Outdoor Photo Gear » Contests

Macro Nature Contest with Mike Moats – Win A Tamron 90mm Macro! Lens

Mike Moats — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:25:43 +0000

Enter your best macro nature image for chance to win a Tamron 90mm macro lens. Macro images of nature only. Contest limited to USA residence only. You may submit three images. Email images under 200kb in file size and your name to: mgmoats@yahoo.com No manipulation beyond color correction, conversion to black & white, brightness and contrast! Contest runs till December [...]

Trick or Treat–Hide and Seek!

Matt Dennison — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:47:27 +0000

We’ve hidden your favorite candy treats all across our store. These delicious candies are filled with free prizes and coupons! Find a candy, click on it, and win! Here are some of our treats for you: $10 off $49 or more $14 off $99 or more 10% off your entire order $10 Gift Certificate 10% off Bags & Cases 10% [...]

Trick or Treat! 48 hour Gura Gear Sale!

Matt Dennison — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:16:45 +0000

New Gura Gear Kiboko 30L Bag $329! (reg. $399) For 48 hours only, we’ve made a special arrangement with Gura Gear to offer the New Kiboko 30L Bag at an unheard of price of $329. (reg. $399) The Kiboko is the gold standard in photo backpacks for long lens gear and demanding world travel. Ultra-lightweight, durable [...]

2011 Black and White Contest Winners Announced

John Batdorff — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:06:51 +0000

The 2011 Batdorff Photography Black and White Photo Contest ended up garnering our largest, and most talented set of entries yet. This year I decided to up the ante and ask five judges to join me in selecting our top three photographers. The judges were asked to select their top ten images and rank them [...]

Elephant Ears, Corn Dogs and 4H Barns = Good Times

John Batdorff — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:34:33 +0000

I’m going to admit it: I’m addicted to County Fairs. I grew up in a small town in Northern Michigan where summers meant getting into trouble, swimming in the community pool and wandering aimlessly around the county fair. And whenever I travel and see the words “County Fair,” thoughts of elephant ears, corn dogs, sticky fingers and the smell of 4-H animals seems like sweet perfume calling out, “John, stop now!” A few weeks ago I had the chance to visit the Madison County Fair in Twin Bridges, Montana where I spent the afternoon visiting with local farmers and 4-H kids. What I’ve grown to love about the fair is touring the 4-H barns and talking to the kids about their animals, science projects and especially perusing the photography contest.

Madison County Fair 4-H'ers

This young man was such a trooper; I could tell it was a bittersweet day for him as he explained with a little quiver in his voice how he raised his steer over the last year, feeding it several pounds of grain a day, and caring for it just to bring it to market at the county fair. You know he had been told not to get attached, but this young guy was brave enough to show he cared for his animal.

Prepping the sheep for sale

Black and White Photo Contest with John Batdorff!

Matt Dennison — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:06:40 +0000

Once again, we’re proud to sponsor a great Black & White Photo Contest with our friend John Batdorff! Last year’s contest had some incredible entries. We have even more prizes this year—from us and from Black Rapid, Nik Software, Peachpit Books, Digimarc and more! The contest starts today and entries close Sept. 18th. There will be lots [...]

New Ebook and Photo Contest from Guy Tal

Chris Klapheke — Mon, 02 May 2011 13:52:44 +0000

Our friend and contributor Guy Tal has been rather busy of late. In addition to publishing a new ebook, Guy is running a ten week creative photo contest, with new themes and prizes every week. Here's the lowdown on Guy's new projects: First, Guy's new ebook. Having previously brought us Creative Landscape Photography, Guy has now [...]

The Reality of Making Compelling Images

Robert Rodriguez Jr. — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:39:57 +0000

Self Portrait - Hudson Valley

I recently received the following question from a reader, and thought I would share my answers here – hopefully they offer some insights to help those of you with similar questions.

“…I can’t capture an outstanding mountain or river view…I know a big part of that is that my camera is a pocket camera, and I don’t have real editing software, but I’m curious if you could give suggestions or tips on how to really catch a remarkable view.”

I have written here many times about the role of technology in photography, and as many of you know I am definitely of the opinion that it doesn’t really matter. Yes it certainly helps in technical aspects such as resolution, sharpness, clarity, and over all image quality. But in my opinion, the single most important aspect of any photograph is it’s ability to convey a story, and create an emotional response in the viewer.

