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What makes an award winning image?
Neil Redfern shares his honest thoughts on what makes a Flash Masters award-winning image, then is joined by Flash Masters judge Amber Henry who shares first-hand the reasons she selected the images she did in the last round.
What Makes an Award-Winning Image? Neil Shares His Thoughts Then Amber Henry Tells You What She Actually Looks For as a Judge
This is one of the most practically useful streams we have ever done and one of the most honest. Neil kicks off the stream solo, sharing his thoughts on what makes an image stand out in the Flash Masters awards, why the same image can win one round and not the next, and why photography's subjectivity means that perseverance matters far more than perfection.
Then, after an hour, he is joined by Flash Masters judge and ambassador Amber Henry, who shares first-hand exactly what she was looking for when she judged the most recent round, the common themes she saw, the small tweaks that would have elevated images from good to selected, and the one thing she told the community to stop doing with their feet.
This stream will change the way you think about entering and shooting for awards. 🎉
The top 5 things you will learn by watching this stream:
- Why photography's subjectivity means you should never give up on an image. Neil shares story after story of Flash Masters members entering the same image multiple rounds before it finally wins and explains why not winning does not mean not worthy.
- How the Flash Masters judging process actually works. Neil pulls back the curtain on exactly how images are submitted, anonymised, randomised, and presented to judges and why understanding this process can change how you think about entering.
- What Amber was actually looking for when she judged the most recent round. Amber shares her first-hand perspective as a judge: the qualities that made certain images stand out, the small things that held others back, and what separates a strong entry from a winning one.
- Why posing and body language matter as much as the light. Amber shares one of her most memorable pieces of feedback from the session about feet, movement, and why static posing is one of the most common things holding photographers' entries back.
- Why images that stand out from the crowd have a better chance - even if the crowd is strong. Neil and Amber both discuss the challenge of recurring themes in awards entries: silhouettes, gelled backlighting, champagne shots and what it takes to do a familiar concept in a way that still feels fresh and different to a judge.
Neil Redfern
I am a off camera flash obsessive wedding photographer based in the sunny North West of England. I shot my first wedding in 2006 and since then I have shot around 500 weddings across the UK and overseas. For the past 10 years I have also been running wedding photography workshops and in 2020 I set up my Patreon, which has now grown to a community of 250 photographers all over the world. I also love to make videos for my YouTube channel, which again is all focussed on wedding photography education and ‘How I Shot This’ off camera flash videos. I am also very proud to be an Ambassador for MagMod, Pic-Time and Studio Ninja.Myself and Helen Williams set up Flash Masters in September 2022 and I am so incredibly proud of what Flash Masters will become. A huge thank you to all of our Ambassadors, Sponsors and every single member of the community for helping to make this a reality. I am so excited to see where this journey takes us all!
Amber Henry
Amber Henry is a Michigan-based award-winning international wedding and portrait photographer. Amber’s creative, romantic, and uniquely stylized images have been featured around the world but her greatest joy is capturing her clients’ most cherished life moments. She has been a professional photographer for over 17 years, taking huge pride in offering highly unique and timelessly romantic photography.Spending most of her young adult life as a single mother of three sons, Amber started from the absolute bottom and grew her studio from the ground up. She is self-taught, seeking out education in every form she could find, knowing the years of perseverance would one day pay off as she fought to overcome the weight of childhood poverty. Every day she counts herself as grateful to do what she loves as her life’s work.Amber has the desire to pass on what she has learned in the form of hands-on education, including one-on-one mentorship programs, and an online group exclusive to Michigan photographers. Amber’s core value is rooted in the belief that absolutely anyone can change their stars. She is proficient in both natural light and strobe, which allows her to make any location at any time of day look extraordinary. Amber believes all body types and all walks of life should be photographed and captured in the most beautiful way, one that tells the story of who they are.Amber is a proud ambassador of Geekoto, MagMod, Flash Masters, Cheetah Stand and a Fundy Storyteller, as well as a Wppi Associate (winning first place in wedding photojournalism) WPE Distinguished Member (winning first place in wedding categories) along with many awards and publications through Portrait Masters, PPA, Fearless Photographers, World's Best Wedding Photos, Shutter Magazine, Senior Year Magazine, ClickCon and more.“Above all else, I believe beauty and romance can be found in everything, even the mundane day-to-day tasks. Everyone deserves to have their story told. You get one life. One! Why not run towards your passions like you are on fire?”
