Wilmslow Photography Club – Competition Rules

(24^th July 2023)

Introduction

The Wilmslow Photography Club Constitution states it will: “organize competitive and non-competitive events for the participation and enjoyment of all members.”

Competition meetings are a vital element of the Club’s activities, as they are deemed by members to contribute significantly to the improvement and development of their photographic and image handling skills.

The purpose of competition meetings is to present members’ current work to independent or peer group review, so that both the individual entrant and fellow members can gain new insights, and develop their skills and knowledge of the art and practice of photography.

In a typical club competition evening about 80 images can be presented and judged.

General

• There are three classes of competition entry: Projected Digital Images, Prints and Theme Panels.
• The Monthly Competitions will consist of Projected Digital Images (Monochrome and Colour sections) and Prints (Monochrome and Colour sections). The sections for Themed competitions will be determined by the theme.
• The Annual Competition will consist of four sections for Projected Digital Images (Monochrome, General Colour, Nature and Portraits & People) and four sections for Prints (Monochrome, General Colour, Nature and Portraits & People).
• An image or one ‘significantly similar’ that has been entered in a previous monthly competition at this society is ineligible, in any form with the exception of one ‘wildcard’ entry per year. Entry of an image in any other competition does not affect its eligibility.
• Notes: ‘Significantly similar’ images are defined as those with only minor alterations to the composition or viewpoint or where the basic impression of that image would normally be interpreted as being the same without careful examination. ‘In any form’ covers DPI, Prints, Colour or Monochrome.
• Entries must conform to the spirit of the title or theme of the competition, where this is specified.
• The maximum number of entries per member in each section is normally 3, but this maximum may be varied to take account of circumstances prevailing. Any such variation will be notified in advance. An image can only be used once.
• The photographer must have taken the images entered and have the full copyright of all elements of the image at their disposal. Images constructed from or that include royalty/copyright free/AI generated images are not acceptable
• Entries will be judged either by a secret ballot or public knockout of members present, or by an external assessor.
• Trophies and prizes may be awarded in competitions at the discretion of the committee.
• The annual points will be accumulated for each member over the season from monthly competitions towards the Photographer of the Year award. The top two judge scores from each section will be counted.

• All entries are accepted at the discretion of the committee.

Definitions

Definitions

Monochrome

This definition has been taken from the FIAP definition for Monochrome and is used by the PAGB.

Pictures entered must be monochromatic images (which may be singly toned in a single tone colour).

Monochrome prints: Any which have one or more added colours/dyes must be entered in the Colour Section.

General colour

Colour includes all other images not classified as Mono.

Except for final printing all the techniques employed must be carried out by the stated author.

Annual Competition Specific

General Sections

Treatment should be essentially aesthetic, pictorial, or graphical. Any subject matter except Nature may be used in these sections i.e. still life, landscape, portraiture, record, illustrative and derivative / creative.

Nature

This definition is taken from the PAGB definition for Nature and has been adopted by WPC. The definition is described on the PAGB website at http://www.thepagb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/nature_eligibility.pdf

Prints

1. The rules for Colour and Monochrome prints are the same.
2. Prints should be a minimum of 10×8” and a maximum of 50x40cm unless otherwise specified.
3. Prints do not have to be mounted. If mounted, the mount size is 50×40 cm. ONLY
   No tape of any description on the back of the mounts.
   Maximum mount thickness must not exceed 4 mm.
   Backing boards should be of a similar size to the front mount.
   Any mounted print which would be likely to damage other entries is not acceptable.
4. All prints must have the sequence number, author’s name and the title of the print shown legibly on the back.
5. A DPI of the image should be uploaded to PhotoEntry following the rules for PDIs below.

Theme Panels

A theme panel is a mounting board bearing a collection of several prints and possibly a title.  The committee may define any appropriate conditions for any theme panel meeting, including (but not restricted to) a limit on the size of panel, or the number and/or size of images.

Projected Digital Images

Technical:

1. image format = 1600 (w) x 1200 (h) to comply with the L&CPU DPI format (see note below)
2. images must be in jpeg format
3. images should have a sRGB IEC61966-2.1colour space

Note: Images must fit within a 1600px x 1200px ‘frame’ i.e.

• If the width is 1600px, the height must be 1200px or less
• If the height is 1200px, the width must be 1600px or less.

Images do NOT

• Need to be exactly 1600px x 1200px
• Need to have a canvas filled out to 1600 x 1200 – (but you can if you wish). DiCentra will add black canvas automatically if your image is smaller than 1600 x 1200

The reason for members not adding black canvasses is so that we can upload images to our website without the black canvasses. If required we can add black canvasses for external competitions.

Uploading images:

The facility for uploading images via the PhotoEntry website is provided on our website under the drop-down menu ‘Competitions/ PDI Competition Upload’ or via this link.

That web page will provide guidance for naming and uploading. Points to note:

• You will be asked to provide an image title and select a priority order, the priority order will be used if we have to reduce the number of entries per person. This may be done if we have a very large number of entries.
• You will need to upload images for both DPI and Print competitions.

Entries

1. Entries must be submitted on the date specified in the syllabus, or as notified from time to time, which will usually be at least 2 weeks before the competition date. Late entries will not be accepted, unless under exceptional circumstances in which prior agreement has been reached with the Competition Secretary or Chairman.
2. Details of all print entries should be recorded using the appropriate entry form which will be distributed by the Competition Secretary. It may be necessary to select entries if the total entry is too large for display and judging in the time available. Members should indicate on the entry form their preferred order for their images within each section.

Updated May 2023