We're considering launching the First Annual WaterPixels Underwater Photography Contest, and before we go too far with planning and development, we'd like to hear from the community.

The idea is to create an annual WaterPixels competition judged by a panel of underwater photographers, with categories covering different styles of underwater photography.

Winning images would be featured in the official WaterPixels 2027 Calendar, which would be available for purchase through the WaterPixels Shop. Each photographer selected for the calendar would receive a complimentary copy. A dedicated contest page will be added to the site to list winners each year with optional Bio, Contact info listed on the site for some exposure if wanted, or simply just simple photo credit.. its up to the winner what the would like.

We're considering an entry fee of $5 per image, with photographers able to enter up to 10 images total, with a maximum of 3 images in any one category.

The contest isn't intended to be a major commercial competition. Entry fees and proceeds from calendar sales would go toward supporting the costs of hosting, maintaining, and continuing to develop the WaterPixels community.

We're also considering a Members' Choice Award, giving WaterPixels members the opportunity to vote for their favorite images from the finalists.

Before we put the work into making this happen, we'd really like to know if this is something our members would actually participate in. Ive started a Contest management system for just this but before I get in to some serious time on it.. just want to see what we are looking at for interest. If low response.. we will just table it until next year and ask again and ill work on other things for the site.

Please vote in the poll and leave a comment with your thoughts, suggestions, or concerns. We'd especially like to hear what would make you more—or less—likely to enter.

What about video category?

well we can't put a video in a calendar.. 😂 working on making the site more videographer friendly thou. Possibly later add some sort of contest for video if the user base wants it.

This is a great initiative to bring the community closer and showcase everyone's work. The calendar and the Members' Choice Award are solid ideas to support the platform.

Please take a moment to vote in the poll and leave your feedback below, whether you plan to enter or have suggestions on the format. The team needs our input to understand if this is worth launching, so every comment helps.

To be honest, I like the idea of the photography contest, although having to pay for each photo entered doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

I think that selling a calendar featuring the winning images could raise funds for the forum, so there wouldn't need to be an entry fee—at least, that's how I see it.

On 8/30/2026 at 4:34 AM, RichN said:

We're considering an entry fee of $5 per image, with photographers able to enter up to 10 images total, with a maximum of 3 images in any one category.

45 minutes ago, canislupus said:

To be honest, I like the idea of the photography contest, although having to pay for each photo entered doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

I think that selling a calendar featuring the winning images could raise funds for the forum, so there wouldn't need to be an entry fee—at least, that's how I see it.

I'm totally the same opinion.

I see it from the other side: If there is a photocontest... it will be a generator of click --> $ If the photo are really good for sur year after years the trafic will increase... I hope that this will increase the advertising revenu

Thanks for the honest feedback—this is exactly why we asked before building the whole thing, more feedback is welcome. I will leave the poll up until it expires and also welcome more discussion.

A few things may not be clear.

The companies that have banners on our forum are supporters of WaterPixels and not truly advertisers. We do not receive payment, and we see the banners as a way of helping members reach companies we believe are of value. We are looking into the possibility of charging for these banners in the future.

The forum, gallery, and articles will remain free. What we’re exploring are optional extras that provide value to members while helping the community support itself.

As you know, forum membership is free. WaterPixels staff cover the operating costs. This is not really sustainable in the long term, and we need to identify a way to raise the necessary revenue.

Based on today’s pricing, it costs approximately $720 per year—or $60 per month—to operate WaterPixels. That covers VPS hosting for the forum, gallery, and uploads; the domain name; daily off-site backups; SSL; and the Invision Community self-hosted license. As the photo library grows, storage and backup costs may grow with it.

No single source is likely to cover that amount. Merchandise, useful optional features, community events, donations, and appropriate sponsor support can each contribute. Together, they may allow WaterPixels to become self-sustaining.

We already sell merchandise, with the profit going to the site account. We’ve made some sales, but they’ve been sporadic and haven’t generated as much support as we had hoped. Members have also made donations, which we genuinely appreciate.

The contest was intended to do two things: create a fun community photography event and provide a little support for the platform. The calendar would have been printed on demand, with each winner receiving a copy. Entry fees were intended to cover those copies and contribute something toward the site—not turn WaterPixels into a commercial contest.

