Competition Rules

(Nature Rules Revised October 2014)

  1. Monthly Competition Rules

There are six classes, which are:
Prints – Mono Prints, General Colour Prints, and Nature Prints.
Projected – Mono, General Colour and Nature.
There will be 4 Print and 4 Projected Competitions in each season.
The Competition Secretary will be pleased to answer any questions on the following or on any other matters relating to the Competitions.

General Rules (these apply to all competitions)

  1. Entries will only be accepted from fully paid up members.
  2. All entries must be photographs (made by the action of light of any wavelength on a sensitive surface) of which the entrant holds the copyright.
  3. Mono is defined as “Monochrome base with up to one added colour” e.g. full sepia plus one colour, but not monochrome base, partially sepia toned plus one colour. This rule will be interpreted with common sense.
  4. Members may enter up to three photographs in each class. Each photograph’s class, title and the name of the entrant and must be identified.
  5. Any entry may be used by the Society for publicity purposes and will be made available on request for inter-club competitions.
  6. A photograph may be entered a second time in the same class provided it has not been awarded Commended or above in any year.
  7. A photograph of the same subject and likeness must not be entered in the same competition by the same photographer.
  8. Photographs of a similar likeness may only be entered in a competition if the title indicates that there is more than one photograph e.g. Flower 1, Flower 2 etc.
  9. A record of placings made by judges will be kept by the Competition Secretary for appropriate awards to be made.
  10. All points count towards the two Aggregate Awards for Prints and Projected but only the best score in each month will count towards the six Class Competitions.
  11. All entries must be handed in on the correct night, clearly identified with the author´s name, class and title. Any entry not complying with these requirements will be returned.
  12. The Competition Secretary may use his/her discretion to waive or amend competition rules where appropriate.
  13. Whilst the Society will take every reasonable care, the liability for any damage to photographs shall be the entrants.

Prints

  1. Mono and colour prints may be either home or trade processed. They must be mounted and no larger than 20 inches by 16 inches including mount.

Digital Projection

  1. All photographic files must be in JPG format with minimum compression and shall be a maximum of 1400 pixels wide or 1050 pixels high. The images must be in a single layer in RGB mode and the sRGB colourspace, including monochrome images. File names must be in the format [Projection order] [single space] [Title].jpg e.g. ‘2 My Photo.jpg’ or ‘3 A Duck.jpg’ no dashes, underscores etc between the number and your title please. Use capital letters and spaces in the title where they would normally appear; and do not type ‘.jpg’ after the title (as .jpg is inserted automatically by the software). Files should be submitted in relevant folders entitled ‘Mono’, ‘Colour’ or ‘Nature’.
  2. Entries may be made on any suitable medium, including by email to the Competition Secretary. In the case of email, the Competition Secretary will always send a receipt stating the number of readable files received. Files will be deleted from the computer after a competition if the entrant so requires.

Natural History Rules

  1. A nature submission should show living, untamed animals and uncultivated plants in their natural habitat. Geology and Natural phenomena are acceptable.
  2. Photographs of domesticated animals or animals under any form of restraint are ineligible. Animals such as barn owls or storks, adapting to an environment modified by humans are acceptable.
  3. For competition purpose a domesticated animal will be defined as any animal that depends on a human for food, water and shelter. This will include farm animals and household pets. ‘Wild’ animals in safari parks and zoos can be admissible.
  4. Any manipulation or modification to the original image should be limited to minor retouching of blemishes, cropping of the original or ‘gardening’ before the shutter is pressed and should not alter the content or context, of the original scene. Techniques such as HDR, focus stacking, dodging and burning are permissible. Monochrome images will be permissible but Infra Red images are not permissible.
  5. Naming should be restricted to the common name of the image, e.g. Iceberg North Atlantic, Red Deer Stag(s), Red Deer Rut or Common Blue butterfly. Latin names may be included, or used instead, if known, but are not essential.

 

    1. Scoring System – All Classes

Judges will award placings in all classes and points will be as follows:

First Place 7 points Highly Commended 4 points
Second Place 6 points Commended 3 points
Third Place 5 points Unplaced 2 points
  1. ANNUAL COMPETITION RULES

The Annual Open Competition is held towards the end of each season. There will be same sections as the Monthly Competitions.

  1. Each entrant may submit up to three photographs in each of the six sections.
  2. Each entrant must have submitted at least one entry into a section of one of the current season’s Monthly Competitions to be eligible to submit an entry into that section of the Annual Open.
  3. Entries may have been submitted in previous Monthly Competitions or may be new work. Under no circumstances may an entry have received an award (Commended or above) in any previous Annual Open competition.
  4. No entry may be the same or similar to another entry from the same entrant in another section of the Annual Open. Other than as stated above, the rules of Monthly Competitions will apply (e.g. definition of Nature; format of projected digital photographs; etc).
  5. The interpretation of these rules will be at the discretion of the Competition Secretary but, in the event of any dispute, the Committee will decide based on such evidence they see fit to obtain.
    1. PANELS COMPETITION – RULES

In the event that a Panels Competition is held during a season, the following rules will apply.

There will be two sections:

  • Print Panels
  • Digitally Projected Panels
  1. Entrants should note that there will be no separate Nature section(s) but Nature panels may be submitted in either of the two sections.
  2. Entrants should also note that a collage of a number of different photographs amalgamated into, essentially, one different photograph will not constitute a panel, however, the appropriate number of such photographs will be considered to be a panel.
  3. A Print Panel will comprise three prints with a single, collective title. Each print will indicate its orientation and position within the panel. No print’s dimensions shall exceed 20” x 16”.
  4. A Digitally Projected Panel will comprise three or more photographs arranged within a file of no more than 1400 pixels wide by 1050 pixels high.
  5. Each entrant may submit up to three panels in each section.
  6. Under no circumstances may an entry have received an award (Commended or above) in any previous Panels competition.
  7. No entry may be the same or similar to another entry from the same entrant in another section of the Panels competition.
  8. Other than as stated above, the rules of Monthly Competitions will apply (e.g. format of projected digital photographs; etc).
  9. The interpretation of these rules will be at the discretion of the Competition Secretary but, in the event of any dispute, the Committee will decide based on such evidence they see fit to obtain.
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