Sometimes every aspect of a photograph is meticulously planned, but most of the time, at least a portion of the final image was created by luck. For this next critique, we want to see the "luckiest" photo you've ever taken.
What makes an image lucky? For some photos, it may be obvious, for example, an incredible wildlife photo. But for others, you'll have to hear the story from the photographer. Many images were much more difficult to capture than they appear.
Each photographer is allowed to submit up to three images. Make sure that you write a quick story about why the image was lucky in the description. Images without a description will be disqualified. The highest-rated image and one randomly chosen image will win a free tutorial from the Fstoppers Store.
Cover photo by Paul Giggle
Uses a staged photo to advertise the concept of luck
The men are paid models?
To be fair Lee, they may not be, but having her walk past them is like leading lambs to the slaughter lol, they aint gonna be eyeing the taxi up :)
Heck, I'd consider myself lucky if I were the photographer taking that shot (gorgeous taxi....)
I like the white amazon delivery van myself (they have those exact vans where I live). haha.
Amazing vans, I think it’s a Renault Master 50 Shades edition
It is however a great example of a thoughtful, creative and talented photographer constructing a staged situation that will result in an image he has pre-envisioned.
Major kudos on planning and execution!
Agreed! Highly planned and worth the effort.
Has a bit of the Helmut Newton look.
I am really loving some of the entries in this contest so far! And the stories behind how you came to get these shots is icing on the cake!
Agree, some great entries so far.
I think lucky falls into two distinct categories. 1). Finding oneself unexpectedly / or unplanned in being in the right place at the right time and leveraging that to capture a “lucky” image. 2). Upon taking a photograph and reviewing the result discovering the lucky capture of an element that you had no foresight or expectation of capturing.
In my opinion which I freely admit this as being, I think the former might is more aligned to the superior execution of ones craft while the later, tips more closely to the lucky end of the scale.
Merrimack-Webster defines lucky as being, fortunate, happy, providential mean meeting with unforeseen success. lucky stresses the agency of chance in bringing about a favorable result.
Good luck to all..
How should we rate photos (in any contest) that are amazing but not on brief?
I rate contests on meeting the brief first. If they don’t meet that bar then it’s a low rating. And, if the photo is also posted in the photographers portfolio I happily give it an appropriate rating there based on the “regular” criteria.
And of course it’s all an interpretive judgment. While it would be nice if everyone could be consistent. Unfortunately, at some point subjectivity can and does creep in. We don’t all have the same degree of experience, powers of observation and discernment nor personal values / appreciation.
There are some very nice photos here, but I don't see a whole lot of luck involved in many of them?
Or you could say, every situation is lucky because you couldn’t have anticipated it.
In that sense luck is everywhere.
What about the likeliness/probability of that situation happening again? For some of these, that is very low.
So then, are you suggesting that the many professional and amateurs who consistently share great work on Fstoppers simply lucky a lot more than the next person? Or, are they people who in the practice of their craft are the ones who invest the requisite time, resources & imagination, who show up prepared with the right tools at hand knowing how to use them and/or are those who obsessively have a camera at hand at all times?
No, not at all. It's more about being in the right place at the right time for me. Anyone who shoots at a high rate everyday may have an increased chance of getting a lucky shot but they still have to be in the right place at the right time.
If you planned to be there for the occurrence it wasn't luck. You made specific preparations to be ready if it occurred.
Agreed, with a lot I'm having a hard time seeing the "luck" in the image. Even with the story attached.
*please don't take the following too harshly, A lot of the images are great, I'm just looking at the "luck" aspect of it*
"Look at this lucky image of an animal, so lucky I got this"
uhm.. yea.. it's a good picture.. but.... you're at a zoo.. the animal is there 24/7 for you to photograph, for me that removes any luck from the image unless the animal is doing something unique.
(wildlife is obviously a different story.)
"look at this lucky picture of a skater". Again, it's a great capture. But you're at a skatepark.. you're bound to get a picture of a skater. You can anticipate it, making it less lucky
"look at this lucky picture of a parkour runner"
the image is good, lighting is good. but you're at a dedicated free-running event. Taking away most of the luck in my mind.
"look at this lucky picture of my dog walking".. lighting is great, focus is perfect, it's a great image!! But.... if the dog isn't doing something unique, is it really luck? when it's your own dog? and you have 8-10 years worth of time to take pictures of your dog?
"I'm so lucky this person walked into my street photography frame". Well... it's a sidewalk, that's where people usually are. keep aiming at your frame and you're going to get a person or two in shot. So unless the person or people in the shot are doing something unique, I'm struggling to see it as lucky.
Again, please don't take it all too harshly, just taking quite a critical view on the luck aspect for a minute.
Most of the images are great in their own right. But from a luck aspect, maybe less so.
some that do stand out though, the sea lion underneath the sail boat. And the kid getting hit in the face with the baseball, to just mention a few.
Unique moments, captured sharp, in focus and precise at the perfect time.
A lot of interesting images. The following is intended to be helpful and not whining. I love these challenges as I find it amazing to see how this tallented community responds to a specific theme.