That said, we’ve heard your concerns about charging $5 per image. The cost can add up quickly for members who want to submit several photos, so we agree that a per-image fee isn’t the right approach.

Rather than rushing the event—or the development of the management system needed to run contests properly—we’re pulling back from holding one this year. Instead, we may organize a community photography event in early 2027, potentially with sponsor support. That would give us time to develop the necessary tools, work through the details with members, and create an event that is well planned and worthwhile.

After that event, we can revisit the idea of a fundraising calendar as a separate community discussion. Nothing has been decided, and any future calendar proposal would take the feedback we’ve received into account.

We’ve also developed Link Cards as a bonus service for members and another small way to help generate revenue for the site. The feature will be available soon.

A Link Card gives you a personal page on WaterPixels that works like a home page or Linktree. You can add links to your website, Instagram, Facebook, and other places, share the page from your phone, and display a gallery that feels like your own space.

Example: waterpixels.net/u/yourname

Link Cards will cost $5 per year and are entirely optional. Use one if it’s useful to you; if it isn’t, that’s completely fine. It’s your choice, and nothing else about your access to WaterPixels will change.

Thank you again for speaking honestly. Your feedback helped us recognize that the original contest proposal needed more thought. We’ll take the time to develop the event properly, explore sponsor involvement, and continue the conversation with the community as we move forward.

53 minutes ago, RichN said:

We’ve also developed Link Cards as a bonus service for members and another small way to help generate revenue for the site. The feature will be available soon.

A Link Card gives you a personal page on WaterPixels that works like a home page or Linktree. You can add links to your website, Instagram, Facebook, and other places, share the page from your phone, and display a gallery that feels like your own space.

Example: waterpixels.net/u/yourname

Link Cards will cost $5 per year and are entirely optional. Use one if it’s useful to you; if it isn’t, that’s completely fine. It’s your choice, and nothing else about your access to WaterPixels will change.

That's really a good idea....

How big is the maximum size of this page? It's possible to put some pictures?

I'm writing review from our trip (ok only one here in English, but several in French on an other french site)
It can be good to put here a list of review for the reader


It will be also a good reason to translate the old french review in English to publish it on WaterPixel

Edited August 31Aug 31 by CaolIla

1 hour ago, RichN said:

The companies that have banners on our forum are supporters of WaterPixels and not truly advertisers. We do not receive payment, and we see the banners as a way of helping members reach companies we believe are of value. We are looking into the possibility of charging for these banners in the future.

Wouah... ok I understand for starting ... but a little $ or € or ??? is a minimum for that.
Some are using the forum to make easy advertising.. it's not a problem.. but some money in return are fairplay. no?

I think that a member contest is a nice idea and paying a little bit per image also limits the work of the judges. I assume they will donate their time for this, so one shouldn't burden them with the entire content of the hard-drive anyways.

Suggestion for a category: Freshwater - streams, lakes, quarries - anything close to home for the land-locked waterpixelers.

I just discovered the "donation" item in the store. Why don't we say that whenever we upload an image for the member showcase banner (the one running on the main page) it's an honor to donate a little bit to the site for the display?

38 minutes ago, CaolIla said:

Wouah... ok I understand for starting ... but a little $ or € or ??? is a minimum for that.
Some are using the forum to make easy advertising.. it's not a problem.. but some money in return are fairplay. no?

yes we have been working on that behind the scenes. some site adjustments and we will reach out and pursue that more.

58 minutes ago, CaolIla said:

That's really a good idea....

How big is the maximum size of this page? It's possible to put some pictures?

The initial release of LinkCards will be later today or tomorrow. On the initial release you have the ability to setup a gallery, contact information on multiple custom buttons. WhatsApp link, email, phone etc.. also you can control background, themes, and change colors of text. pretty customizable for a little tool. will post release article soon...

7 minutes ago, Klaus said:

I think that a member contest is a nice idea and paying a little bit per image also limits the work of the judges. I assume they will donate their time for this, so one shouldn't burden them with the entire content of the hard-drive anyways.

Suggestion for a category: Freshwater - streams, lakes, quarries - anything close to home for the land-locked waterpixelers.

I just discovered the "donation" item in the store. Why don't we say that whenever we upload an image for the member showcase banner (the one running on the main page) it's an honor to donate a little bit to the site for the display?

I think taking a step back is the move for now. give me time to finish developing the system rather then being rushed to get it done for this coming calendar year. Host a contest in 2027 to trial run it with the suggestions gathered here.

