In-club Competitions
The in-club competition is designed to allow members to enter their images for friendly competition and feedback. Scores for submitted images are used to award a number of trophies and ribbons at the year-end awards banquet, and are also used to evaluate a member's photographic skill through the accumulation of colour dots.
By submitting an image for competition (either in-club, theme, or for an inter-club competition)the photographer consents to the digital duplication of the image by the club. Digital copies of slides and prints are made to 1024 x 768 for projection when competition results are announced; these copies are destroyed at the end of club year. Low-resolution digital copies are retained in the HGCC competition database for record-keeping purposes.
There are two rounds of in-club competition. Within each round up to 6 images may be submitted. There is no need to enter the maximum number of images to participate in any particular round. Members can choose to submit images to either round, or bypass a particular round, at their discretion. However, lack of participation will almost certainly affect their standing in the Photographer of the Year competition (see below).
Each image entered in the in-club competition needs to be assigned a category. The choices available for categories are: Nature, Fine Art, Landscape, Urban, Portraiture, and Other/Photographer's Choice. Images entered in the Nature category must adhere to the rules for nature images as outlined by CAPA. Images can only be entered as digital files.
The In-club competition entry form must accompany images.
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| Submission form 07-08.pdf | 49.14 KB |
Fine Art images are meant to showcase the aesthetic, design, and emotive/expressive side of photography. Images in this category will not only be judged on technique and subject, but on the overall aesthetic, design choices, and/or success in conveying a message. Abstract/near-abstract/impressionist images, macro, still life, and figure/nude/erotic photography are suited to Fine Art. This category should also be used for images with extensive darkroom or digital manipulation, or things like multiple exposures and montage slides. Unlike any of the other categories, Fine Art images will have their titles presented to the judges.
The idea for choosing a category is to pick the `best fit' for the image. Lots of images will certainly fall on the blurry lines between two (or more) categories. If that happens, look at the main idea or most dominant theme of the image and use that to determine the category. For example, consider a shot of a beach with a sunset, a small starfish in the corner, and a building in the background. While it might be possible to see elements of Nature, Landscape, Urban, and Fine Art, if the dominant theme is the sunset then the category should be Landscape.
The in-club competition co-ordinator(s) have final say over whether an image may be used in a certain category, so if unsure, check first. Even if the co-ordinator(s) allow an image, the judges may use their discretion to penalize the score of any image they feel is not in the appropriate category. If it seems that the category you have picked is a bit of a reach, then you should reconsider your choice.
Ineligible images
The in-club competition co-ordinator(s) may disqualify any image deemed to not be in the most appropriate category. Images rejected for this reason may be re-submitted in a later round in the appropriate category.
The same image, or nearly-identical (to the point of being difficult to distinguish as different) images of the same subject, should not be submitted more than once. The in-club competition co-ordinator(s) may disqualify any image they deem to be too similar, and the judges will be instructed to mark down any images they feel they have seen before.
This category is for natural scenic vistas, sunsets, seascapes, skyscapes, weather, suburban or rural scenes, sea coast, and other panoramic images. Panoramic cityscapes should be entered in this category, while city images whose main subject is not the skyline belong in the Urban category.
HGCC follows the rules set by CAPA for Nature photographs.
In 2008, CAPA adopted the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) nature definition. CAPA's Nature Category rules are as follows:
Nature photography depicts living, untamed animals and uncultivated plants in a natural habitat, geology and the wide diversity of natural phenomena, from insects to icebergs. Photographs of animals that are domesticated, caged or under any form of restraint, as well as photographs of cultivated plants are ineligible. Minimal evidence of humans is acceptable for nature subjects, such as barn owls or storks adapting to an environment modified by humans, or natural forces, like hurricanes or tidal waves, reclaiming it.
The original image must have been taken by the photographer, whatever photographic medium is used.
Any manipulation or modification to the original image is limited to minor retouching of blemishes and must not alter the content of the original scene.
After satisfying the above requirements, every effort should be made to use the highest level of artistic skill in all nature photographs. No composites. HDR (High Dynamic Range) techniques are acceptable as long as the result is what the eye naturally sees.
CAPA Suggestions for Nature Photographers
The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality, but there must be an emphasis on the aesthetic value of the photograph, ie the creation of art and appreciation of beauty - all this within the confines of an accurate record of the subject and the natural environment.
Nature images with an interpretative or pictorial treatment should be submitted in the Other category, and heavily manipulated digital images are not eligible. Scenic vistas, land and seascapes, although natural, belong in the Landscape category. However, the Nature category also includes astrophotographic images where the primary subject is one or more celestial body. Images of pets and other domesticated animals do not belong in the Nature category, and should instead be submitted to the Other category.
