What makes a Winning Photo?
On MyEC a winning photo is not just a good picture - it is the whole package, including an accurate title and informative description in English. Photos that obey the following guidelines are more likely to become Featured Photos or to win in MyEC photo contests.
1. Upload Your Photo
Only upload photos that you have permission to use. In other words, you took the photo yourself, or a friend shared it with you and gave you permission to share it with us. Do not upload photos from the web unless you have permission from the photograher. Always name the photographer if it isn't yourself.
2. Add a Title
Always add a title in English. The title is the "name" of your photo. Just as books, films and songs have titles, your photo should have a title. Your title should be accurate, and as short as possible. Use correct spelling and appropriate capitalization. (Normally, in English, every word in a title starts with a capital letter - with a few exceptions like articles and prepositions.) Try to choose a short, interesting title. More people will look at it! Here are some examples of titles:
- My Dog
- London in the Snow
- Four Generations
- Singing in the Rain
- Titanic
Do not just leave the title that your camera assigned to your photo, such as 123456789.JPG. Photos with inappropriate titles will not be accepted.
In this wonderful photo Suela has followed the guidelines very well: 1. It's a family photo so she has permission. 2. A great title ("Four Generations"). 3. A useful description ("My mother and I, my oldest daughter and my granddaughter.") Don't worry about mistakes in your English - maybe someone will correct it for you. 4. Some sensible tags ("family-tree, gathering, generation, women") - note the compound word "family tree" uses a hyphen (-) for the tag. 5. Has encouraged comments. 6. Has organized this and other photos into one album ("My birthday party"). Note too that this photo is popular with other members who gave it a 5-star rating.
3. Add a Description
Your description in English can be short and sweet, or long and informative. Don't worry about making mistakes. This is how you learn. As with much writing, your description and title between them should try to answer the 5 WH questions: Who? What? Where? When? Why? (In the example photo the "when?" and "why?" are given in the album information - "My Birthday Party".) Think of the description as a place to include a very short story or background. It is also the start of a conversation because people will post comments based on your description.
Example from "Four Generations" photo:
- Who: the member, plus her mother, daughter and granddaughter
- What: a family photo
- Where: ??? (it would be nice to know, right?)
- When: the member's birthday party
- Why: to celebrate 4 generations of beautiful women!
4. Add Tags
Tags are like keywords, and they help other members find your pictures in a search. Please include at least one tag, related to your photo. Phrases or compound words require dashes in order to keep the words together (family-tree).
5. Encourage comments
If you upload an interesting photo, it will get many views and other members may choose to rate it highly! If it is popular and highly rated, MyEC may choose it as a Featured Photo. Your photo will receive comments from other members. Don't be afraid to respond to comments and encourage a conversation.
6. Organize Your Photos in Albums
Create albums for related photos, such as My Family, My School Life, Holidays, New Words, Hobbies etc.
