Colour City
Tdot Shots presents Colour City
TORONTO PHOTO CONTEST ’25
Contest Starts October 17
Use hashtag #Tdot_25
Enter your shots and creative edits
Welcome to our annual Toronto photo contest!
We are excited to launch the Tdot Shots Toronto annual photo contest in mid October. We welcome all to participate. Get involved as a contestant, sponsor or volunteer.
At right: winning images and photos from our awards meetup in 2023
Photo Contest Categories and Rules
Our emphasis this year is finding and capturing colour and drama in the city. Your Toronto and GTA cityscape, landscape. and street photos are welcome in all categories. Dates: Friday Oct. 17 – Friday Oct. 31. Full rules: post your images and media on Instagram during the contest period and use hashtag #Tdot_25 in your caption. Follow our sponsors @tdotdotcom and @londondrugs.
You can also post videos and reels. In all cases your image or media may benefit by showing before and after so we understand your thought and editing process. Carousels with multiple images are your friend in this situation! If you post more than one image we will consider the first image to be the official entry.
Colourscape
Design your image with careful grading and spot colour via masks and selective edits. Boost some colour and desaturate others. Create a powerful effect with colour and win the category!
Tips: Celebrate selective colour by desaturating most of the image and keeping one or two elements vibrant. Use masks and HSL sliders to precisely manipulate the retained colour and intensity, creating a powerful and visually striking artistic effect.
Moody Vibe
Capture a strong emotional atmosphere through light, shadows, and dark tones. Focus on dramatic, mysterious, or contemplative feelings. B/W images are welcome.
Tip: Do not overdo effects such as sharpening or vignetting. You don’t want too much of a good thing! A deep, atmospheric aesthetic, whether in color or black and white, may be most impactful!
Community Vote
After selections are made by our judges you will have a chance to vote in a special post!
These winners will be chosen via a like and comment system on an Instagram post immediately following contest end Oct. 31.
From here the audience will have chosen 3 winners as selected by the Tdot Shots community.
Free Edit
Play with the digital editing process to enhance your creative vision. Go beyond standard adjustments using compositing, abstract effects, or surreal transformations to showcase your mastery of editing software and imagination. Make art!
Tip: Sky Replacement, Content Aware Fill and AI are allowed but must be no more than 50% of your final image. Your image should show before and after versions in the same post to qualify.
Sponsors
We are grateful to sponsors for supporting our community and the contestants.
Prizes
We are offering $750 in prizes including photography accessories, and products and services from our sponsors London Drugs Photolab and Tdot.com. You can win photo printing, camera accessories, creative services and memberships at our site.
Example Prizes:
- First place winner – $75 professional printing prize from London Drugs Photolab and $100 in digital services from Tdot.com or Pro membership (web design, portfolio website, courses).
- Second place runner-up = $50 printing prize from London Drugs and $75 in digital services or Plus membership (portfolio consultation, courses).
- Third place runner-up – $25 printing prize from London Drugs and $75 in digital services or Plus membership (portfolio consultation, courses).
Total of $450 in professional printing credits and $750 in services from Tdot.com. Memberships are provided at Tdot.co.
All 9 finalists across the 3 categories will receive prizes . More participants will receive random camera accessories at the giveaway for our Nov. 8 photo awards meetup. Please RSVP for the event!
To qualify follow @tdotdotcom and our sponsor @londondrugs. Use the hashtag #Tdot_25 in your Instagram caption and post your Toronto images during the contest period October 17 to October 31.
Good luck if you enter. Have fun and enjoy the competition!
About Tdot Shots
& Our Photo Contest
Tdot Shots has been a proud supporter of grass roots photography and creative arts in Greater Toronto since 2018. We are hosting our 7th annual photo contest. Special thanks to London Drugs Photolab – with us since year one!
We invite participants, volunteers and sponsors to get involved with our 2025 Toronto Photo Contest. It is fun and a valuable way to collaborate with the community. Contact us if you would like to get involved as a volunteer or sponsor.
🍁Fall theme – We have some special categories and great prizes! Get creative and have fun with your shooting and editing during this amazing season in the city!
Thank you to our volunteers and sponsors
We are grateful to everyone involved in the organization and support of our contest. If you would like to assist please get in touch.
THANK YOU:
Judges
Michele Thompson aka @magpie_n_moo
Kurt Wang aka @kurt.wang
Paul Flynn aka @to_shots
Feature image photographer
Kotsy.ca
Sponsors
London Drugs Photolab
Tdot.com Design Media
We welcome you to volunteer or sponsor the contest! Please get in touch.
View this post on Instagram
What are the photo walk meetups like?
Photo walks are always unique and special, focusing on cityscape and street photography, allowing us to greet familiar faces and meet new friends. And when they involve the annual contest the spirit is higher and we get to engage a little deeper with each othger. Here is a post from one of our awards meetups. Swipe through to see all the shots!
Photo Walk Awards Meetup
Come and out and join the participants in celebrating the winning shots! Attendance is not required for winners but it is a lot of fun. We explore downtown Toronto and wind up our walk with awards, laughs and some positive community spirit.
Register for our
community site
Grow your skills.
Sign up and create a profile on our site.
Publish your work on our Tdot Create blog.
Take a course and build a portfolio site at Tdot Connect.
Colour City
Wrapping Up
Whew! You read all the way to the end. Good job 🙂
Last part is the legal so here is the link to the photo contest terms and conditions
Thanks and good luck!
Team Tdot Shots
Media Kit
Promote this contest and we will be grateful! For any requests or questions contact the following:
Mike / Tdotshots.com / @tdot_shots (Instagram) / or via this site’s contact page
Image 1 is portrait. Image 2 is landscape. Please do not alter in any way: do not crop or change colour values. If you want to remix or combine please contact us before you publish! 🙂
If you wish to provide full credit you can credit Tdot Shots and Mike Simpson with project and design, and the photographer kotsy.ca with the incredible main image of the city skyline. Thank you.