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.

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

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.

This month has seen the start of our Picture Frames Express Photo Competition so in honour of that we thought we would start a new series of blog posts offering tips and advice on taking great photos to hopefully give you some inspiration.

Part One – Composition

When taking a photo, the composition refers to the placement of elements within the image to put together the most visually pleasing image possible. There are many factors that have an impact on the composition of a photo such as positioning, lighting, colour, perspective and contrast. Professional photographers will take all these factors into account when taking their photographs but there are some tips that people can take on board no matter whether they do photography as a hobby or just use their cameras on family outings. Here’s a look at composition tips that will help you create great photos to display proudly in a picture frame.

Lines that occur naturally can help create direction in your photos.

Different directions give different feelings, for example slanting lines imply movement, curved lines are calming and converging lines create the sense of distance.

Repeating items create a sense of rhythm and this can be broken by an odd or missed element.

To create more interesting compositions consider using the rule of thirds. This means imagining guidelines over the image and positioning elements where the lines cross and not in the centre. Find out more about the rule of thirds.

Your eyes are drawn to what is in focus in an image. Most cameras have auto-focus which focuses on what is in the centre of the frame but this can be changed to focus away from the centre.

Zooming plays an important part in composition with zooming in allowing you to isolate certain elements and zooming out capturing the whole view. Make sure to utilise the optical zoom and not digital zoom on your camera as digital zoom can reduce the quality of your photo.

May Theme: Pets & Animals

Thank you to everyone who entered and voted on the April competition. Again, we were very pleased with the level of interest and hope it keeps up in the coming months. The rules of the competition will remain largely unchanged this month after a number of improvements last time around.

Voting will stay in place but in addition to the top 10 voted on pictures, we will select 10 of our own favourites from the rest to 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.

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 ‘Pets & Animals’. You can do whatever you want within the area of this theme.

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.

This competition is featured on:

Loquax Competitions
Competitions – UK
Photography Competitions
ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions
Win Free Stuff
CompetitionsToday.co.uk
Competitions Time

The Sony World Photography Awards has gained interest from budding photographers everywhere.  The 2012 competition opened on the 1st June 2011 and closed on the 12th January 2012.  The judging process takes place during January and the shortlist announced on the 2nd February.

There are several categories to choose from, so there is plenty of scope to practice and aim to take the best picture possible. This year has seen worldwide interest and with over 112,000 entries from over 171 countries it is no wonder it takes a while to sift through the entries.

The winners of the 10 individual and diverse categories are announced at the gala event which is held in London this April.  There might be a budding photographer within all of us and if you enjoy the process of the taking photographs there is the opportunity to enter for the 2013 competition.

Even if you decide on another year, why not still frame your photographs in a stylish picture frame for all your friends and family to see. Who knows next year your photo might make the shortlist…and you have those summer holidays to practice.

Photo credit: MarchieCTID

Maybe you have taken photos of your Christmas decorations, the surprised look on the children’s faces as they are opening their presents or the whole family around the dinner table on Christmas day. Maybe you spent new years eve out with friends or at a house party and took lots of photos. Most pictures from good times like these seem to just end up on social networking sites these days but nothing quite compares to displaying them in your home in nice picture frames.

Since Christmas is a time for gift giving, maybe you received a new camera. You’ll likely have been playing with your new toy and perhaps have taken some great photos. Even if your photography skills aren’t quite up to scratch just yet it is a great idea to frame these early shots you’ve taken so that you can see how much you improve in the future. Alternatively, maybe your loved ones bought you a poster or a nice piece of artwork for Christmas that you want to put in a frame and treasure forever.

We have a massive variety of frames available for all your different needs in different colours and styles to suit your personal taste. We have frames in all of the standard sizes and a configurator that allows you to create the perfect picture frames for your specific purpose.

Sometimes though people can go a bit too far and it’s these that we will be taking a look at this month. So instead of showing you examples of good Christmas photos we are going to take a look the bad side of Christmas decorations and here is our top five worst offenders. You may notice a similar theme throughout.

Christmas lights on the outside of your house are acceptable if done well with a few carefully positioned lights hanging from the roof or windows. But this example takes things too far with hanging lights, lights in different shapes and light up characters all over the garden. These is a good example of too much going on with no thought to positioning, colours or theme. As with hanging a picture frame, these are all factors that contribute to the overlook that you are trying to achieve.

This example takes the idea of lighting the front of the house and runs away with it. I don’t think there is a single brink on the house or patch on the grass that hasn’t got a light on it!

Whilst this one doesn’t have too many lights, the house has far too much going on for it to look good. The roof has all sorts of characters on top and the entrance to the house has been decorated in white tinsel which doesn’t look very nice. The wooden train or the inflatable Nutcracker might look good on their own but with the multiple snowmen, light decorations and everything else there is far too many items in one place.

This dazzling display must cost a fortune to run and all those giant inflatable characters must take a fair while to blow up. As seems to be the case with bad Christmas decorations, there is too much crowded onto a small house for it to look any good.

All we have to say about this one is…why an elephant?

For more examples of bad Christmas lights and decorations have a look at www.uglychristmaslights.com.

Struggling to position a picture frame? Follow our helpful tips.

There is a standard rule that Art Gallery’s use with regards to hanging a frame, which is that it should be 60inches or 1520mm from the floor to the centre of the picture. This allows the picture to be positioned at the average person’s eye level so that the focal point of the picture is right in eye line. Whilst this is very easy to do in an art gallery with all its bare walls, it might not be as easy in the home due to a fireplace or other unmoveable object. It is only a suggested rule though so keep it in mind but don’t worry if it’s not possible.

Another good technique to use if you are unsure of where to hang your picture frame for maximum effect is to create a template the size and shape of your frame. This could be made by taping together old pieces of paper and then using blu-tack to stick it onto the wall in different places. This will give you an idea on what something the size and shape of your frame will look like on the wall. Using this method allows you to stand back from the wall to take in the full effect and positioning of the frame and allows you to test different ideas.

If you find a position you’re happy with then you can go about hanging your picture, but if you don’t like the positioning you can simply remove the template and stick it to another area. This method means you can test different positions without having to hammer lots of holes into the wall.

For a guide on how to hang a picture frame, have a look at our previous blog post.

When taking a photo of the setting sun on your holiday, take one photo and then move your camera across the horizon and take another, repeating for as many photos as you want. This can also work with large groups of people; get everyone into a line and move along taking photos.

Be careful to make sure that your photos don’t overlap and that you don’t leave too big a gap in between them either. You can then display these multi photos in a frame to create a larger image, as you can see below.

You could have one image of a horizon...

...or split it into three!

If you want to give it a go then you can get a custom picture frame from Picture Frames Express and use the frame designer to order whatever size frame you want. You could even be really adventurous and try and create an image split over two rows and two columns!