Are you looking for a photography competition that would be
FUN, FAIR and FREE?
Don’t look any further because only Captain Focus has it all.
SIMPLE, EASY, QUICK, COOL & WORLDWIDE PHOTO BATTLEGROUND
Earn points, credits, awards and prizes not only for being a good photographer but also a good judge.
Good and responsible voting matters.
- eye pleasing dark style photo competition website with 80’s retro touch
- new photo challenges every week
- each contest lasts 2 weeks
- in first week choose any active photo contest and upload your photos
- in second week browse through photos in a competition, select up to 50 best pictures and when ready use your 100 votes to give either 1,2,3,4 or 5 votes to those selected photos
- more votes you bet, more points you can earn if the voted photo ends up high
- get results and rewards at the end of the second week
- keep active for better chance to make it up to the top of the scoreboard
Captain Focus provides you with just enough contests to choose from but not too many to create a mess.
Quality over quantity.
FAIR PLAY
- NO pressure and no need to keep your exposure up or to boost it. Our programming scripts are doing their best to keep SAME EXPOSURE FOR ALL PHOTOS in a battle.
- NO blind voting and clicking on whatever photos. We prefer QUALITY and thus we REWARD good voters.
- NO tricks like waiting for the right time to upload or the right time to vote to achieve higher score.
- NO pay to win. Our basic games are FREE and if you are interested in earning financial prizes you are welcome to do so in our EXCLUSIVE contests. Results from paid contests have no impact on scoreboards.
- Multiple times reported photos are automatically removed from the contest and then manually checked for validity of reports.
- To avoid problems, Top 100 photos in every contest are examined by Captain Focus team before we release the official results.
- If the game is FREE, where’s the catch?
Yes, it is totally possible to win our photo contest, get badges or make it up to the top of our leaderboards without ever spending a dime. Fair and square for everybody. However developing, maintaining, hosting and administration of such a website comes with a cost of course. We hope to get resources for this purpose through exclusive contests and by giving you the option to buy extra credit packages to improve your chances for high scores. For example, on top of using your 2 FREE photo upload slots, you can use credits to unlock more slots in case you have, let’s say, 7 awesome photos suitable for that particular challenge etc. - Get 35 FREE credits just for signing up and use them as you like. Credits are valid for both free and exclusive photo contests. If you only have 2 suitable photos for our regular contest have no worries, that’s all you need, because we calculate points achieved by your two best photos in a contest. If you only have one but really perfect shot for the photo challenge it’s still worth entering because it might be a winner and that comes with a lot’s of points plus credits.
- In other photo competitions there is only the winner or first three places being rewarded with prize money or valuable gifts.
In Captain Focus exclusive contests we can reward more photographers in top positions considering there are enough resources accumulated in a pool. More photo contestants, more resources. You can enter exclusive contest by using credits.
For better flexibility, prizes are decided individually for each exclusive contest on the fly.
Captain Focus free photo competition was created as a long term photography game.
There are 3 main goals to achieve.
1.) Get your name on the “Best of 10” Leaderboard
Why is it called Best of 10? Because there are scores from your best 10 contests put together. For example if you competed in 42 contests, you would have achieved some score in each of them, so we take your scores from 10 contests where you were most successful and put them together to get final number. This number will stay without change unless you get more points in some of you next contests.
Example: Your best 10 scores would be 1300, 1250, 1200, 1110, 1030, 1000, 960, 955, 940, 900. That makes your total score for your best ten photo battles equal 10645 points. Now in your next photo challenge if you reach score higher than 900, let’s say 950, then your lowest score in top 10, which is 900, would be replaced by 950 changing your new total to 10695 points and your new lowest number to beat would be 940 etc.
