KEEP YOUR PHONE CHARGED AND READY

Summer is the perfect time to start building your contest photo library! While you’re enjoying the sunny weather, family vacations, and outdoor activities, you can capture images that will serve you well for contests throughout the entire year. From back-to-school moments in August to Halloween decorations in October, Thanksgiving gatherings in November, and holiday celebrations in December, the photos you take now will give you a competitive edge in sweepstakes all season long. Here are the top three things you need to consider when building your year-round contest photo collection.

CAMERAS

What type of camera are you going to use?

Your smartphone is your most powerful tool for contest photography. Modern phones have incredibly capable cameras that can produce stunning images and videos that easily meet most contest requirements. The best camera is the one you have with you, and your phone is always in your pocket or purse.

While you could use a traditional digital camera like an automatic pocket camera or a full-on DSLR with various lenses, the reality is that smartphone cameras have become so advanced that they often produce better results than older dedicated cameras. Plus, they’re more convenient for instant sharing and uploading to contests.

The type of camera you use will depend on the specific requirements of the contest you’re entering, but I use my smartphone for almost everything. The quality is excellent, and I can edit, organize, and submit entries all from the same device.

PHOTOGRAPHS

What are you going to take pictures of?

This is key as not only will you be using the images in contests throughout the year, but you can build a comprehensive library that covers all seasons and occasions. Be sure to take a wide variety of pictures and videos during summer that you can use for upcoming contests. Photograph summer activities, barbecues, pool parties, vacation spots, fresh produce from farmers markets, outdoor sports, and family gatherings.

As the seasons change, continue capturing back-to-school moments like new backpacks and first day photos, fall activities like apple picking and pumpkin patches, Halloween decorations and costumes, Thanksgiving preparations and family dinners, and of course all your winter holiday celebrations. Anything that catches your fancy throughout the year could be perfect for a future contest.

Don’t forget that many contests now accept video entries too! Your phone makes it easy to capture both photos and videos of the same moments, giving you more options when entering different types of contests.

FOLDERS

Where are you going to put them?

With smartphones, your photos are automatically backed up to cloud storage like iCloud, Google Photos, or other services. This means you have instant access to your entire photo library from anywhere, which is perfect for entering contests on the go.

I recommend creating albums or folders for each category, such as: family, food, summer fun, back-to-school, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, winter activities, etc. Most phone photo apps make this easy to do right from your device.

If you have an iPhone, your photographs are automatically sorted using photo recognition software. By typing in what you are looking for, you can find specific types of images. Android phones have similar features through Google Photos. This makes finding the perfect contest entry incredibly fast and easy.

Now you can quickly find what you are looking for when entering. Every moment wasted hunting is a winning opportunity missed.