Adobe Students Presents #ReflectionStories Photography Contest

The beginning of a new year is a time for reflection. That’s why Adobe Students is excited to partner with travel photographer, Paola Franqui, best known for her #reflectionstories series on Instagram, on our first creative challenge of 2019.

Together, we invite you to see your world from a new angle or perspective by capturing a passing moment of reflection. You might find it in a doorway, a rainy puddle or the window of a moving bus. Get out in the rain or snow and put your creative photography skills to the test for a chance to win some amazing prizes, including:

1. 25 finalists will receive a complimentary one-year, Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan subscription and Paola’s Adobe Lightroom Preset Pack.
2. 1 grand prize winner will also receive an iPad Pro.

To help you capture an amazing photo, we’re sharing Paola’s tips and tricks and giving away one of her Lightroom presets to give your reflection photos an added punch of awesome (see below for both). If you don’t know, Adobe Lightroom is a powerful tool for creative photography editing and one of Paola’s favorite apps on the go. Download a free trial of Lightroom CC.

How to enter the #reflectionstories challenge

1. Follow Adobe Students on Instagram (@AdobeStudents).
2. Grab your phone or camera and capture a passing moment of reflection that may never happen again. You may see it in a face, in a puddle or even in a foggy window… the possibilities are endless.
3. Download a preset from Paola (scroll to the bottom of the page for instructions on how to import and edit a preset).
4. Edit the photo in Adobe Lightroom CC using the preset.
5. Share the edited photo on Instagram. Make sure your Instagram is set to public.
6. Tag @AdobeStudents and include the hashtags #reflectionstories #contest

5 Tips for Capturing #reflectionstories

To help you capture your #reflectionstories photo, we asked Paola to share her top 5 tips and tricks:

1. The closer you are to a glass surface, the less it will reflect. Try stepping back or shifting the camera angle.

2. Reflections in store windows can make for fascinating compositions with the overlap of subjects inside and outside.

3. Take multiple images. Taking plenty of shots to record the constant changes increases your chances of finding at least one image that works.

4. If you are having a hard time focusing, switch to manual focus. Most of the time, this will do the trick.

5. Have fun with it! Change your angle and move around to find the best place from which to take your photograph so you appear in the image.

Follow these steps to download & import the presets into Lightroom CC

1. Click the download link of the preset
2. Open Adobe Lightroom CC
3. Select File > Import Profiles and Presets
4. Select the downloaded preset file and click ‘Import’
5. Open the photo you would like to edit, click the edit toolbar on the right-hand side of Lightroom and then you’ll find the imported preset when you select the ‘Presets’ button.

No purchase necessary. Enter by February 1, 2019. Must be a college student or recent graduate and 18+. For complete details, eligible countries, and promotional item descriptions see official rules. Void where prohibited. Originator: Adobe

Winners will be announced on February 28, 2019.