Critique the Community
Abstract or Conceptual
Submit Your Best "Abstract" Images!
Congratulations to the winners!
Last month's Abstract themed Critique the Community was a huge success! The entries were really interesting, and the winning images are absolutely stunning!
For this specific contest, every single photographer with an image shown in the Critique has won a free tutorial from the Fstoppers Store, but for the sake of showcasing our top 3 images, we still wound up picking first, second, and third place winners which you can see here.
Congratulations to everyone who made the episode and to all the other amazing images that simply weren't chosen. If you want to participate in the next critique, for the month of August we are asking for your best "soft light" images. Head over to Fstoppers.com/Contest to find the latest critique and good luck to everyone who enters!
Rules & Prizes
For the entire month of July, we want to see your best abstract or conceptual photographs! Enter the Fstoppers Critique the Community and show off your best images showcasing a slightly different view of the world.
This month we want to open up the Critique the Community to those who capture the world in a truly unique way. For this contest, all submissions should showcase something photographed in an abstract, conceptual, or metaphysical way. We will leave that definition up to you, and feel free to enter images that feature people, places, objects, or even mixed media art. Anything goes this month but as always, make sure you explain how to created the photo and what your inspiration was for capturing the photo in the first place. Each community member can submit up to 3 images for this contest.
Rules
- All images must be submitted from now until July 30th at 11:30 PM Eastern Time.
- Every image submitted must include a short story on how you took the photo, what were the challenges, how you used natural or artificial lighting, what gear you used, and any other interesting insight on the image itself. Photos that do not include some backstory on how it was taken will not be picked to be featured in the Critique the Community episode.
- Each image needs to be abstract in some way. This is a subjective theme but do if an image does not appear to fit the abstract concept, it will not be picked.
Every Selected Image Wins!
This month we are rewarding every single image that makes the final Critique the Community video with a full photography tutorial from the Fstoppers Store (Prize value $300)
Good luck to everyone who enters and we look forward to seeing the best abstract photos from the Fstoppers Community!
Featured Image by the talented Alex Hill
Wed, 07/30/2025 - 23:30
This contest has ended.
202 people have cast a total of 12,269 votes on 380 entries from 191 participants
Contest Submissions
Click on the thumbnails below to comment and rate each image.
Click here to learn about the Fstoppers rating system and what each star value means.
53 Comments
Congrats to all those featured, each spectacular in their own way.
You guys really need to get conversant with ICM. With practice and patience, you can accurately gauge and achieve the results you were questioning.
I'm just here to complain about the rating system...just kidding, I'm interested in seeing everyone's photos this time around. I promise not to poach anyone's ideas, but I might try some out if they're interesting. :)
Feel free to copy my dandelions! (If you have liked them) :) these were some of my first macro approaches. I didn't even have a macro lens, only some extension tubes, so surely you can achieve way better photos than mine. But as these were some of my very first macro shots, I kind of like them...
Speaking of ratings. For me, I'm having a hard time rating many of them, because this genre usually doesn't speak to me. There are a some I'm willing to give a rating. I think for a photo that kinda just looks like black streaks, my rating is definitely going to be colored by my view of what it is. Very similar to a discussion before that has been put forward, that "Can you make your backyard trashcan a photography piece?" Maybe, but I wouldn't give you a 3 for it. So yes it is better sometimes to refrain from rating. I think this is the first time, I'm going to be practicing that the most.