Action: APOY 2023 Round Nine open for entries!

Round Nine of Amateur Photographer of the Year 2023 is now open! The theme is Action. Submit your best action and movement photos to our APOY 2023 competition, find out how below

Capturing a fast-moving subject in a fraction of a second is certainly a challenge, but when it comes off, you’re guaranteed a shot that will stand out. And there’s more to a successful image than setting the maximum frames-per-second on your camera and firing away. Anticipation and preparation play a huge part in getting a good shot, so take time to work out where your subject is likely to appear and which direction it will take. This applies whether you’re photographing a motorbike on a speedway track, a gymnast on a beam or a bird taking flight across a lake. For maximum stability when panning, hold your lens firmly from underneath and keep your elbows tight into your body. But don’t forget to try something a bit more creative, too, be that shooting in a variety of light conditions or setting a long shutter speed to give the impression of movement.

Amateur Photographer of the Year 2023 (APOY) – Round Nine, Action

Your guest judge, Mike Owen

Your guest judge for Round Nine, Action, is Mike Owen. With over 25 years in the photographic industry with Getty Images, Canon, Panasonic and now EIZO as head of marketing, Mike has been involved supporting professional photographers at Olympic Games, Football World Cups, Wimbledon and F1.
Mike’s been a judge for the World Sports Photography Awards and is a writer, editor and co-founder of 2POINT8 magazine, which is dedicated to the world’s best sports photographers.

ENTER AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2023, ROUND NINE, ACTION

The closing date for this round is 16th October 2023.

Martin Goff’s action shot of a female Redstart and Pied flycatcher was shortlisted in last year’s Action round

Need some guidance for your Action APOY 2023 entries? Check these guides out:

Young Amateur Photographer of the Year 2023

For the third time, we are running an APOY Young Photographer of the Year competition, in order to encourage our up-and-coming snappers. Entrants should be 21 years old or younger by the competition’s final closing date of 13 November 2023. All the categories are the same as for the main competition – simply select the Young APOY option on Photocrowd when you upload your images. This category is free to enter; each category winner receives a £250 voucher, and the overall winner receives a voucher for £500 to spend at MPB.

Max Hawkes was shortlisted in the Young APOY Action round with this motorsports image

ENTER YOUNG AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2023 – APOY ROUND NINE, ACTION

APOY 2023, Camera Club award

Do you belong to a camera club? You can accumulate points for your society when you enter APOY, and after all ten rounds are complete, the one with the most points wins a £500 voucher to spend at MPB, and a Rotolight NEO 3 Pro Imagemaker Kit worth £650. The kit includes one NEO 3 Pro, a custom NPF-770 battery, a pouch, diffuser dome, ballhead and cold shoe. It’s the brightest LED on-camera light ever made, and comes in a compact form factor you can take anywhere.

Plan your APOY 2023 entries

Below is a list of all this year’s rounds, including opening and closing dates:

Round One, Black & White: Opens 8th February. Closes 6th March

Round Two, Travel: Opens 7th March. Closes 3rd April

Round Three, Macro: Opens 4th April. Closes 2nd May

Round Four, Landscapes: Opens 3rd May. Closes 30th May

Round Five, Portraits: Opens 31st May. Closes 26th June

Round Six, Architecture: Opens 27th June. Closes 24th July

Round Seven, Street: Opens 25th July. Closes 21st August

Round Eight, Wildlife: Opens 22nd August. Closes 18 September

Now open: Round Nine, Action: Opens 19 September. Closes 16 October

Round Ten, Low Light: Opens 17 October. Closes 13 November

Amateur Photographer of the Year 2023 – What could you win?

The winner of each round of APOY 2023 receives a £500 voucher to spend on anything at MPB, with vouchers for £100 and £50 going second and third places respectively.

Canon’s flagship DSLR, the EOS-1S X Mark III is capable of shooting up to 20fps, and features Intelligent AF that’s capable of identifying different sports and track athletes even when they’re wearing goggles or a helmet. It has a 20MP full-frame CMOS sensor, a shutter-speed range of 30-1/8000sec and 191 AF points, of which 155 are cross-type. It can be found at MPB for £3,349 in like-new condition.

Best cameras for wildlife- Fujifilm X-T4

Fujifilm X-T4. Photo credit: Michael Topham

With a 26.1MP APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor, ISO range of 160-12800, 15fps continuous shooting and 5-axis in-body image stabilisation, the Fujifilm X-T4 was awarded five stars when reviewed in AP, and was described as ‘a phenomenally versatile camera’. It is available at MPB for £1,149 in like-new condition.

The pro-spec Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II lens features a wide aperture throughout its zoom range, making it ideal for action photography. It’s constructed from 21 elements in 16 groups, with seven of those being extra-low dispersion, is dust and moisture resistant and its barrel is made from magnesium alloy. This excellent workhorse can be found at MPB for £799 in excellent condition.

Check out mpb.com to take your pick from thousands of items of second-hand gear at MPB.

See our top camera picks for action and sports photography.