There are three Best of 10 leaderboards and they are for VOTING, for PHOTOGRAPH and TOTAL (voting and photo combined together). What is awesome about this system is that you will never lose your score even if you stop competing for a while and also it does not matter when you start competing, because to make it to the top all you need is 10 perfect contests 🙂
2.) Win a photo contest
Winning at least one photography challenge might be an ultimate satisfaction for most photographers. You would get high score, credits, you would be featured on our website, your photo would be visible on past contests winners card and our Instagram etc. However winner can be only one and we believe that while being best one in between 100 feels awesome, being in top 10 in 1000 photographers crowd or being in top 100 in 10000 people competition is equally as good and also it will be nicely rewarded when it comes to points and credits. Stay active and keep shooting those awesome pictures because in a crowd of many participants there is more than just one winner, right? Good luck!
3.) Get some of our Achievement Badges
There are plenty of various Achievement badges to obtain. Some for uploading more photos, some for voting, photography, combined, some are special and we also have Captain Focus awards that our team can give to randomly selected pictures. Some of the awards come with extra credits for you. Good example is “High 5” that comes with 25 credits 🙂
While there are many of them to get quite easy, there are also HARD TO GET awards that many of you can try as a challenge. For example our BOSS award requires you to win both 1st and 2nd place in the same battle…. not an easy task!
Full list of achievements (awards) with explanation can be found HERE.
Compare your photography skills against the rest of the world. Find inspiration in those “cool shots”, try new photo challenges and enjoy the beauty of the winning pictures.
Respect all, vote for the best!
Sign up now and receive 35 credits!
About
What is this website about?
It is about comparing your photos versus the world, about being photography competition judge and about thrill from betting on photos.
What is evaluated?
All your uploaded photos will be judged by other users and the winning order will be determined by the number of votes earned. At the end only 2 best of all your photos will count in final evaluation and score calculation.
What can I gain in the competition?
You can earn credits, rewards, achievements and prizes and make it up to the Overal Top100 leaderboard.
How often are new battles?
Every week 3 new contests are launched.
How long does the battle last?
The battle lasts 2 weeks. The first week is the photo upload phase and the next week is the select and vote phase. The last two days have been set for us to do the internal review and announcement of winners.
What does fair and square mean in this competition?
Means that there is no pressure, upload when you want, vote/bet when you want, no secret tricks to get more votes, all photos have the same exposure as much as technically possible.
Is it possible to sell my photos through this website?
Not directly, but on your account page you can attach links to other websites, where you already have your store established.
How is this website free if there are also paid contests?
These paid contests are independent from our regular ones. They will NOT affect the scoreboards, they are voluntary and you can actually use the credits you earn in regular contest to enter them for free. Sounds cool, right?
Registration and account
How to create an account?
Creating account is free and easy, just follow the steps after you click on Sign-up button or when you try to enter our contest for the very first time. You will also be given FREE welcome credits.
Can I use my own photo instead of avatar?
Absolutely! Even though we have plentiful selection of various avatars, you can still use a picture of your own.
Rights and ownership
Will Captain Focus sell my pictures?
Captain Focus will not sell your images to another third party.
Will I retain all rights to the images I submit to CF?
Yes, you maintain full ownership and copyright of any and all photos you submit. Your photos will not become a public domain. Captain Focus might only display them on Captain Focus website and Captain Focus social media. That would happen i.e. if you win a competition or if we find your photo very interesting and worth displaying. Your name/nickname would also be displayed as we want to show who the author of that awesome shot is.
Paid competitions
What is a paid competition?
Special independent voluntary contest with small entry fee. The prizes are financial and the score does not count in our regular contests. Our overall leaderboard does not reflect paid competitions.
Can I use credits to enter a paid contest?
Yes you can! The amount of credits you have to spend will be specified for each paid contest.
Upload
When can I upload my photos into contest?
You can upload your pictures during upload week (2 for free or more for credits). In case you still have available slots you can upload also during voting week but only for credits.
How many photos can I upload?
Each contest has 2 free slots and 6 extra slots for photos. It is good to always fill up at least those 2 free slots as only the best two of all your photos are included in final evaluation. More photos in contest however give you more chances.
Do I have a better chance of winning when I upload more photos?
Yes, you have better chance of getting a better position, but only the 2 best photos are always evaluated. If say you have uploaded 5 photos and they are placed in ranks 15,16,25,35,112, then only those in 15 and 16 are considered.
