Red Bull has returned once again with its action and adventure sports photography competition, Red Bull Illume. This marks the fifth iteration of Red Bull’s photo competition and with it comes a few changes.
Most notably, the competition will now run once every two years instead of every three years. Additionally, Red Bull has added four new categories, bringing this year’s total to 11 individual categories.
A panel of 50 international photo editors and digital media experts will select the top 55 finalists—five per category—before ultimately deciding the 11 category winners and one overall winner. In November 2019, the winners will be unveiled at a winner award ceremony. Following the ceremony, the 55 finalist images will travel around the world to be showcased in indoor and outdoor exhibitions.
Below are the 11 categories in this year’s competition, with an explainer, provided by Red Bull, of what each category is (the new ones will be marked with an asterisk):
Best of Instagram by SanDisk* — Images submitted on Instagram – photographer’s most gram- worthy moments of show-stopping adventure and action sports. Stuff so cool you have to stop scrolling.
Creative by Skylum — Images that have been enhanced digitally or in the darkroom through alterations made in the production or digital editing process. This is an open category so anything goes!
Emerging* — A fresh approach offers new angles. The up-and-coming category is for rising talents to compete on similar footing – submissions accepted only from photographers 25 years old or less. No video, no image manipulation. Show us your greatest capture!
Energy — Images that demonstrate the force that powers an action and show the energy, speed and strength required for an athlete to perform.
Innovation by Sony — Images that reveal a unique angle, a visual idea, a different format, light and flash effects… something never seen before! It‘s the purely creative image.
Lifestyle — Images that visually capture the creativity of the lifestyle, music and culture that surrounds action and freesports, or represents what happens before, between, and after the action.
Masterpiece — Images that illuminate your artistic skill, your personal best, your unique style – give us your best shot!
Moving Images* — Images are no longer standing still. The Moving Image category is an open playing field for video sequences between 5 and 30 seconds. Ready… set… action!
Playground — Images that showcase the landscapes, locations, platforms, and environments in which athletes play.
RAW* — Shots that are straight out of the camera showcasing the real image. Composition, exposure, lighting done in front of the lens and in the scene, not behind a screen. That’s the Raw category — un-cropped, un-touched, no filter.
Wings — Images that capture the point in a performance in which the athlete jumps, catches air, free falls, soars.
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The winners of the eleven individual category prizes will win a collection of prizes valued at that include a Sony a7 III with the 24-105 F4 G Master Lens, a ‘bundle’ of SanDisk memory cards, Skylum Luminar 3 with accompanying presets, and photography apparel/accessories from COOPH. Separately, the winner of the ‘Creative by Skylum’ category will be welcomed on as part of the Global Skylum Ambassador Team and the winner of the ‘Emerging by Red Bull Photography’ category will get a spot at the Red Bull Rising Talent photography workshop in 2020, travel, accommodation and boarding included.
Finally, the overall winner of the Red Bull Illume Image Quest 2019 will win ‘a shooting experience with the SanDisk Extreme Team and take home the Sony Alpha A9 camera with a 24-70mm f2.8 lens from the G-Master range.’
Any image captured after March 31, 2016 is eligible for the contest and submissions are open through July 31, 2019. After signing up for a Red Bull Illume account, you can submit up to 10 images in each of the eleven categories. An image can be used in no more than two categories; photographs must be JPEGs larger than 8MP and videos for the ‘Moving Image’ category must be Full HD (1080p) and between 5-30 seconds.
Red Bull has provided a thorough list of rules and regulations for the contest and the images submitted to it. Red Bull has also shared a video showing how to upload submissions to the contest. You can find the winners from past competitions on the Red Bull Illume website.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
