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Subject Matter
It is MANDATORY for our contest that your pictures have South Padre Island or Port Isabel, TX content. It is a major factor in determining the winner. Spend some time on your submitted description as well.

Get Trigger Happy
Do not worry about taking too many pictures and do not wait until you're absolutely certain all the knobs and buttons are in a perfect position. In most cases, your subject will move, fly away, stop smiling, or just get tired of waiting for you to take the picture. Shoot once right away and fine tune as you go along. Practice getting quicker to the draw. As the motto of one of Better Photo old t-shirts states, "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later."

Composition and Background
Be selective in your shots. You don’t want an unattractive telephone wire, an old soda can, a distracting sign, your finger, or your camera strap hanging in your picture.

A cluttered background can distract the eye and take the central focus away from your key subject. Be aware distance from the subject and don’t be afraid to get closer or zoom in for a full representation and visible detail.

Focus Factor
You will find that a smaller depth-of-field (and smaller f-stop #) focuses all the attention upon your subject. This is great for taking a picture of your child, your dog, or your husband - subjects stand out against a blurry background. Likewise, you will find that a greater depth-of-field (bigger f-stop number) will make everything from here to eternity appear in focus. This will help make those landscapes fascinating and lovely. Practice shooting with different apertures and monitor the results afterwards to learn how depth-of-field affects your photo.

Lighting
If you are in love with the bold colors, light blazing directly and brightly upon your whole subject is best. Side lighting, on the other hand, can add drama to the image using shadows to your advantage. Just be aware of the angles your are trying to capture so that you don’t create extreme, hard-to-print contrasts. Lastly, indirect light can be used to make your subject glow soft and pretty. A perfect example is of the soft glow of our SPI sunsets.

Weather
When the day is beautiful, make the most of it. If your camera allows for the use of filters, purchase a polarizer to fit over your lens. This will help you render deep blue skies against bright white clouds, rich contrasting colors on your subject, and other wonderful effects. If it's overcast, simply keep the sky out of your pictures as much as possible. It’s the best way to avoid both muted tones in your subject and washed-out skies in your background. You might also find black and white pictures of an overcast day more pleasing than color.

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