Real Time

Registration for PPA’s International Photographic Competition (IPC) opens July 9. Like this year’s event, IPC will be judged live at Imaging USA on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3, 2025.

Live judging for the revamped IPC at Imaging USA in January was a rousing success. On the first day of the competition, competitors were narrowed down to four finalists in each of the 16 categories. On the second day, the 64 finalists and Imaging USA attendees filled the audience to witness in real-time the evaluations of each entry and see the winners for best image in each category announced and presented with Diamond awards. Those best-in-category winners (featured below) each received a trophy and a $1,000 prize.

IPC culminated with the Grand Imaging Awards ceremony, where a live audience observed the panel of five jurors onstage as they narrowed down the last 16 Diamond winners to one overall Grand Imaging Award winner.

Excitement was high as images were presented side-by-side on a large screen, and jurors cast their votes to decide which image would advance in the brackets. Booray Perry, M.Photog.M.Wed.Photog.Cr., CPP, emceed the event, and prompted judges to share their thoughts on the images as the pool narrowed toward one final winner.

Who made each bracket? Find out below. Ultimately, Gary D. Jones took home the Grand Imaging Award and a check for $10,000 for his image titled “The Destination Ahead.” The winning image features his mother, whom he brought as his guest to the ceremony. Jones made “The Destination Ahead” at The Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He describes himself as a bus enthusiast and had always wanted a photo of his mother on a bus. “We rode buses like the one in the image in my hometown of Petersburg, Virginia,” he says. “I tried to get this image several times [and] it finally came together with the right lighting and the right bus.”  

©Gary D. Jones Photography / Nova Photographic
Natural Portrait

Destination Ahead
Gary D. Jones, CPP
Gary D. Jones Photography / Nova Photographic
Washington, D.C.

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R6, Canon RF50mm F1.8 STM lens
EXPOSURE: 1/1,000 second at f/1.8, ISO 640
LIGHTING: Natural light
POST-CAPTURE: Gary D. Jones used Adobe Lightroom to change the image from color to black and white and made adjustments to highlights and shadows.

©Erica Manning
High School Seniors

The Surgeon
Erica Manning, M.Photog., CPP
Erica Manning Photography
Columbus, Ohio

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS R5, Canon RF28-70mm F2 L USM lens
EXPOSURE: 1/125 second at f/6.3, ISO 100
LIGHTING: The main light was an Elinchrom ELC 500 with an Elinchrom Rotalux Deep Octa Softbox (39-inch) above and slightly right in front of the subject. The fill light was an Elinchrom ELC 500 with a 5-foot parabolic bounce umbrella double diffused behind the camera.
POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Lightroom, Erica Manning did basic color and exposure correction. In Photoshop, she did frequency separation, dodging and burning, and color grading, and composited the image of the Cadillac as the background.

©David Soldano
Reportage / Photojournalism

Winter at the Ranch
David Soldano, M.Photog.
American Photo Treks
Colorado Springs, Colorado

CAMERA & LENS: Sony a9, Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS lens
EXPOSURE: 1/2,000 second at f/7.1, ISO 320
LIGHTING: Natural light
POST-CAPTURE: In Adobe Photoshop, David Soldano cropped the top and the bottom of the image to zoom in on the riders, horses, and mountains, and desaturated the artificial blue color cast. He used Nik Viveza 5 for basic dodging and burning and to brighten the black horse against the white snow.

©Doug Bennett
Landscape

Desert Sculpture
Doug Bennett, M.Photog.Cr.
Bennett Photography
Colorado Springs, Colorado

CAMERA & LENS: DJI Mavic 2 Pro, Hasselblad HCD 4/28 lens
EXPOSURE: 0.5 second at f/2.8, ISO 100
LIGHTING: Natural light
POST-CAPTURE: The raw conversion was done in Adobe Camera Raw. Remaining adjustments to color and contrast were done using Adobe Camera Raw, Nik Color Efex Pro, and Photoshop.


Day of Wedding

©JENNIFER STITT, FOX & BRAZEN PHOTOGRAPHY /

Riding a Bike
Jennifer Stitt
Fox & Brazen
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS-1D X Mark III, Canon EF 200mm f/2L IS lens
EXPOSURE: 1/400 second at f/2, ISO 200
LIGHTING: Natural light
POST-CAPTURE: Jennifer Stitt used Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for spot removal, dodging and burning, and to remove the hands from the dress toss. She converted the image to black and white, as the groom’s neon green socks and matching bike were distracting for the final image.

©Aly Elliott
Children and Teens

Troupe of One
Aly Elliott, M.Photog.M.Artist.Cr., CPP
Roots and Wings Photography
Bloomington, Indiana

CAMERA & LENS: Nikon D300S, Tamron SP 24-70mm F2.8 Di VC USD G2 lens
EXPOSURE: 1/250 second at f/11, ISO 400
LIGHTING: A 50-inch soft box was camera right.
POST-CAPTURE: “I prefer dark images and muted colors,” says Aly Elliott. “I am colorblind, so I check shadows and lights meticulously in Photoshop.”

