How to take a winning photograph

You’ve seen the invitation to enter a photo contest. You get really excited, because you know you take good photos. Of course you do! But winning photos need more than just good composition and lighting. They need to be RELEVANT to the contest you’re entering. Read on for tips on how to enter (and possibly win!) our Visit Mooresville and MVL photo contest.

Tip 1. Know the Topic

Probably the most important tip for taking a winning photo is to know your contest topic. What will the judges be looking for in this particular contest? For example, in the Visit Mooresville and MVL photo contest, we have three categories: Nature, Hangouts, and Events. Easy enough. But we’re looking for one additional element in all of these photos: people. We want to see people enjoying the great area we love and call home. So let’s explore how that extra ask can affect how you take (and enter) a photo.

Say you want to enter a photo from one of our fun hangouts, like a brewery. You could take a photo of a beer sitting on a table all by itself. Or a point of view shot of your hand holding a beer in front of a cool backdrop. It’s a great photo, but it’s a little off topic for this particular contest. What if, instead, you show people at the brewery hanging out and obviously having a good time. Let’s explore these two different photos:

← Great Photo

(but not on topic for this contest)

Great Photo →

(and totally on topic!)

See the difference? Both photos are high quality and interesting, but for this contest, we want to see people having fun! That’s something the photo on the right completely nails!

Tip 2. Make Sure the “Place” is obvious

We are looking for photos that showcase the wonderful place we call home. We want to show visitors all of the fun things they can do in and around Mooresville. So if your photo’s location isn’t instantly recognizable as one of our fun attractions or businesses, it’s not going to do well in the contest. For example, you could have a great action photo of you playing with your dog in your back yard, but unless your yard backs up to a park or one of our local businesses, it doesn’t show what makes Mooresville great. If your photo could be from a yard anywhere in the United States, it’s not what we are looking for. However, if you have a photo of you playing fetch with your dog on the waterfront at Lake Norman State Park, then THAT is a photo we’d love to see.

Cute photo! But nothing to suggest it’s in Mooresville.

Better photo! It has the lake and a Mooresville marina in the background.

Tip 3. Make Sure You Can Be Seen

If you enter the contest using our hashtag #CVBMVL and your account is private – we won’t see your photo! In order to make sure your entry is seen, take the following steps:

  1. If you have a public Instagram account, simply tag your photo in the caption with #CVBMVL. (Not sure if you have a public account? Here’s how to check!)
  2. If your Instagram is private (and you want to keep it that way), you can send us a photo on our contest upload page HERE.
  3. You can enter on Facebook with the hashtag as well, just make sure that particular post is set to Public (here’s how) or use the upload link in #2 above.
  4. If you want to enter a photo that already appears on your Instagram feed (from at least the last 3 years) simply edit the caption to include the #CVBMVL hashtag.

If you have any questions or trouble uploading a photo, simply email us at social@visitmooresville.com.

Tip 4. Know All The Rules

We know, that pesky fine print is so boring to read. But it does help to know the guidelines for the contest. Knowledge is power! Or in this case, it might be the secret to winning that $500 top prize! Check out all of our rules and guidelines here.