Winners Announced in our SmugMug Pro Giveaway!

Chris Klapheke — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:03:16 +0000

Congrats to our two winners in our SmugMug giveaway! Sharon Thomas of Santa Fe, New Mexico Debra Schmidt of Deltona, Florida These two photographers win a year of a SmugMug Pro account courtesy of OPG and our pals at SmugMug. Many thanks to Katherine at SmugMug!

SmugMug Pro Account Giveaway!

Matt Dennison — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:09:34 +0000

We’ve teamed up with leading photo hosting and sharing provider, SmugMug, to bring you another great giveaway! Win a SmugMug Pro Account for a year—a $150 value—in this new contest. We’re sold on SmugMug, especially their Pro Level. Their Pro level membership lets you proof, archive and sell your photos online. You get gorgeous galleries, full pricing control, unlimited photo and video uploads, full customization options and tools to protect your photos.

We have three easy ways to win, and each counts as an entry!

Like SmugMug on Facebook.
Like OPG on Facebook.
Leave a comment below on this blog article that you’d like to win.

We’ll pick the winners by random drawing on Friday April 1 (no fooling!) and notify the winners by email.

Good luck and thanks to our pals at SmugMug!

[youtube width="640" height="518"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHoJK2j0cqs[/youtube]

Winners Announced In Our Big Gear Giveaway!

Chris Klapheke — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 15:28:29 +0000

We have winners!

These folks were drawn randomly today and will be receiving an email shortly.

We are truly thankful of our friends and supporters from around the world.

Thanks to all who entered and watch for future giveaways!

Think Tank Retrospective 20 in Pinestone - Bill L. -Georgia
Cotton Carrier Carry-Lite - Mike N. -Florida
Westcott Apollo Softbox - Bobyo
Think Tank Speed Changer - William S. -Ohio
Alan Murphy’s Guide to Songbird Setups - Phil B. -New Zealand
Black Rapid SnapR Bag/Strap for Compact Cameras - Deb J.
Black Rapid RS-W1 Camera Strap for Women - Kim P.
Gitzo Rugby Shirt & Hat - Leo A. -Canada
Benro HVC Flexpod Tripod - Kevin S. -Nevada
Trek-Tek Cammock Universal Tripod Shelf - Nathan B. -Utah
PowerEx MH-C204W One Hour Charger - K. Wade
Trek-Tech TrekPod II Monopod - Leigh P. -Australia
Puffin Pad Lightweight Camera Support - Bill F. -Kentucky
Kata ABS-HD Air Bag - Paul W. -Illinois

Black and White Contest Winners Announced

John Batdorff — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:00:34 +0000

I want to say this was probably the hardest Black and White contest I’ve ever had the privilege of judging. Before I announce the winners I want to remind everyone that I enter contests every year and guess what? That’s right, I don’t always win. I know can you believe it…;) If there’s one thing [...]

Enter Our Black & White Photo Contest!

Matt Dennison — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:41:55 +0000

The last time we did a photo contest with John Batdorff, it was a huge success! We gave away a Black Rapid RS-W1 Women's strap to one lucky winner, and made a lot of new friends in the process. This time, we’ve added more prizes and categories for this new contest: Black and White images in Landscape, [...]

We Have A Winner in the Snow Monkey Caption Contest!

Matt Dennison — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:58:07 +0000

"Before that Nat Geo spread you could have this whole place to yourself … now just look at it!" –Tom Twigg Our friends at Digital Photo Experience, Rick Sammon and Juan Pons, have judged the best caption for our contest, and picked Tom Twigg's caption above. Lucky ( and creative) Tom gets his choice of NEOS [...]

Congrats to Ted Stark!

Chris Klapheke — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:06:55 +0000

Ted Stark is the winner of our Canon 5D Mark II giveaway contest. Thanks to Scott Bourne, this contest was “re-tweeeted” around the world! We couldn’t have a nicer guy for a winner: Theodore A. Stark is a Colorado native and an avid nature, wildlife, and architectural photographer. He also does portraiture work, focusing in the candid [...]

Win a $100 Gift Certificate!

Chris Klapheke — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:27:42 +0000

Win a $100 Gift Certificate to Store just by posting an image to the OPG flickr group. On October 1 we will randomly pick an image from the group and award that lucky photographer the certificate. Enter as many images as you like, up to 2 per day. Even if you don’t post, you will enjoy browsing [...]