The Monthly Online Competition 2010-2011
After our first 'trial' season, the Online Competition has, for most
people, been a success. There were a few wrinkles that needed ironing
out and the full rules are on this page. If a 'loophole' emerges, I will
try to amend things as necessary.
First of all, though, a few reminders of what the competition is, or
should be, all about.....
If we look back on our lives to the times that we’ve most rapidly
learned new skills (including in photography), it may strike you that in
every instance the experience was 'active' rather than 'passive'. While
we can learn a lot of theory in different areas of life by reading
books, listening to others speak and even by watching others do things –
we really only acquire new skills by practicing or putting into action
what we learn. Learning is good – it's usually a great foundation for
taking action – but many photographers have incredible knowledge of the
theory of photography yet rarely take photos themselves. I'd certainly
be guilty of that - I've learned a lot of editing tricks and some
reasonable printing skills to cover for the fact that my photographs are
nowhere near as original as I'd have wanted them to be. As photographers
we need to be willing to step out of 'learning' mode and into 'doing'
mode....-
This starts with picking up your camera and
taking it with you – everywhere -
It continues with a commitment to regularly
lifting that camera to your eye and taking shot after shot -
It means sometimes stepping outside of one’s
comfort zone and feeling a little awkward or self conscious to
get the shot -
It means a not being satisfied with the first
shot but experimenting with new angles and fresh perspectives on
subjects -
It means not only knowing the or principles of
photography – but having a commitment to practice them -
It means going beyond understanding the
technicalities of your camera and actually experimenting with
using them -
It means ‘thinking’ about your photography –
planning shots, setting yourself challenges and then critically
reflecting upon the photos you take to work out how you could
improve -
It sometimes means sharing your images – not
simply to show how good you are and get 'nice shot' remarks –
but in the hope that others will point out where you might
improve -
It means all of these things and more, but most
of all it means picking up your camera and using it. -
Treat the photography as assignments - it's not
an exercise in going through your old pictures to see if you
have an appropriate image.
Good photographers are not all about 'action' – there is
certainly a place for learning, reflection and a certain type of
'passivity' in photography – but if there’s one common thing about
great photographers it's…. they take photos - lots of them. The club
website can help point you in the right direction to increase your
knowledge. However, this is all a waste of everybody's time if it
doesn’t actually improve our photography. This is why the rules are
being emphasised.... things like working to a deadline, getting NEW
photographs, working with the theme... and in return there will be
feedback and critique. I can promise that this will be constructive,
if taken in the manner it's offered. We’re hoping that in doing so
we not only help you understand more but give you a little bit of a
push to get out there with your camera and learn by doing.
Monthly Themed Competition
This is a competition with online submissions only, with a different theme
every month through the season. The entire management of the competition will be
online and reminders of deadlines will only be promulgated here and/or on the
KPC Update emails.
The Themes for 2010-2011 will be more abstract in their definitions and open
to interpretation, but that does not mean 'abstract images' unless defined in
the schedule.
Some legal stuff...... Members agree to permit Kingston Photographic Club to
publish their images on the club website and the 'Camera Capers' Newsletter, or
use their images at any time for exhibition, publication, promotion, education.
Entry into the Online Competition implies acceptance of the above. Photographers
are credited for their work. The Club recommends that, where necessary, the
photographer obtains a model release for presentation and publication purposes,
prior to submitting the entry. (In general, photographs of people taken in a
public place are not considered to require 'model releases' unless the image is
to be used for the purpose of sales promotion - which, in the case of the club,
they are not.)
OK, the nitty-gritty.....
a. A maximum of THREE digital images, in colour or mono, per person,
per month, may be submitted. These images may be used in other club competitions
and/or submitted for the Annual Exhibition.
b. They should be at 72ppi and around 15 inches on the longer sides,
saved with the title of the image as the filename, with no other
information, Jpeg format - so if you end up with a file bigger than 500kb
you've got it wrong. If you have the option, do
not save them with the "Save for Web" method - I may need to see the
exif information and that method removes the exif - so use the normal Save
method. Various instructions for sizing and saving are
here or via the menu above. So......
They
need to be in the sRGB Color Space
They need to be 8-bit depth, not 16
They need to be in Jpeg format
They need just the image title as the
filename
They need to be at 72ppi (but I'll take 96ppi, which is what Mac
users tend to get) and around 14-15 inches on the longer sides - this will
give a pixel dimension of around 1000 to 1100 pixels.
c. Send them as email attachments (not 'pictures in text') to me
at
web@kingstonphotographicclub.ca, clearly identified (saved) with an
image name, but preferably with no other identity (like a signature,
date or watermark) on the picture. [Please - an
appropriate name makes it a lot easier for me to put straight into the
competition's monthly image folder and easier for the judges to identify....
and using the month's theme, like "Danger 1", "Danger 2", "Danger 3" isn't
helpful - lots of people might be tempted to do the same - last year we
ended up with about eight shots named "Fall.... something or other".
