Printing and Framing a Special Landscape Photograph

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Success in Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year

Entering big photography competitions can seem like a waste of time.  Some of these competitions can attract 1000's of entries, sometimes even 10,000’s of entries .  Getting shortlisted can seem like an achievement sometimes.  How do you create a winning image though?  There's no easy answer to that question.  Judging, even in the same competition, can vary from year to year.  Just look at the winning images from Landscape Photographer of Year since it started.  It's really hard to "know" what the judges are looking for.  

However, there is one thing I do know.  If I don't enter I certainly won't win anything!  There is also one piece of advice I can share , and it's a piece of advice given to me by a photographer and photography competition judge.  He told me that if you think you have a strong image then keep entering it into competitions year after year.  Even if it doesn't get placed in one competition, it might in another.  It's also worth entering the same image in the same competition a different year.

I've always remembered this bit of advice, so ever since I took the image of Stob Dearg (Buachaille Etive Mor) you see below, I've been entering it into competitions.  This perseverance has finally paid off and the image has received a commended award in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.  It's the 2nd time I've entered it into this competition, and 4th time in all competitions.  So if you have a good image that you think could win an award, don't be put off by the first failure.  Keep trying!!

First Light on Stob Dearg, Buachaille Etive Mor, Glencoe - Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 28 mm, f/11, 1/25th sec at ISO 100.

Printing and Framing

The image is one that I am immensely proud off and it brings back many happy memories of my adventure to Glencoe (which you can watch here).  While it will be a real privilege to see it in the yearbook from the competition, I really wanted to make my own print of it, frame it, and give it a permanent place on my wall. 

In the video below I show you how I went about printing the image, selecting a paper, framing it, and eventually hanging it on the wall.

If you are interested in doing something similar yourself, here are the products I used in the video:

I hope you enjoyed this video and blog post.  Do you have any photography competition tips?  How do you go about displaying your prints?  Let me know in the comments below.