Recommended Guidelines For Photo Evaluations

To place in photo competitions generally, an image has to be seen as art. When is photography art? The most uniformly accepted criterion over the past century and a half defines art in photography as an image that evokes emotion, be it beauty, admiration, pathos, humor, intrigue, pity—any one of innumerable human feelings.
To be considered art, a photograph has to be virtually free of technical flaws that would distract from the essence of the image. Since the absence of basic shortcomings is normally a prerequisite for qualification of a photograph as art, most judges begin a critique of an entry by noting any significant technical flaws.