Category noted.. thanks.

The donation highlight is not a bad idea but then anyone could be featured for a fee.. so maybe not the thing to do. Originally I wanted to make that member choice gallery, so the images that appear are the most rated images by members. So the front page gallery would be community driven.

Yeah I put donation on store a while back. thanks Klaus... 🤙

For me, authenticity is important. Excessive editing, including the use of AI, should not be allowed.

Use of any AI should not be allowed. Including masking.

1 hour ago, Grantmac said:

Use of any AI should not be allowed. Including masking.

That's a rather extreme stance. I'm all for excluding generative AI, but masking is not creating or altering any pixels. It's simply automation of something that that is otherwise tedious.

A question in relation of the incoming $... How many user and most important active member we are.
Visitors / days..

It's to have an idea form how many $ the site need / active users (visitors and registered member will never pay anything)

Where is the Donation point ?

found it in the shop... why not to put the "Donation" visible from all at a good place.

I didn't see it before.

Suggestion : In the shop all dimension are in inches. It's ok , but having also the cm can be good for the members not familiar with this unit (like me ;) )

If you have a topic for bugs or/and wishes feel free to move this post. ;)

The contest can (and should, probably) of course be starting next year or even later, no need to rush this. As for the rules - let's make that a community thing as well. "Excessive editing" is a purely subjective conclusion. This needs to be defined much more precisely to be a rule (which I find difficult). And "no AI" would downright exclude a categroy for smartphones / actioncams. Not sure we should go that way - but if that's what the community wants, these steps are easily removed from a standard workflow with a not too recent camera model.

To me, this is not about perhaps winning a competitive event (there are enough contests out there for that) but to participate in a kind of fund-raiser within our small community. On this forum, we're discussing at length about equipment that costs thousands - so we should be able to cough up a few bucks from time to time to keep the site alive.

"Featuring" someone's image(s) on the banner for money was not my intention, rather the notion that if we want to benefit from the site, we need to contribute as well. Just include an invitation that one should consider chipping in a small donation once in a while when uploading images for display. It seems that we're not paying with our privacy here and that's a fantastic thing!

4 hours ago, Grantmac said:

Use of any AI should not be allowed. Including masking.

Why not include a really tough category: No removal of ANY backscatter? Let's see who can place the strobes just right... This could be fun and perfectly honest.

But at some point we have to acknowledge that we're no longer pulling the prints wet out of the developer. So as a general rule, I think it's too extreme.

5 hours ago, Grantmac said:

Use of any AI should not be allowed.

That would eliminate most high spec cameras, where automated subject selection tracking could be classified as AI.

1 hour ago, Klaus said:

so we should be able to cough up a few bucks from time to time to keep the site alive.

Absolutly.... but Donate is for me a better way as paying for each photo.

The target is clear "I support the site I donate" if I pay for participating to the contest.... hummm, it is to win or to help the site ?

8 hours ago, Klaus said:

Why not include a really tough category: No removal of ANY backscatter? Let's see who can place the strobes just right... This could be fun and perfectly honest.

But at some point we have to acknowledge that we're no longer pulling the prints wet out of the developer. So as a general rule, I think it's too extreme.

But where does that end? No adjustments of any kind in LR? No exposure, cropping, white balance, saturation/vibrance, clarity, etc? I know some locations make it easy, but here in the more dark and green temperate waters, silt and junk in the water is just a way of life for us. I think there's a somewhat fuzzy line between the provided tools in LR and some of the more powerful generative fills/removals that are also available.

Thinking it would be more useful if I posted the draft copy of the guidelines we were working on for this contest. Clearly this does not have the changes for Entry fees but we have more time to plan this now. I could see adapting this to any contest we may host and I am also using this as a development document for setting up rules in a backup system. The system will be pretty much automated on taking entries, Judge private invites in to the system, Contest deadline management, all aspects of the judging process including RAW file reviews to awards and members choice and the public publishing of everything.

SO for a conversational piece, your direct input on this document as a skeleton rule set for future Waterpixel use, I am interested in hearing.

Thanks...

WaterPixels_Contest_Rules_DRAFT.pdf

These rules seem practical and well balanced. You emphasize the intention (... substanitally altered ...) as the editing limit, rather than any specific tool or slider. 👍