human thing as this photo proves and we couldn’t find a photo that showed it any better. We thought that colours worked really well too, with no distractions from the subject. Well done Kerri!

Runner Up – Faye Thompson

Our runner up is another great photo this time showing the bond between a girl and her dog. We felt the picture stuck to the theme very well and was made better by the bright colours and sun shining through the leaves in the trees.

Thank you again to everyone who took part in the October competition. You can see the top 20 entries on our Facebook page and stay tuned for something a little different in the run up to Christmas!

October 18, 2012

September 2012 Photo Competition Winners

September saw the return of our Facebook photography competition by popular demand. There was no theme this time to get us going again and received some excellent entries in all sorts of different styles.

Winner – Sarah Booton

Well cow about that, our winner for this month, unanimously decided by our judges is Sarah Booton with her photo “How Now Brown Cow”. We found it really amoosing and love the vibrant blue sky in contrast with the cow.

Runner Up – Donna Turbitt

Our runner up for September with her fantastic photo of this windmill at Lytham is Donna Turbitt. We really like the grey scale tones and shadows.

You can view the full top 20 entries from September or enter our October competition on our Facebook page.


July 11, 2012

June 2012 Photo Competition Winners

We are pleased to announce that the very deserving winner of our June photography competition is Brigitte Spencer from Whitwick with this excellent photo of her two sisters having a water fight.

Not only does it show great technical merit and timing but we think it captures perfectly the ‘Sights of Summer’. It was in fact the first unanimous decision for our judging panel since we’ve been running this competition!

The runner-up this month is Claudia Esposito-Edge from Leicester with another great example of ‘Sights of Summer’.

We love the vibrant colours and the composition in the shot with the flowers taking focus offset against clean, bright backdrop. As always all of the entries and the top 20 are available to view on our Facebook page.

As you may know by now the June competition will be the last (at least for a while) and we would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone once again for taking part over the last few months. We hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have!

Be sure to let us know on our Facebook page if you think the photo competition should make a return in the next few months or if you have any ideas for other competitions or promotions we could run. You can head over to Facebook or Twitter right now to enter our Amazon Kindle Touch prize draw!

 

July 4, 2012

Amazon Kindle Touch Prize Draw

We recently announced on our Facebook page that the June photography competition would be the last for a while and now that it has ended we would just like to say a big thank you to all of you that have entered.

Over the last five months we have had hundreds and hundreds of entries for all of the different themes and some fantastic winners, all of which can be seen in our past blog posts. Keep your eyes fixated on our Facebook page for the next few days to find out if you won the June competition.

Whether or not the photography competition will come back we won’t say for sure right now but we take all of your feedback on board and if there’s enough demand you can be pretty sure it will happen.

As a thank you to all of our followers on our social networks and to attract a few more to join in the great conversations, we are announcing another promotion. We would like to give one lucky follower on Facebook or Twitter an Amazon Kindle Touch.

Entry opens today and runs through until 31st August. You can enter simply by following the instructions on Facebook or on Twitter.

Good luck to everyone and thank you again for continuing to support Picture Frames Express!

 

June 15, 2012

May 2012 Photography Competition

The theme for our May photography competition was ‘Pets & Animals’ and all of the entries were excellent. We had cats, dogs, farm animals, insects, birds of prey and everything in between. Thank you once again to everyone that took part this month, we hope you’re still enjoying it as much as we are!

Congratulations to our winner this time around, Martin Munn from Smallfield, with his picture of “Dan the stupid donkey”. He takes the top prize of £200 worth of picture frame vouchers!

The contrast of the colours between Dan and the sky looks great and the focus on his face makes it really stick out. In addition to it being a well taken photo we love the element of humour. We can’t help but chuckle every time we see it!

Our runner up and winner of £50 worth of picture frames is Sarah Buckmaster from Wadebridge for her excellent action shot of a dog running on the beach.

We love to see a well done action shot. There were a few good ones this month but this was definitely one of the best. The timing is perfect with all 4 paws off the floor and the ears flying up to meet perfectly in the middle.

We would also like to give an honourable mention to our very close third place choice of an “inquisive pig” from Dan Skinner who unfortunately wont win a prize but it was a brilliant photo nonetheless. You can see all of the entries and the top 20 on our Facebook page.

The June competition is already up and running and we’ve had plenty of top notch entries so far. Since the weather has been picking up recently the theme for this month is ‘Sights of Summer’. You can enter on our Facebook page and as always full details are available in our updated blog post.

 

May 14, 2012

April 2012 Photography Competition Winners

We would like to congratulate Kayleigh Parsons-Matcham from Oakhill, the winner of our April photography competition ‘The Great Outdoors’ with her photo ‘Winter Trees of Yorkshire’. She will win £200 worth of picture frames.

 

 

We really liked the colour tones in the picture and thought that it encapsulated the theme very well. The road going into the fog in the distance gives it a great sense of depth and the leafless trees make a great focal point.

We would also like to congratulate the runner-up of the April competition, Victoria Christie from Leeds for her photo of Ennerdale Water. She will win £50 worth of picture frames.

