Just like almost everything, there’s ranking: worst, bad, good, better, best. Likewise in photography, when you look at a picture, you can tell this picture is taken by someone that doesn’t know a lot about photography, someone that knows rules of photography, or by professionals, etc.. Yet, a lot of times, a lot of famous pictures that won many prestigious prizes internationally look just alright to many people, even after hearing the authors explain about their pictures.
Composition, light, colors, motion, meaning of the picture, etc., are among many important things of a great picture. But let say if two similar pictures meet/exceed all of these points but picture A won the prize because it has brighter color, the winding river in the picture conveys curve of a lady beautifully, etc., for example. What if the photographer of picture B likes darker color, it shows secrecy, and the winding river shows life is a lot tougher that it looks, not always a straight line, for example. Not all people are so “poetic” to look at a winding river as the curve of a lady. Not all people look at life as tough as a winding river.
I read a lot of books, I attend a lot of seminars, I look at a lot of pictures from famous people in respected magazines, my reaction to many of those pictures is “really”! Is it because it’s captured by world renowned photographers, is it because he/she is famous in that category before, and/or etc.?
I don’t mean to discredit those famous pictures/photographers/magazines, or worse, my pictures are better. If those pictures won those prestigious prizes, they went through many different & difficult processes, they must have something special. My question here is what does it take, what are special elements in a picture to help it win prestigious prizes internationally like that? What is/are their “secret sauce(s)”? I’d like to know to learn more, to improve my skills, and hopefully, win some prizes in the future! Thanks!