Tetbury Photographic.
We run several competitions each season, some open and some with set subjects. Please read the following information before entering competitions.
Print workers can download print labels from here.
1. GENERAL COMPETITION RULES
1.1 All work to have been taken on or after 1st January 2020.
1.2 All entries to be with the Competition Secretary at least 14 days prior to the competition evening.
1.3 In all competitions, the Judge’s decisions on eligibility and ranking are final. Any digital image or print which does not conform to the competition rules will be liable to disqualification by the Competitions Secretary/Team or the Competition Judge.
1.4 Rules may be varied at the discretion of the Committee to take account of any special requirements of a single competition. Any variations will be published as part of the description of the competition.
1.5 Any member may raise any issue regarding these rules with the Competition Secretary and the Committee shall consider such a matter at its next meeting and the Competition Secretary will report back to the member.
1.6 Unless otherwise specified all elements in an image must be the work of the author and all manipulation must have been performed by the author. Inclusion of ready-made images from other sources is not permitted, whether as clip art, ready-made borders, backgrounds, patterns or graphics. Conversion to monochrome is permitted.
1.7 In some competitions, when specified, images must not include any manipulation which alters the main content of the original photograph or significantly changes the appearance of any element or elements of the original photograph. Nature being an example of one such competition (see para 3.4).
1.8 Any image submitted for competition may be placed on the website. Consequently, if any member has entered images which they would prefer not to be put on the website (of children, for example) they must advise the Webmaster accordingly.
2. MONTHLY COMPETITIONS
2.1 No limitation on subject matter (but see note on computer manipulation (para. 1.6)
2.2 Members may enter both print and digital competitions. Competitions will have one category for prints and two categories for digital images: Group A (experienced) and Group B (less experienced). Maxima for each category are 5 prints, and 5 digital images in Group A, 6 digital images in Group B, per competition. These numbers may be reduced using the precedence system described in Section 4.
2.3 The scoring regime will be: 1st 20pts, 2nd 18pts, 3rd 17pts, Highly Commended 15pts & Commended 13pts, all rankings at the discretion of the judge. Other entries will score 10pts. Only the highest score from any one competitor will count for the league tables. A competitor’s best scores in all monthly competitions less one to count in the league tables.
2.4 At the end of the season, the top scorer in Group B may, at the discretion of the Committee, be placed into Group A along with any member who, in the opinion of the Committee, has consistently produced a high standard of work.
2.5 Members in Group A may, between seasons, on request and at the discretion of the Committee, be transferred to Group B.
2.6 In any one competition an image, or a derivative thereof, may only be used once, as either a print or digital image.
2.7 Prints or digital images having won first place may not be entered again in a monthly competition of the same format (i.e., Print or Digital).
3. ANNUAL COMPETITIONS
3.1 Annual competitions will have only one category, which will be open to all members. For clarity this means no distinction between A or B class. With the exception of the Digital Image Portfolio and Print Portfolio competitions a member may submit up to 5 images in each of the following annual competitions, though the total number of images may be reduced as detailed in Section 4. Should a print or digital image be required for more than one competition on the same evening then a copy must be provided for each.
3.2 Print Portfolio: The Portfolio shall consist of a variety of 5 unrelated prints. It shall be displayed as a single row of prints in accordance with the order determined by the information on the print label. Prints are to be labelled as follows (note that this differs from Para 4.2):- “CN_S_Title of Each Print” where CN is the Competition Number of the member submitting the Portfolio, S is the position of each print on the row with 1 representing the image on the extreme left when viewing the Portfolio and 5 representing the print on the extreme right. A digital image of each print in the Portfolio is to be submitted in accordance with the Competition Rules as applied to digital images, including the method of submission. See Para 4.3. and Section 5
3.3 Open Print of the Year & Open Digital Image of the Year Images which have been ranked as Commended or better in any of the preceding Monthly or Annual Competitions held during the same competition season shall be eligible for entry. In addition, authors may enter one “wild card” image of their choice. The Print of the Year is only open to prints which had been previously ranked as Commended or better in a print competition, and the same approach applies to the Digital Image of the Year. In addition, authors may enter one “wild card” print of their choice. Maximum of 5 entries allowed for both Print & Digital. N.B. “Wild card” images must have been entered in a prior competition of the same type (i.e. digital or print) within the season.
3.4 Nature: digital images 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. Domestic animals, buildings, farmed crops and artificially created landscapes are therefore ineligible. However, images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food are acceptable. Minimal evidence of human presence is acceptable where it is in context with the subject, such as barn owls or storks adapting to an environment modified by humans. The image must appear natural, with no discernible use of special effects filters. Sharpening, resizing, cropping, selective lightening or darkening, and restoration of original colour to the scene are acceptable. Manipulation or modification to the original image must be limited to minor retouching of blemishes and must not alter the content of the original scene.
3.5 Landscape: prints Landscapes will include land, land and water combinations, urban settings and seascapes. They may include minimal human or animal forms and all content must be entirely natural within the setting.
3.6 Macro: digital images The objective is to require the photographer to deal with the problems of depth of field and focusing associated with macro photography. These images must have been taken with a macro lens, or similar device intended for such purpose, such as:
* a normal lens with a macro/close-up setting, or
* a normal lens reversed, or
* a normal lens with extension tubes or bellows, or
* a close-up lens attached to a normal lens as a filter would be.