 

We think it captures perfectly how beautiful the British outdoors can be on a sunny day. We especially liked the reflection of the hills and rocks in the water and the range of blues in the sky.

Thank you once more to everyone who took part in the competition. All of the entries were excellent and we were very pleased with the final ten which can be seen in an album on our Facebook page. Be sure to enter our May photography competition. The theme this time is ‘Pets & Animals’, see our updated blog post for full details.

April 20, 2012

Advice For Taking Good Photographs – Part Two

As the photo competition continues to grow from strength to strength entrants will have noticed the competition has been split into themes. In honour of this month’s ‘The Great Outdoors’ theme we have focused this blog post towards taking a great shot outdoors that will be worthy of framing in one of our picture frames.

Landscapes can be tricky to get right, so the key is to practice and experiment to see what works for you.

Keep any horizon shots level within the photograph. It can be tempting to make the shot look ‘edgy ’ but the shot might also look crooked.

If there is a focal point for the viewer to look at, experiment with moving this point to the edge of the frame, rather than making it a centre point.

Look for different angles in which to take your photo. Standing is a common angle, so why not try changing the camera position to lying on the ground for an eye level view, or shooting a scene looking up from the ground. There are lots of different ideas to work with depending on the landscape you are photographing. You could get a bird’s eye view shot if you have a head for heights. Seeing a scene from another perspective often captures interest.

Avoid leaving empty space in a landscape photograph. If there is no point to focus on, make sure the image still have different and contrasting lines to look at. For example, if you want to capture a skyline and there is a point of interest, like a building or tree, this will stand out and look pleasing.  If the shot is simply too sparse and has no lines or focal point the photograph will end up with too much empty space and nothing else.

Use both portrait and landscape angles, with the camera on its side. A landscape shot can take on a different angle and perspective using a portrait shot.

Hopefully, the above tips have provided inspiration to get you out there into the great outdoors and begin taking some great photos that you can enter into our April photograph competition.

Photo credit: Steve Picton

April 5, 2012

March 2012 Photography Competition Winner

Congratulations to Ian Mayou from Penzance, the winner of our March Photography Competition and the £250 framing voucher.

His lovely picture of a rainbow landing on the Brisons just off Porth Nanven Cove in Cornwall really caught our eye and we think it’s a worthy winner. The timing of the shot is fantastic to capture the waves crashing against the rocks and the picture has fantastic depth drawing the eye towards the rainbow and Brisons in the distance.

There were so many fantastic entries it was an almost impossible decision. We want to thank you all for your entries and wish that they could all have won. Here are the rest of our top five in no particular order:

 

There were a lot of pictures of very cute pets but we particularly like this one from Gillian Lloyd in East Grinstead. We really love the colour in the background and who could help but fall in love with this little dog?

 

This picture of ‘Elizabeth and Goliath’ is another of our favourites. We love how Rickie Hart has taken the shot from low down to accentuate the size difference between the little girl and the horse and the bright blue sky makes the rest of the image really stand out.

 

We love this picture of Buach Etive Mor but its the vivid colours of the Union Jack and Scottish flag that really made it jump out to us. Thank you to Billy Kinnear from Glencoe.

 

Last but not least is this fantastic action shot from Twitter user @GemmaMurrelPho. The thick reeds in the background really make the heron stand out and we love the water trail that it leaves behind as it takes flight.

Thank you again for all your entries, we really enjoyed looking through them all and picking a winner was no easy task. Please enter our April photography competition on our Facebook page, this time we have an additional runner-up prize to give you an extra chance to win.

 

 

February 21, 2012

Picture Frames Express Photo Competition (June: Sights of Summer!)

 

June Theme: Sights of Summer!

Thank you to everyone who entered and voted on the May competition. It was great to see how creative some of you were with the shots of your pets and animals, and most of them were just plain cute!

Facebook

Entries will need to be submitted via Facebook. You will find the competition tab on the right hand side of our Facebook page just below the large cover image. Alternatively, you can enter the competition page directly by clicking here.

Once you have ‘Liked’ the Picture Frames Express Facebook page you will be able to upload your entry directly via the entry form. The theme for this month is ‘Sights of Summer’. You can do whatever you want within the area of this theme and we’ll be fairly lenient with regards to what is acceptable.

The top voted on and 10 of our own favourites from the rest will make a final shortlist of 20. The winner and runner-up will then be chosen objectively by someone with no knowledge of how the pictures arrived in the shortlist or how many votes are associated with each one. We think this is the fairest way to give everyone a chance of winning.

Closing Date

This month’s competition closes at midnight on 31st May 2012. Winners will be announced within 14 days and a number of runners up will be featured on our blog.

You have full creative freedom over your photos as long as they are of the correct theme and not in breach of the terms and conditions. We are excited to see your camera skills, so submit your photos now, and remember this it’s only one entry per person.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the competion open to entrants outside the UK?

A: No, we can only accept entries from UK residents – sorry.

Q: I’m having trouble voting. What is the problem?

A: There is a known issue with Safari on Mac computers. We recommend trying a different web browser or computer. Apologies for the inconvenience. If you’re not on a Mac, signing out of Facebook and back in should fix any problems.

 

This competition is featured on:

Loquax Competitions
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