calling all photographers - photography competition

B

boylovell

Messages
10
Edit My Images
No
Hey everyone.

My name is Simon Lovell and I'm author of a national diet here in the UK called The spam removed Diet which has had quite a bit of media coverage gobally.

We're soon to be pitching to the supermakets which is really exciting, so the brand is really going places.

Anyway, I had the idea this morning while running on the treadmill lol to setup a photography competition...

I'm just wondering, is it something that might interest some of you and if so, what kind of prize would attract you. I want to make it as appealing as possible to bring in as many entries as possible.

Thanks and looking forward to getting it going this week basd on the feedback!

Simon

Staff edit. Your post has been reported as spam and has consequently had the link removed. If you continue with self promotion, you will find yourself banned from TP. If you wish to discuss photography and related matters then please continue to post and this mistake will be forgotten.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Depends whether you are using the competition merely as a way of harvesting lots of free pics. If so then you wouldn't be the first to do so.

Don't grab the copyright, offer a worthwhile prize, offer attribution and credit on any pictures you use and you'd not only get people interested but you'd also be going completely against the grain ! :lol:
 
Last edited:
Well if I win then I want a years supply of this :thumbs:

brekki.jpg
 
they removed my link which is fair enough... I'm not a spammer, so would still like the information from everyone, thanks!
 
a canon eos 1 dx with a range of Canon L lenses will do the trick... about £10K prize fund should do it :).... where do I sign up :lol:
 
i can't promise a prize fund like that but I'm on the mission to get an SLR camera package and runner up prizes for sure.
 
also, what would be a reasoble fee to pay for say 4 images per month if i were to offer a 12 month contract for pics as part of the prize?
 
boylovell said:
also, what would be a reasoble fee to pay for say 4 images per month if i were to offer a 12 month contract for pics as part of the prize?
Click to expand...

It all depends on the usage of the images etc and who wins. If it is an amateur they would probably settle for £100 a month. A working professional would be a fair bit more I would think. Please whatever you do, don't rip people off, as has said before for the competition don't hold copyright, offer credit to the photographer and pay the eventual winner fairly. Not only will you get more people involved, you will actually have people offering you their work, its a two way street and if you respect a photographers work people remember it.
 
I think to be fair- you should publish what prize is on offer or what fee you are prepared to pay- too many off us get ripped off providing images, having images stolen & used without permission- so your path may be a rocky one :nono:


Les ;)
 
Offer a decent prize - to be honest if you want reasonable pics from amateurs then a semi decent camera would probably do it, such as the canon 550D/600D or Nikon equivalent, or maybe the Sony Nex5. Realistically you'd be looking at about £5-600.

Winners obviously have to allow the use of the images for the year as promotional material. After that then agreed rates for usage used (but you could run another comp).

Chuck in a few extra smaller prizes with the same terms (perhaps makeover vouchers? - clothing vouchers?) and you'd have, what, 10 images you're happy to use for less than £1k for the year?

As mentioned, copyright remains with the taker.

That should do it.
 
hey, can you elaborate on the copyright issue, it seems to be a big issue so i want to do the right thing by the photographers. what about showing entries on the web site and if i would like to use other ones that have been sent in? - how could that work so both parties are happy?
 
sure i understand this, but in relation to having the pictures on the site so people can vote and then using them again? At the end of the day I want as many people to enter as possible, so if people could let me know the ideal scenario, this will help!

Cheers!
 
why not PM the site staff run a competition on this forum- using low resolution images- the winners then send you the full sized ones for you to use etc etc :shrug:

Les :thumbs:
 
Hi boylovell,

Welcome to TP.

We're actually quite nice when you get to know us, but the rather suspicious reception you may have sensed is down to some manufacturers/retailers/whatever running photo comps that seem designed mainly to garner them a heap of free images that they can use for anything they like without acknowledging or paying the photographer. This is known as a Rights Grab.

The usual form is to offer a prize for the winners, but hide in the T&Cs a clause that goes something like:

'By signing and returning this agreement to us, you irrevocably and unconditionally assign to us in perpetuity by way of present assignment of present and future copyright, the entire copyrights and all other rights and title of any kind in the Commissioned Works throughout the world (including any amendments and extensions to that copyright). You hereby irrevocably waive any and all moral rights you have in the Commissioned Works.'
Click to expand...

There are variations.

So, first, many congratulations for coming along to the UK's best forum to ask it's best photographers ( :naughty:) for advice on this.

You will even get some sensible answers...

Examples of how not to do it:

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-j...1644305/bauer-media-facing-rights-grab-furore

http://www.epuk.org/News/928/simon-norfolk-national-trust

You'll find plenty more (sadly).

