Mavenimagery's BIGSTOCK PHOTO AWARDS:Tutorial Image

Mavenimagery's BIGSTOCK PHOTO AWARDS:Tutorial Image, a photo by mavenimagery® Officially Away... on Flickr.

Mavenimagery's BIGSTOCK PHOTO AWARDS
Post your images to MAVENIMAGERY's Spring Fling Contest and we'll automatically enter you in our Spring Fling Contest.

And if we pick your name, you'll...

Win an iPad 2 – Grand Prize

Win 350 Image Credits – 1st Prize

Good luck!

– Maven and The Bigstock Team

*Certain exclusions apply. Contest open only to US residents.
No purchase necessary.
Contest rules.
Official Rules: *Promotion begins at 12:00 AM EDT on 4/21/2011 and ends at11:59 PM EDT on 5/20/2011. One grand prize winner will receive an Apple iPad 2 (valued at approximately $499); the 1st prize winner will receive 350 Bigstockphoto Credits (valued at $350). Prizes will be distributed within 30 days of the end of the promotion. Must be 18 or older and a resident of the United States to enter. Winners will complete an affidavit of eligibility if requested. No purchase necessary; a purchase will not increase an entrant's chance of winning. To enter without purchase, mail a 3 1/2" x 5" postcard with your full name, email address and shipping address to Bigstockphoto, Attn: Spring Fever Sweepstakes, 60 Broad Street, 30th Floor, New York, NY 10004. Postcards must be received by 5/20/2011. Winner will be randomly selected and notified by email sent to the email address associated with the winning account or provided on the winner's entry postcard, as applicable. In the event of a dispute, eligible electronic entries will be considered made by authorized account owner of the email address submitted at the time of entry. Every Bigstockphoto credit used and postcard entry received will equal one promotion entry. There are no limits on the number of times you may enter. Odds of winning are dependent on the number of valid entries.

To give the heads-up for those who are willing to submit their images for Spring Fling Contest, I have uploaded sample images below. You can submit any kind of subject that has a Spring in the air...
Major disqualifiers:
Chromatic aberration or CA: (see above) and purple fringing are two distortion effects that can affect photographs. Even though they are often confused with one another, they are partially different in both their causes and effects.

Chromatic aberration can be seen in photos as light colored purple halo around parts of a scene. Manufacturers try to correct it by designing specialized lens elements and coatings.
Since no lens is perfect, especially zoom lenses, chromatic aberration is likely to remain visible at some focal lengths and apertures. Superzoom lenses are often more prone to chromatic aberration at their extreme focal lengths because zoom lenses are optimized at intermediate focal lengths.
Purple fringing is caused primarily by the processing done to every image by digital camera processors. The processor doesn’t always know how to interpret dramatic color. Purple fringing is, yes, primarily purple but it can be magenta and other colors as well.

Other reasons to have your images declined are:
-Reason: Potential copyright / trademark / privacy issue with photo (could be: copyrighted art, visible logo, license plate number, etc)
-Reason: Image looks over processed, no details left
-Reason: Artifact Problems: Noise/Grain/Chromatic or other artifacts due to low light, blue or purple fringing, high ISO, over-sharpening or post processing techniques. Please view image at 100% prior to submission
-Reason: Low interest subject: Probably little demand/selling potential for this image. Try for more marketable shots.
-Reason: Blurry: Image is not very crisp or is blurred when viewed at full size.
-Reason: Snapshot composition: This image is more of a snapshot than a marketable stock image. Overall problems can include poor lighting, poor composition, non-interesting subject matter, etc.
Reason: We have enough of this subject already...sorry. More unique images will help your images stand out from the crowd.