©Kenny Richard
Commercial

So Fresh and So Clean
Kenny Richard, M.Photog., CPP
Kenny Richard Photography
Fort Worth, Texas

CAMERA & LENS: Canon R6 Mark II, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM lens with a Hoya PRO1D Circular PL filter
EXPOSURE: 1/10 second at f/8, ISO 320
LIGHTING: Available light
POST-CAPTURE: In Photoshop, Kenny Richard adjusted exposure, contrast, texture, clarity, sharpening, noise reduction, highlights, and shadows. He used color correction adjustment layers to remove unwanted hues throughout the image and selection layers to remove stainless steel reflections and bring in detail on the floors from the under-cabinet lighting. He also removed the air conditioning vents from the ceiling and used the Transform tool to straighten lines and perspective.

©Hayes & Fisk Photography
Newborn and Maternity

BraveHeart
Mary Fisk-Taylor, M.Photog.Hon.M.Photog.M.Wed.Photog.Cr., CPP
Hayes & Fisk Photography
Richmond, Virginia

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS 5D Mark III, Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM lens
EXPOSURE: 1/125 second at f/11, ISO 100
LIGHTING: The main light was a Profoto D1 500 with a 3x4-foot Profoto soft box; the fill light was a Profoto D1 500 with a 3-foot Profoto octabox; the two bounce lights off the ceiling were Profoto D1 500s.
POST-CAPTURE: Mary Fisk-Taylor used Photoshop for basic retouching and used the History Brush in screen and multiply modes for burning.

©Ashleigh Taylor Henning
Illustrative Portrait

Red Light District
Ashleigh Taylor Henning

©Preston Newell
Boudoir

Is it Really Over?
Preston Newell
Newell Photography
Boulder, Colorado

CAMERA & LENS: Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-120mm lens
EXPOSURE: 1/160 second at f/6.3, ISO 2000
LIGHTING: Preston Newell used a Rotolight AEOS Pro 2 system with California Sunbounce reflectors.
POST-CAPTURE: Newell used Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop and Topaz Denoise. He converted the image from color to black and white, which corrected the color cast that was created when the highlights in the window were reduced, and diminished the distraction of the bright purple wallpaper in the room.

©Kenzie Hunter
Illustrative / Digital Art

‘Rhi’ Do You Test My Patience?!
Kenzie Hunter, M.Photog.M.Artist
The Copper Fox Studio & Creative
Fort Calhoun/Omaha, Nebraska

CAMERA & LENS: Cell phone
LIGHTING: Available light
POST-CAPTURE: Kenzie Hunter digitally painted the cell phone image, which was made at a museum, in Photoshop, reworking the color grading many times to get the perfect balance of cold night tones and warm tungsten lamplight and to ensure the complementary colors brought out the emotion of the story. She painted the horn-rimmed glasses and sleeping cap to add more humanity to the image.

©Megan Drane of Firefly Nights Photography
Portrait Groups / Families

A Life Cut Short by the Fates
Megan Drane, M.Photog.M.Artist.
Firefly Nights Photography
Naperville, Illinois

CAMERA & LENS: Sony a7R, Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 G lens
EXPOSURE: 1/200 second at f/10, ISO 400
LIGHTING: Einstein lights with Paul C. Buff modifiers
POST-CAPTURE: Using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, Megan Drane made one head swap, edited the copper wire thread to make it glow, and edited one subject’s skin to make it appear older. She strove for a balance of orange and blue hues in the image.    

©Jie Fischer
Wildlife

Migrating Gnux
Jie Fischer

©Emily Pearl Photography
Pets and Domestic Animals

Birds Eye View
Emily Pearl Drew
Emily Pearl Photography
Salt Lake City, Utah

CAMERA & LENS: Sony Alpha 7R III, Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 Di III VXD G2 lens
EXPOSURE: 1/250 second at f/3.5, ISO 100
LIGHTING: The main light was a Flashpoint Xplor 600 with a Profoto XL Umbrella Deep White with double diffusion, feathered with the bottom of the light at chin height, behind and above the subject camera right. V-flats were used for fill and negative fill, and light from an open basement door was about eight feet behind the subject camera left. 
POST-CAPTURE: Emily Pearl Drew used Photoshop, Imagenomic Portraiture, and Exposure Software for digital painting, compositing of the dress and frame, and color grading.

©Joe Lai
Pre-Wedding Stylized Shoot

Black and Gold
Joe Lai
Joe Lai Photography
Taichung, Taiwan

CAMERA & LENS: Sony Alpha 7R III, Sony FE 12-24mm F4 G lens
EXPOSURE: 1/80 second at f/4, ISO 200
LIGHTING: A Godox AD600 strobe with a 110-centimeter octabox was 45 degrees camera left.
POST-CAPTURE: Using Capture One, Joe Lai corrected lens aberration, highlights, and shadows. In Photoshop, he softened the tonality of the stone wall and stairs lightly, enhanced the lighting, and enriched the color. He also adjusted the white wedding dress to black. He used dodge and burn techniques to emphasize the chiffon’s details and made slight adjustments to the stairway for visual appeal.

©Jerry W. Venz
Sports

Rodeo Chaos!
Jerry W. Venz, M.Photog.Cr.
The Goboist
Lancaster, California

CAMERA & LENS: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM lens
EXPOSURE: 1/2,500 second at f/5, ISO 800
LIGHTING: Natural light
POST-CAPTURE: Jerry W. Venz opened up the shadows using Adobe Camera Raw and cropped the image in Photoshop.

Amanda Arnold is a senior editor.