"Lucky Lightning" at Monroe's Black Bayou Lake NWR by Michael Gammon, awarded Honorable Mention 2025
Friends of Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge 2026 Annual Photo Contest
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Annual Photo Contest 2026We welcome you as a participant in the Friends of Black Bayou annual Photo Contest 2026! Celebrate our natural wonders with your unique perspectives! This year’s contest objectives are the same as always: to encourage protection of wildlife and conservation of natural resources through photographic skills and an appreciation of natural settings on the Refuge.
As always, there are no submission fees for your photos, so get your phones and cameras out and capture nature at its best. We encourage you to select your best photos and submit them by Oct. 1, 2026. Remember that feeding, harassing, removing, or otherwise interfering with wildlife on the Refuge is against federal law! Submissions Must Abide by Contest Rules 2026 Annual Photo Contest Rules as a Printable PDF file
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2025 Best in Show Charlie Heck Prize Winning Photo "Nature Provides”, by Photographer Tony Tramontana.
Photos that comply with the competition rules will be judged by three anonymous, well-qualified judges chosen by the FoBB photo committee.
Judging criteria:
All submitted photo files will become the property of FoBB, with proper photo credit given to the photographers if their photos are used or published, which may be done without notice. The photographers retain the right to use their own photos in any way they wish. The Charles Heck Memorial Grand Prize photo and all first-place photos will be printed and displayed in the Refuge Visitor Center in due course. A press release listing all the winning photos (including at least the Grand Prize image) will be sent to various news outlets. The winning photographs will be displayed for one year at The Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge Visitors' Center in Monroe, Louisiana when building access is restored.
View Past Photo Contest Winners for Inspiration!
Experience nature at the refuge complex through prior year submissions.
Photo Contest TipsFor machine readable text of the above presentation please download the pdf below
Other Tips for Success!
Study nature, as the more you know, the more you'll see! Anticipate opportunities. Be stealthy. The best wildlife camera is the one you have with you. Golden hours (early morning and evening) are optimal for photographing wildlife as creatures are preoccupied with feeding and come closer, and the light quality is outstanding. Be quick! Seconds count! Check your results on site, to remedy issues for images that can be re-shot. Blue light 20 minutes before dawn or after sunset can be nicely moody, but normally we can only be on the refuges from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset, so the time is tight. Take advantage of weather conditions, periods after rain, seasonal opportunities, special programs that allow night visitation, Full-Moon Walks & Frog Walks, etc. Use your pixels wisely! With your subject's well-being in mind, try to fill the frame with your subject without having to crop-in too much. Move your camera to try new perspectives and vary orientation. Check that your subject is in sharp focus, animals' eyes should be in focus ideally, except in unusual circumstances. Mobile Phone Cameras: Practice your close-up technique on small items to hone your technique. If you are using a cell phone camera, set the image quality high when you have a promising subject (Same with video settings.). The default setting isn't good enough for entries. With your subject's well-being in mind, try to fill the frame with subjects without using so much electronic zoom that it degrades the picture. Digital cameras: Don't use Automatic White Balance (AWB kills natural color), set your White Balance to Cloudy or Shade to capture the subtlety of ambient light. For best detail set as low ISO as your safe shutter speed will allow for your lens length, use camera/lens stabilization and support your camera to avoid shake. Try modifying your settings for sharpness, saturation and contrast in-camera and use your preferred settings. Shooting RAW format and editing later gives you the greatest scope of options. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING and GOOD LUCK!! Please direct any contest questions, comments and concerns to [email protected]
PLEASE LET US KNOW IF WE HAVE ANY INFORMATION INCORRECT. Our volunteers have made all efforts to attribute each photo properly and get all the names and titles correct. BUT we are humans, and if we missed something or made an error, we want to know. Please email any corrections to [email protected] and let us know what needs correction. It will be helpful to have the words "PHOTO CREDIT CORRECTION" in all caps in the subject line of your email. THANKS for helping us get it right!
