Beauty found in many forms, as captured through four full frame cameras and one camera phone

posted Sunday, September 3, 2017 at 10:17 AM EDT

Most photographers love to capture beauty in some form or another, and in our July Photo of the Day contest we had quite a nice selection of it on display for you. Now the best of the best have risen to the occassion and earned prize money for these dedicated photographers, and we are proud to honor them atop our July Winners' Podium!

We wholeheartedly congratulate the prize-winning and runner-up photographers this month, and are grateful to everyone who enters our contest. If you have an image you feel is up to the challenge please enter it right away! And if you'd like some pointers to help you succeed we have you covered there as well.

And now, without further ado, we present our July POTD winners!

First Prize • $300 gift certificate from Adorama

Last Drop of Gold by David Apeji • Nikon D800

Second Prize • $200 gift certificate from Adorama

Landscape in Motion by Edwin S. Loyola • Huawei P9Plus

Third Prize • $100 gift certificate from Adorama

Wonders Beneath My Feet by Les Coombs • Canon 5D Mark III

Additional honors

First runner-up • Basking in Solstice by Mike Jackson • Canon 5DS

Second runner-up • My Mother Thinks I'm Cute! by Shirley Freeman • Canon 5D Mark II

• July Winners' Gallery •

Thanks to all photographers who enter our contest, and please keep the excellent submissions coming our way! Click any image above for a larger version and more information about the photograph.

[Editor's note: When voting for the monthly winners, the voting panel is only shown the printed images, and is not aware of the name of the photographers nor the camera models used for capture.]

• • •

How to win:

For more about what our prize-winning photographers shoot with and why, straight from the source, please see this article. It's from a few years ago, but is still quite relavant today. And for those of you wanting to know more about our competition please visit this news story, which describes our contest and also offers some useful tips to help you succeed, and this story that warns you of the best ways to NOT succeed. To see the camera and exposure information for this month's winners, please click any image above, and to see winners from previous months, please visit our POTD winner's gallery.

[And if you're ready to enter now, just click here!]

On a related note, we've just started a new series of articles called "Reader Stories," where we turn the tables and let you, our readers, do the talking! We're interested in seeing more of the shots you're the happiest with, and in hearing just how you got them, or just hearing about your passions, interests and the gear you love! Intrigued? Please click here!