My own suggestion would be to offer a cheque/voucher/whatever for the winner to spend on camera kit rather than an actual camera. Most people have a pretty good idea of what they want, and the offer of a camera of different make or lower spec to what they already have may not be that attractive.

But every photographer on the planet always wants, whatever they own, one more piece of kit, so a contribution towards this would go down well.

Another idea would be to sponsor a training day/weekend/ 14-day-all-paid-trip-to-Africa, with an established pro, perhaps with an agreement that the results can be published.

But good luck in any case, and I wish more comp organisers would do what you are doing. :thumbs:
 
thanks - that's really useful - so in terms of using photos on the web site for people to vote?
 
Hmm. I personally don't like that approach. Rather than the best photo winning, the person who can drum up the most votes wins. Have a gallery of entries - we all like to see the work - but I'd rather see a panel of judges.
 
jon ryan said:
Hi boylovell,

Welcome to TP.

We're actually quite nice when you get to know us, but the rather suspicious reception you may have sensed is down to some manufacturers/retailers/whatever running photo comps that seem designed mainly to garner them a heap of free images that they can use for anything they like without acknowledging or paying the photographer. This is known as a Rights Grab.

The usual form is to offer a prize for the winners, but hide in the T&Cs a clause that goes something like:



There are variations.

So, first, many congratulations for coming along to the UK's best forum to ask it's best photographers ( :naughty:) for advice on this.

You will even get some sensible answers...

Examples of how not to do it:

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-j...1644305/bauer-media-facing-rights-grab-furore

http://www.epuk.org/News/928/simon-norfolk-national-trust

You'll find plenty more (sadly).

My own suggestion would be to offer a cheque/voucher/whatever for the winner to spend on camera kit rather than an actual camera. Most people have a pretty good idea of what they want, and the offer of a camera of different make or lower spec to what they already have may not be that attractive.

But every photographer on the planet always wants, whatever they own, one more piece of kit, so a contribution towards this would go down well.

Another idea would be to sponsor a training day/weekend/ 14-day-all-paid-trip-to-Africa, with an established pro, perhaps with an agreement that the results can be published.

But good luck in any case, and I wish more comp organisers would do what you are doing. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

is this an issue for the other contestants other than the winner or would be winner be expected to hand over copyright as they are getting the prizes?
 
All entrants would retain their copyright, but would licence you to use the images for a period.
 
boylovell said:
is this an issue for the other contestants other than the winner or would be winner be expected to hand over copyright as they are getting the prizes?
Click to expand...

Simon, intellectual property is a minefield, so you need to be careful how you approach it.

Anyone who submits photos for your competition has to grant you certain rights. For practical purposes you need the right to make copies of photos, to distribute them, and to display them for the purposes of the competition. You would write the competition rules so that these rights would be granted automatically as a condition of entry.

Beyond that, it's really up to you. Though as others here have pointed out, the more rights you claim, the less keen people will be on entering. So think through what you want/need to do with the winning photo(s) and the non-winners. Presumably, once the competition has finished, you'd want to use some of the photos for commercial purposes. So think through:
- which photos? (just winners, or all entries?)
- which purposes? (advertising, book illustrations, etc.?)
- in what context? (strictly related to this brand/product, or more generally?)
- do you need any exclusivity, or are you happy for the authors of the photos to be able to exploit them commercially elsewhere?
- for how long? (for a specific period, or in perpetuity?)

It's very unlikely that you would really need to have the copyright (effectively, the ownership) of any photos transferred to you. In practical terms, anything you would want to do with the photos could be achieved via the photographers granting you the necessary rights, which would again be set out as part of the competition entry conditions.
 
A good example of a rights non-grab is set out in the user terms for the SmugMug photo sharing site. Here's what they say:

You retain the copyright in any User Content you post on the Site. SmugMug neither has nor wants any ownership of your Content. However, by uploading and/or posting any User Content to the Site, you grant SmugMug a perpetual, nonexclusive and royalty-free right to use the User Content and the name that is submitted in connection with such User Content, as is reasonably necessary to display the User Content, provide the Services and to facilitate, at Content Owner's direction, the license of Photos or the sale of Products on the Site.

You understand and acknowledge that any User Content contained in public postings, including any galleries that are not designated as unlisted, will be accessible to the public and could be accessed, indexed, archived, linked to and republished by others including, without limitation, appearing on other web sites and in search engine results. Therefore, you should be careful about the nature of the User Content you post. SmugMug will not be responsible or liable for any third party access to or use of the User Content you post. SmugMug provides many security options and settings for your content and you should read and understand them all.

You represent and warrant that (a) you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the User Content that you post or transmit, or you otherwise have the right to post, use, display, distribute and reproduce such User Content and to grant the rights granted herein; (b) the User Content you supply is accurate and not misleading; and (c) use and posting of the User Content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use and will not violate any rights of or cause injury to any person or entity.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top