Images in the Nature category will be judged not only on composition and technique, but on the specimen(s).
Only images that do not better fit into one of the other categories. For example, pet, sports, night images, advertising, humour, and vintage are conveyable themes that may not easily fit into the other categories. If it seems awkward or a stretch to put the image in any other category, it belongs here.
The Portraiture category is for people pictures. While some other categories may include people, this category should be used if the primary subject is classic portrait, environmental portrait, fashion, glamour, swimsuit, wedding, children, stage, family, and candid images.
Urban images should reflect city life, including architecture, street photography, industrial themes, vehicles and transportation.
In order to simplify the handling of competition entries, the club has adopted the following submission standards. These standards will help ensure consistent judging conditions, allow for consistent identification of the entries, and assist in image handling to ensure the safe return of the images to the photographer. The competition coordinator(s) will do their best to ensure that submissions are handled with utmost care and are returned undamaged; however, accidents can and do occur and members should safeguard sensitive, important images by retaining duplicates if at all possible.
To catalogue image submissions for any particular round, club members should accompany their images with the standard HGCC in-club submission form. Scoring results for each round will be returned to members using a computer-generated report. The submission form is downloadable below and will also be made available to members at club meetings.
Image size
Images should be no wider than 1024 pixels, and no taller than 768 pixels. Smaller images will be displayed at their native size with a black background. Alternatively, you can add your own background (if you want a different colour, for example) to an image to make the final size 1024x768.
Image file format
The recommended file formats are JPGs and PNGs, although the Irfanview software has comprehensive support of different file formats. Files should be under two megabytes (2MB), or 2000KB) in size.
Projector calibration
The competition coordinator(s) will make every attempt to have the digital projector and laptop computer calibrated for the default sRGB colour space, to minimize contrast and/or brightness differences and minimize colour aberration between the club's equipment and your own computer screen. Unfortunately, it is technically very difficult (and expensive) to calibrate projection equipment and some difference is inevitable.
File names
Digital files submitted for the in-club competition must be given names of the form member_title.ext. The file name, which should be filled in on the submission form, need not be the full title of the image. However, the file name should closely match the image's title on the submission form and, at the very least, should be specific enough to differentiate your files. Filenames should be restricted to at most 40 characters in length, and should not contain spaces, accented, or other unprintable characters. Please use underscores to separate the photographer and words in the title in each complete filename. As examples, these would be acceptable file names:
• carolr_lily.jpg
• serged_wine.jpg
• simonac_white_field.png
• franm_subway.jpg
• glennp_boys_at_play.png
• zorans_palm_tree.jpg
• grantg_moon.jpg
Submission of digital images
Image files can be sent by email to one of the following two addresses: submissions@highlandglen.ca and submissions@waterloocameraclub.ca. The mailbox can handle large messages, so you don't need to split them across emails (although the sending side on your end may have its own limit). Putting all the files in a single Zip file is preferred, although if you aren't familiar with WinZip, then just attach the image files individually.
Email submissions should be sent to the above address no later than 4 p.m. the day the images are due. Alternatively, you can burn the image files to CD, and simply submit the CD at the club meeting. In either case the images must be accompanied by appropriate documentation: a completed submission form, or, in the case of email submissions, an email that details the entries in the same manner as the submission form.
For the purposes of this discussion prints are to be considered any reflective media regardless of how it was produced (remembering of course that this is a photographic competition). There is no distinction between digital and conventional prints at this time.
Mounts
Prints must be securely mounted to a firm backing (such as a 4-ply mounting board) that must measure 16 inches by 20 inches. Please, no frames, glass, wires, or clips. Foam core is acceptable though this material is not as robust as other types of backing and may easily be damaged. Entries not the specified size or mounting may damage other entries and will be rejected. Please refrain from adding additional text (such as a title) or other markup to the viewing side of the mount. Prints may be over-matted with a window mat, but the overall thickness shall not exceed one-quarter inch in thickness. Two or more images appearing on the same mount will be considered a single entry.
Identification
Each print should have the following information clearly marked on the back upper right hand corner with:
• the photographer's name;
• the image's title which corresponds to that on the submission form (see Figure\ref{fig:inclub-submission-form);
• the category in which the entry is being entered.
Attaching a sticker (but not just a Post-it note) to the back of a reusable print mount is acceptable.
Print entries will be repackaged after submission, possibly several times. Please do not individually wrap each print yourself.
Mounts
Only slides in 2-inch by 2-inch mounts that will fit into an 80-slide carousel will be accepted.
Identification.
