Generally we choose themes for You Win based on the time of year or a certain sport, and the theme doesn’t need to be explained much beyond a few words. But we’ve noticed a lot of pictures in the Flickr group recently where there is some small detail that is completely overshadowed by the rest of the frame. And the point we are trying to make with April’s You Win is this: if you’re leaning on a small detail to make an ordinary picture something more, you need to be in close enough to give that detail a chance to make an impact.

As we have discussed, if you’re 150 yards away, a race car going over a curb causing one tire to catch six inches of air has almost no impact at all. The viewer’s eye has to hunt around the frame to find the one thing that makes it different, but it’s not all that different, and it’s so small that the payoff is muted at best.

So the theme for this month’s competition is a mashup of one we’ve done in the past (Parts) and one we’re talking about now (Detail). So the goal is to get in close and capture a bloody nose, a ripped jersey, or the impact of a soccer ball on a player’s forehead. But make it scream and demand your viewers’ attention.

***Entries don’t have to be rodeo pictures, that’s just all I have on my laptop at the moment.***

Matt

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