So please save your files with that name - putting them in the text of an
email for me to do is just another thing I could do without.]
d. There will be a different theme each month, as shown below. Once the
monthly deadline has passed, the images are posted online to allow the
judges (and only the judges) to view the images. They will be shown
anonymously and the panel of three judges will award points, with a maximum
of 5 points in each of the following criteria:
-
Picture impact - the overall creativity, originality,
mood - the subjective things... will it make the judges' eyes light up a
little or raise an eyebrow?
-
Technical quality - sharpness, exposure, colour
rendition, tones etc. If there's a sky, does it have any details or colour or is
it washed out? Exposure, focus and sharpness are explained fully in the list of
useful information on the Workshop page, or via the
menu.
-
Composition - comprises Points, Lines and Shapes - are
they pleasingly distributed? Will the viewer's eye look along lines, settle on
shapes etc or will they wander around the image in vain, get bored and look for
another picture?
Each of the three judges will therefore give
a maximum of three sets of five points, so that's 15 points each, giving a
maximum grand total of 45 points per image.
Images can be accepted in the month prior to the month in question, e.g. I
can take April's images in March, but please make this clear on your email. All
images must be with me by midnight at the end of the deadline day. Note that the
deadline day is not necessarily the last day of the month, a fiscal
month, a new moon, or any other kind of month...... it is midnight at the end of
the day promulgated in the schedule below.
The three judges return their monthly results - with critique - to me. The
scores will then be collated in the spreadsheet and then published on a PDF
file, linked to from the 'Month' column below. The critique will be forwarded
individually (and privately) to each member who has submitted images.
The scores - but not the critique - will then be available for all to
see on the website and there will also be a 'running scoreboard' of all scores.
The images themselves will become available in a Slide Show each month.
When all the rounds are completed, I will put up a slide show of the 80
best-scoring shots of the year (rather than how they ended up each month). It
will show off the club and your work. The TOTAL SCORES (from each participating
member's highest SEVEN monthly scores) will be added together for a GRAND TOTAL
for the competition. Prizes have, again, been generously donated
(in the form of Gift Tokens) by Henry's Photo Store
(in the Rio-Can, Kingston). They will be for the top five scorers,
with a $50 1st Prize, $40 for 2nd, $30 for 3rd, $20 for 4th, $10 for 5th.
The competition is open to all 'full' Members of the club.
Programme/Schedule
These themes are more abstract than last year. All are completely
open to your own interpretation. The judges will be aware of the Theme and
will be looking for images that adhere in some way.
It would be good to have NEW images. This competition is all about
getting members out and about to take pictures of things they don't usually
try, so sending a picture that was taken years ago is not really what it's
about. However, I won't be rejecting any older images, unless they've
already won a club competition in the past.A little more detail on
sizing....Once editing is completed, make sure that the digital
file that is being submitted is sized to no more than 1024 pixels on the
long side for horizontal images and not more than 768 pixels for verticals.
This applies to both portrait (vertical) and landscape (horizontal) formats.
The ppi (pixels per inch, or 'resolution') should be 72.
Alternatively, ensure that the file is saved as a JPEG at 72ppi and a
maximum of 15 inches on the longer sides.
Save the digital file as a high quality JPEG, i.e., lowest compression
possible. NOTE: Image quality will be compromised if the resolution is less
than 600 Pixels across the widest dimension. Using the recommended
resolution and level of compression, the file size for the JPEG file should
be approximately 200-450kb in size.
As is often the case for the simpler techniques for Photoshop and PS
Elements, Paint Shop Pro and others programs, there are several videos
available on YouTube. I've put a few
links to resizing tutorials/videos on the
Workshop page. If you're using a program other
than PS, Elements or PSP, try going to YouTube and entering something like
"Resizing in (your program)" in the Search box. Or tell me what the program
is and I'll try to find the instructions. I will be quite strict about sizes
but I can correct some images - not difficult when 'sizing down' (although
I'm not keen on my email inbox getting filled with 10Mb+ files), but 'sizing
up' is often just not possible. Bear in mind that, if it were an important
National or Provincial competition your image would just be rejected if it
didn't fulfil the criteria precisely.... so it's good practice.
If you have a question, drop me an email or give me a call.
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