What is maximum allowed resolution of picture?
Maximum size is 6000px longer side. (or up to 6000×6000) We strongly recommend to resize the picture to 1920px longer side to avoid possible upload errors.
What is suggested resolution of picture?
Suggested size is 1920px longer side. (or up to 1920×1920). Please resize your photo prior uploading.
Do we keep the resolution of uploaded photos?
No, if the photos are too big, they are automatically scaled down for easier storage and manipulation. The quality is kept as close as possible to original.
Can I upload the free to use photos I find on internet?
Absolutely NOT! You MUST be the owner / creator of every photo you upload. If reported, you will be banned from our website and/or prosecuted by rightful owner.
Select
How does the select / vote phase work?
This phase consists of two parts. Selecting part, where you browse the photos in contest and pick the ones with best chance to score high or to win. From these selected photos, you then bet your votes (1,2,3,4 or 5) on photos depending on how you like them.
How many photos can I select?
You can select up to 50 photos in the shortlist for free or spend credits for extra 50 slots and for extra chance to win or score high.
Is it possible to select more photos?
Yes, you can use credits in each battle to expand your selection by extra 50 photos.
Do I have to completely fill up my select?
No, but it makes sense and it is suggested you use all available slots in your select for later voting/betting.
Can I make changes in my select?
During browsing the photos and choosing them to your select it is easy to unselect them just by clicking/tapping them again, however once you submit them to your select you can only make changes for credits, whether it is unselecting one single photo or resetting whole select.
Voting
Can I vote in a contest where I don’t have any photos of my own?
Yes you can and it is also strongly suggested because you have more chances to get high score in voting part of your total score. It may help you to move up in the overall leaderboard.
Why should I vote for other photos?
A part of the score is also the evaluation of your opponents. The more votes you bet on good photos, the more score you will get and they will be counted in overall leaderboard score.
How many votes can I give to selected photos?
You have 100 votes that you can divide between selected photos. The maximum number of votes for one photo is 5.
Do I have to vote for each selected photo?
No, selected photos serve as a narrow selection. In this selection you can then choose how many votes to give to each photo.
Why can I give a photo more votes?
When voting, you select the best photos. If the photo you choose places well and if you gave it more votes, more you can win.
Do I have to give all the votes?
You don’t have to give all the votes, however but by not giving out all the votes, you might lose some precious points in the final score.
What is the best strategy to bet.
There are 3 main strategies. Pick best 20 photos in your select and give them 5 votes each, or spread your votes evenly in between all photos in your select, or start with the best ones to give them 5 votes and then those that deserve 4 in your opinion, then 3, 2 and 1. In case you want to get Safe Bet award, you have to have 100 photos in your select and bet 1 vote on each.
Reporting
How to report a photo?
If you feel like the photo is not meeting the requirements of contest or you find it inappropriate or offensive, you can report it by clicking/tapping the flag.
Credits
What are credits for?
Credits can be used to upload extra photos to the contest, or reset voted photos, buy extra slots in your select, buy other extras or to enter our paid only contests.
How can I get credits?
You receive some free credits upon signing up. You can also buy credits or get them for good placing in the contest.
Awards and badges
What awards and badges are available and how to get them?
All awards are explained HERE
Leaderboard
What is the scoreboard?
Scoreboard is your score statistics from past contests that you participated in.
What does a leaderboard mean for each competition?
The leaderboard is the final comparison of the players within specific contest, where you can see how you ended up compared to the others.
What is the overall leaderboard?
It’s the leaderboard based on every contestant’s 10 best scores in all past contests.
Why are only 10 best scores considered?
It’s the best way to guarantee that everybody can get to Top 100 overall leaderboard no matter if competed in only 10 or several hundreds of contests. Otherwise those competing for long time would be impossible to catch or beat.
Do I loose my score if I take a break from playing for longer time?
No, your total high score for your best 10 contests will stay the same and you can only improve it by reaching more points in next contests.