Each slide will have the following information clearly marked on the front of the mount:
Entries must be packaged in a slide box that is clearly identified with the photographer's name.
Example of a properly labelled slide mount is attached.
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Submitted images will be judged by category, so that all of the images in a category, regardless of media, will be evaluated together in the hope of providing greater consistency in scoring. In all cases, the judges’ score is final. The judges are instructed to mark down images they deem inappropriate for the category, even if the image has been accepted by the competition co-ordinator. Poor presentation (improperly matted print, scratched slide, shifted slide mount) will also result in lesser scores.
Ordinarily, each image will be judged only once, by secret ballot. The club owns an electro-mechanical scoring machine expressly for this purpose. However, any of the judges, or the competition coordinator(s), may spontaneously request a re-scoring of an image should there be, in their view, a serious discrepancy in the individual scores. In this circumstance, the judges will be asked to discuss the characteristics of the particular image and acknowledge, or refute, their individual points of view. Subsequent to the discussion, the image will be re-scored, again by secret ballot. There is no requirement that any judge alter their score from the first attempt.
The judges are also asked to provide brief comments on the images they score, with the aim being to give participants helpful feedback. However, due to the sheer number of submissions it will likely be impossible to provide comments on each and every image.
Scoring
Three judges each give an image a score out of 10, so the final score for an image is a number out of 30. Scoring guidelines are as follows:
When a member joins the club, they start in the bottom colour category for scoring, which is yellow. Each colour category requires a certain number of images that have a minimum score before the photographer moves up to the next category.
So, a new member must earn six yellow dot stickers (each from an image scoring 18 points or more) before beginning to earn red colour dots.
Examples
Gail, a fictitious new club member, enters five images into the first in-club competition of the year. For simplicity, let’s label her images A-E. In order, the scores she receives from the judges for this first round of in-club competition are 15, 18, 20, 15, and 25. In this case, two of her images (A and D) are below the score of 18 Gail needs to collect a yellow dot for that image. However, the other three all have scores greater than 18, so Gail has earned 3 yellow dots in this one round of competition. Note that the very good score of 25 with image E still earns Gail a yellow dot. Gail must continue to collect yellows until she acquires a complete set of six, after which she can begin collecting dots of the next higher value (red).
Anouk, another fictitious club member with some experience, already has completed collecting her yellow dots and has accumulated five red dots, needing only one more to advance to green. Her images in this in-club competition round, again labelled A-E, are awarded respective scores of 23, 18, 20, 23, and 28. In her case, the score of 18 is thrown out because it fails to meet the standard for red (a score of 20 or higher). The image with the least score that earns a red dot is image C; this image earns Anouk her last red, as she now has a total of six red dots. The other images (A, D, and E) all have scores that meet the standard for green, so Anouk earns 3 green dots with these images.
The colour dot system helps to provide an increasing challenge for members as they advance in skill, and is used to determine the Most Improved awards. For these awards, the dot categories are combined in pairs to form Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced:
The photographer in each of the three categories who collect the most dots (that is, are awarded the most number dots for images that meet or exceed the point level of their category in the club’s in-club competitions) are awarded a medal at the end of the year.
Photographer of the Year.
This award, acknowledged with the Baker Memorial Cup, is meant to reflect both well-rounded and consistent photographic skill. Members must submit at least two images in four distinct categories to qualify for Photographer of the Year.
The winner of the award is the photographer with the highest cumulative score of each of their possible 12 in-club category submissions. Images entered in Theme competitions or inter-club competitions do not count towards Photographer of the Year. In the case of ties, consideration will be given to the photographer with the highest score of any eligible image, followed by the second-highest, and so on, until the tie has been broken.
The winner of Photographer of the Year is ineligible for any ‘Best Of Category Awards’ in the same year.
Best of Category.
Available for each of the six categories, this award is meant to reflect the best and most consistent skill within the category. Members must submit at least three images in a category to qualify for the category award. The total score of the best three images in that category will be computed for each photographer, and the photographer with the highest total score will win the award for that category. Ties will be broken, first, by considering the highest score of any image in that category, and second, by considering the second-highest score in that category. If two or more photographers are still tied, the tie will be broken by considering the fourth (and then fifth, etc.) highest scoring image in that category, if more than three images have been submitted to that category by each of the photographers. Finally, if still tied, the tie will be broken by the photographers’ total scores in the Photographer of the Year competition.
Most Improved Photographer.
This award is given out based on the number of coloured dots gained during the year’s in-club competition. There are three categories, and the photographer’s category is determined by the color level they start the club season in. Beginner is for those who begin the year in yellow or red, intermediate is for those who begin the year in green or blue, and advanced is for those who begin the year in silver or gold.