The lens configuration used must be detailed in the accompanying email.
Note: For guidance, a ‘’close-up’’ of a person’s whole face, or a horse’s head, or a building filling the frame of an extreme wide-angle shot does not qualify as a ‘’macro’’, but an individual eye, flower head or whole body shot of an insect does. It is unlikely that a qualifying image would have a lens to subject distance greater than 15 inches.
3.7 Still Life: prints A depiction of inanimate objects. An image usually created (all aspects chosen by the photographer – subject matter, arrangement/positioning, light, focus,background, camera angle etc.), or simply found (subject matter photographed as is – not moved/adjusted by the photographer)
3.8 Set Subject: digital images The set subject for a coming season will be determined prior to the AGM preceding the start of the season and members will be informed. The set subject for the 2022/23 season is “People”.
3.9 Digital Image Portfolio: The Digital Image Portfolio to consist of 6 individual images to include one each of Nature (1*) Landscape (2*), Portrait (3*), Architecture (4*), Macro (5*) and Abstract (6*).The judge will be asked to mark each image individually, and the winning portfolio will be that with the greatest total of marks. In the event of more than one member achieving the same overall aggregate score the judge should consider the aesthetic nature of the overall presentations as a “tie-breaker” mechanism.
Notes: “Abstract” is defined as an image that does not attempt to represent external, recognizable reality, and which thereby tends to concentrate on shape, colour and form’.
“Portrait” shall be human i.e., no animals, insects etc.
* The filenames should conform to those detailed in Rule 4.3 except that the precedence number should be replaced by numbers indicating the theme of the image (i.e., those numbers in brackets above). 3.10 Creative (“Altered Reality”): digital The image must obviously display a change in
natural colour, form, shape, or any combination of these three. Or it may be a montage (a blending or composite of multiple images), or a product of technical and imaginative skills in either postproduction of still imagery via digital processing, or in the use of the camera.
4. STANDARDS FOR IMAGES PRESENTED FOR COMPETITIONS
4.1 All Images It may be necessary to limit the number of images to be judged on any competition evening to approximately 80 to ensure that the judge is able to do justice to all images. Because it is not possible to predict these occasions it is necessary for all competition entrants to identify the precedence of their images, even when only one image is submitted for a competition.
4.2 Prints Mount sizes should be no larger than 500mm x 400mm. Smaller mounts and unmounted prints (up to the stated limits) will also be accepted. Prints must be labeled, on the top left corner of the back, as seen from the rear. This will define how the Judge will view and display the Print. Label templates can be downloaded from TCC Club website, which will only show the competition name and title of the image. All other labels or markings, which might identify the entrant must be removed or obliterated.
A digital image of each print is to be submitted in accordance with the same Competition Rules as applied to digital images, including the method of submission. See Para 4.3. and Section 5. N.B. The title of the Print and its Digital Image must be identical.
4.3 Digital Images Must be JPEG, with a maximum width of 1600 pixels and maximum height of 1200 pixels. Maximum JPEG quality and an sRGB colour space are recommended. Star or other ratings included in the files must be deleted. Filenames for digital images must commence with the entrant’s Competition Number (must be two digits with a leading 0 if required), followed by an underscore, image precedence, underscore and the image title as follows:
“CN_ P_My Landscape” where CN is the Competition Number of the member submitting the image, P is the precedence of the entry, with 1 being most important, to 5 being the least important, and My Landscape is the image title. Spaces may be used in the title.
N.B. The file naming differs for the two Portfolio competitions, see Paras 3.2 and 3.9. Titles should not exceed 34 characters (including spaces).
5. SUBMISSION OF DIGITAL IMAGES
Digital images are to be submitted by email to “competitions@tetburycameraclub.org.uk” with a subject of “Entry” (excluding quotation marks).
N.B. The images must be submitted as attachments to the covering email: they cannot be embedded within it. The easiest way for Macintosh users to do this is by zipping their entries into a folder and attaching the folder to the covering email. Images should be with the Competition Secretary in accordance with the timescales set out in Rule 1.2. Members submitting entries for more than one competition simultaneously must use separate Emails for each competition; the text of the Email should make clear which competition the entry is for (e.g., Monthly Print, Monthly Class B, Landscape etc.)
6. FINAL CHECKLIST FOR SUBMITTING ANY PRINT OR DIGITAL IMAGE
✔ PRINTS will have label fixed in top left-hand corner of the rear of the print
✔ PRINT Label Titles MUST AGREE PRECISELY with accompanying JPEG Title,
otherwise the Print will be disqualified
✔ Excepting 3.2 PRINT Portfolio, Titles must be in format CN_P_Title
N.B. Underscores NOT Hyphens!
✔ JPEGs must not exceed 1600 pixels wide x 1200 pixels high.
✔ Titles must not exceed 34 characters
✔ Email “Subject” must be: “Entry”
✔ Email must state: Competition Name, DIGITAL or PRINT, Class “A” or “B” (not
required for Annual Comps.), total no. of images attached, your name.
✔ At your discretion, Email may also list the images in the CN_1_Title format
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All images used in this website are the copyright of the photographer who took them. Please respect this and refrain from copying images without permission.