Datacolor & Friends Photo Contest celebrates its 10th anniversary! This needs to be celebrated and fitting for the party, the theme for the 2026 competition is colorful: COLOR PLAY.
Colors accompany us everywhere and influence how we perceive the world. They can evoke emotions, tell stories, and make special moments visible. Whether vibrant and bright, soft and harmonious, or surprising and contrasting – the interplay of colors offers endless possibilities to be creative. Datacolor is looking for your images that stage the theme of color play in a very special way. Whether a spectacular color fireworks display, fascinating color combinations in nature, in everyday life, or in architecture, or a small detail that becomes eye-catching through its colors – your creativity knows no bounds. Datacolor looks forward to your colorful, extraordinary, and inspiring submissions!
Up to 3 images per photographer are allowed, which can be both realistic and altered. Natural images or creative color looks, individual shots or compositions, and all photographic genres are allowed as long as the theme is depicted. Images created solely with the help of AI are not allowed.
The best photos will be awarded by Datacolor with great prizes provided by B+W Filter, Daniel Spohn, DigitalPHOTO, dpunkt.verlag, FotoTV., Creative Studio Pavel Kaplun, Rheinwerk Verlag, Rollei, TAMRON and Datacolor .
Notes: Please upload your images as jpg files for the competition, the file size should ideally remain under 1MB. An edge length of a maximum of 1400 pixels is sufficient. Each participant may submit up to three images.
The main prizes will be awarded by the jury. The jury members are:
- Heike Jasper, photo trainer and specialist author
- Maike Jarsetz, photographer, Adobe trainer, and author
- Andreas Klein, TAMRON
- Daniel Spohn, nature photographer, photo trainer, biologist
- Klaus Wohlmann, photographer and photo trainer
- Creative Studio Pavel Kaplun, photo and videography, photo trainer
- Markus Siek, DigitalPHOTO
- Ernst Thürnau, Datacolor
The jury prizes:
1st place (total value approx. 1,225 €):
2nd place (total value approx. 720 €):
3rd place (total value approx. 574 €):
4th place (total value approx. 499 €):
5th place (total value approx. 338 €):
2 Audience Awards for the two photos with the most votes from the audience:
The dates:
End of photo submissions: 18.10.2026
End of audience voting: 08.11.2026
Announcement of audience voting and jury voting: 12.11.2026
Good luck participating!
