Five Myths About The RGS Photo Competition "The Most Beautiful Country"

On February 16^th, 2020, stops the application of photographs for the VI contest of the Russian Geographical Society "The Most Beautiful Country". Like any large-scale project, it has many supporters, but there are also skeptical authors. Is it true that you can only win if you have friends in the right places? And it is impossible to win with a picture taken on a cheap camera? We examined the most popular myths associated with the project, illustrating them with pictures of the finalists of the previous year.

Myth 1. To become a finalist of the contest, you need to have cool photo equipment.

Photographs taken with different cameras - including budget SLR cameras, such as Nikon D3100 or Canon 350D - go to the final round of the competition. Also among the finalists there are photos taken with inexpensive mirrorless cameras and smartphones. It is not so important what kind of equipment to photograph with, it is more important to find those scenes for shooting that the camera and the equipment available can handle.

• Anton Voronin. Mimicry. Nikon D3100. Location: Voronezh Region. Nikon D3100, nikkor 70-300mm, f/3.5-5.6, 1/400, f/13, ISO - 400, 300mm

• Alexandra Volkova. Be Careful, The Bear Is Working! Location: Sakhalin Island. Camera - Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL, lens - Canon EF 24-85mm 1: 3.5-4.5 Ultrasonic, aperture - F 9.0, shutter speed - 1/250, ISO - 100.

• Vladimir Palchik. Eclecticism of St. Petersburg Roofs... Camera - Nikon D5000, aperture - 8.0, shutter speed - 1/750, ISO - 500, equivalent focal length - 300 mm

• Egor Nikiforov. Water snake. Location: Russia, the Republic of Dagestan, the foothills of central Dagestan. Camera - Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF3. Shutter speed - 1/400, ISO - 320

How to take a great shot with inexpensive equipment. Master class by Svetlana Ivanenko.

"The Most Beautiful Country" contest  is the largest Russian wildlife photography contest. Tens of thousands of people have participated in it- both professionals and amateurs. Over the five years of its existence, more than 440 thousand pictures have been submitted to the competition. Any person can become its participant without restriction on place of residence, citizenship, age. The only condition is that photographs must be taken in Russia.

Myth 2. Only those who can afford to travel to remote places of Russia win

In order for your photo to be highly rated, it is not necessary to go on expeditions to the inaccessible corners of the country to take pictures. It is much more interesting to demonstrate the author’s vision, to show familiar objects in a new perspective

• Valeria Zvereva. Golden Ox. Location: Moscow Region. Canon EOS 7D Mark II

• Natalia Rezepina (Yuzeeva). Chess Board. Location: Chelyabinsk Region. Description: glare of windows is reflected in the courtyard of the house. Date: 03/16/19. EOS 5D Mark III CANON EF 70-200 mm, f/2.8L USM, ISO - 200, 1/1000, 11

• Maria Astakhova. Accordion Player. Location: Rostov-on-Don. Nikon D750, aperture - 2.2, shutter speed - 1/160, ISO - 100. Focal length - 50 mm

Myth 3. There is favoritism in the competition

Evaluation of the works is arranged so that the experts who select the pictures do not see who the author is, where he/she lives; they evaluate only the image itself and the description of the picture. Most of the participants submitting their photos to the contest are amateurs.

Most of the finalists are photographers from different regions of Russia. For example, last year, out of 145 finalists, 113 were not citizens of Moscow.

The organizing committee updates the list of experts from year to year in order to minimize the subjectivity of evaluating photos. Often the participants who became winners or finalists in past contests become the experts.

• Tatyana Vorotyntseva. Beauty under Your Feet. Location: Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Region. Phone HUAWEI VTR-L29

Myth 4. The winners are those who can edit photos in Photoshop well.

Before submitting them for the contest, many participants edit the pictures. But to get to the finals, you don't have to be an editing guru. There are many authors who submit works with minimal correction. Moreover, the Regulations of the competition have a restriction on editing photos.

The Regulations of the contest "The most beautiful country", quote:

8.10. Digital manipulation of the photo (editing) should not distort the content of the image. Digital correction is allowed, including color tone and contrast, exposure, cropping, sharpening, noise reduction, minor clean-up, merging to HDR. Stitched panoramic pictures, focus stacking using multiple exposures made from the same point at the same time are allowed provided that the work does not violate the basic principles of the authenticity of the photograph and does not distort the real picture of nature. Information about the photos that have been edited should be provided in full in the description of the photo and contribute to the true display of reality.

8.11. Adding or removing objects, animals or their parts, as well as plants, people, etc. in photographs is not allowed.

Photo from the camera (no editing)      Photo submitted to the competition

• Eugene Levin. And The Table ... And The Chair! Location: South Yakutia, Neryungri District. Canon EOS 6D, camera lens - Canon EF 100mm f / 2.8L Macro IS USM lens, shutter speed - 1/125 sec, aperture - f / 2.8, focal length - 100 mm, sensitivity (ISO) - 250

Myth 5. The photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country" takes all the rights to photographs from the authors

The copyright for the photographs provided for the photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country" is reserved by the authors of the respective photographs. The Russian Geographical Society, when using photographs at exhibitions and in printed materials (catalogs of exhibitions, etc.), indicates which author took the picture. The author can continue to use his/her photographs at his/her discretion without restrictions.

We hope, that we have convinced you that everything is fair and square in our competition. Try your hand at the photo contest of the Russian Geographical Society "The Most Beautiful Country". Submit photo.

Coordinator of the photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country"

photographer, photo editor of the RGS

Alexey Mikhailov