I've suggested this in past contests and this theme brings this up for me again. Please consider more technique-based (thumbs up for your past macro, hot lights, motion, etc.) or at least more easily identifiable, subjective themes for the contests (thumbs up for past themes emotion, nudes, etc.)
Let's test our technical skills or be inspired to learn new ones. Or, let's try for some portfolio-building with themes like you have done on the past (weddings, nudes, etc...). Even the 'processing' themes you've done, such as 'compositing,' are good.
The issue here is that I don't see a way to match the voting scale to the theme. Most of the submissions are, by the nature of being a "lucky" shot, a match for the definition of a 1 star as a snap shots. The first contest where the 1 star rating wins? ☺️
I don't like to give constructive feedback without suggestions so here are a few. I would love to see people add more. The last time this was brought up Lee asked for suggestions and said that coming up with new themes is hard after all this time. Let's share both our favorite themes from the past or suggest new future ones that we'd like to try:
Camera techniques: long exposure, shallow DOF. I'm open to odd ones like tilt shift and ICM.
Themes: Black/white, still life, staged subject, use of props, reproduce or interpret the theme's banner, minimalism, abatract
Processing; Double exposure, obvious editing
Lastly, another idea would be to allow the vote winner to suggest the next theme. That might be fun and a cool opportunity for the winner.
Just trying to think of something different while throwing in some old favorites. Like I said before, this is coming from a 'love CtC' place and wanting to be a part of the team. Thanks to Lee and Patrick and their team for the opportunity to share both thoughts and images here!
Again, I hope others add some themes they'd like to see.
This is such a dilemma and I think it's caused by both voting for and rating images at the same time. As Ruth points out above, the theme of Luck is likely to be incompatible with a conspicuous display of technical ability compared to, say, a landscape image where almost all aspects of the photographic process are within the control of the photographer. Having said that, many of the images that excite me the most are not necessarily great examples of technique, but more of vision and artistry. It's why (for me at least) a kind of fatigue sets in if I spend too long looking at photos online. Most of them I've seen a thousand times before. With incredible tech in our cameras and editing software that can pretty much doing everything for us with a single click, it's that much tricker to define artistic dimension that differentiates photographers these days. I qualify all of the above with 'in my opinion'. I don't want to sound preachy. I will post anyway and be damned.
If the rating awarded is isolated to the competition it appears in then I stand corrected. It means I can rate according the specific theme without considering the overall quality of the image.
After seeing Ewan Burger's entry, it inspires me to add Contre-jour as an interesting topic. And, it can be used by photographers regardless of their field.
I am torn on some of these images. Luckiest photos to me are images that you can not duplicate no matter how hard you try. Maybe I am too much of a stickler. Many AMAZING shots, just not as many lucky ones. I am open to being corrected just an observation.
Totally agree!
I live in the wrong damn country. But the women in Russia where I usually shoot? HELL yeah. Oh wait....I married a Russian. Ok, it's all good. Real good.
This is my first time posting stuff here... are all the contests this weird and divisive or is it generally a more supportive community experience? Doesn't seem like much fun tbh.
No its generally a bit weird, the key to the internet is just ignore it.
It depends on how serious you take it. For some it seems more like black Friday shopping in a store that has just two items. For others it is about sharing images on a topic and looking at other peoples submissions.
Agreed Simon.
This is my first time entering a contest on Fstoppers. I thought it would be a fun experience and one which could help me finally open some dialogue with the community at large. What I have learned from this 'not so pleasant' experience is that I should have waited for a more appropriate contest theme to better suit my style of photography. The theme of 'luck' is one with a broad interpretation so I can sympathize with the members justifying their way of rating on this particular one.
I do however stand by that, in my case, street photography does rely on a element of luck. You still need to be well versed in your craft so you are able to capture that moment when it appears. Not just technically but also in having the ability to read the environment and anticipate a photo worthy moment. It's not just 'I was lucky this guy walked into my frame and snapped a shot' i.e 1 star ratings all round.
Hi Ewan and Simon! The place where you will find the dialog and growth that you are looking for is the groups. They are the gem of fStoppers! There you will find constructive feedback, community and support. There are some that are more active than others. I recommend "Minimalism, Abstract and Experimental" (😉) as a place to consider. The key to getting the most from the groups is participation - if you contribute, you will both help others and get more feedback yourself. Don't worry about these contests. There just an activity. The groups are whee the real action happens!
Hi Ruth, I admit to never giving the groups a go. Your kind reply has most definitely given me the needed nudge to investigate. Looking forward to interact with the community and get some cc!
Hang in there Simon, reading the comments above ...there's a disagreement on "luck", and if you haven't shot a certain way, you may or may not understand the variables (luck) ...and we probably have a number of duplicated accounts, some don't even have a profile pic or pictures (on a photography profile, lol ) they must be to vote more than once ..or rate their own images maybe. I've gotten feed back in two contests from really good pros, I know they were because I could look at their images, and that is helpful to grow.
Perhaps you've just called out one of the elephants residing in the room.....
The groups here are great.