Desert Viewfinders Competition Rules

Effective June 1, 2012

In This Document:

1. Eligibility

2. Competition Categories

3. Policies on Manipulation of Images

4. Policies on Entries

5. Archival Images

6. Proper Submission of Prints

7. Disclaimer

1 Eligibility

All entrants in club competitions must be members in good standing of Desert Viewfinders Camera Club (dues are current).

All entries must be properly submitted prior by the start of the competition meeting.

2 Competition Categories

A: Color

This category is for natural looking color images of any subject.

B: Monochrome

This category is for monochrome images of any subject. The image may have no more than one color (in addition to white), and that may be any color.

C: Subject of the Month

This category is for color or monochrome images on a specified subject. Subjects are announced at the beginning of the competition year.

D: Creative

This category is for any image that the photographer creates as an artistic interpretation of his or her original capture(s).

Significant alteration of the original look and feel of the image is encouraged.

Any type of manipulation or alteration of images is acceptable in this category.

E: Field Trip

This category is for photos taken on scheduled Desert Viewfinders Camera Club Field Trips by members who attend the event.

This Category will be held on the first competition meeting following the Field Trip. There is a limit of two images per member.

The images must comply with Color or Monochrome category standards. Entries not shown in this category may be entered in regular competition.

3 Policies on Manipulation of Images

For all competition categories, the following image corrections and adjustments are allowed:

• White balance

• Color (temperature and tint)

• Exposure/brightness

• Contrast

• Saturation (may also be called vibrancy)

• Sharpening

• Dodge and burn

• Cropping and resizing

• Rotation, as long as it is applied to the entire image

• Conversion to monochrome, as long as the entire image is converted

• Transform and free transform

• Spot healing, healing brush, or patch tools **

• Use of electronic filters **

• Stitching multiple images to form a panorama

• Combining various exposures of an image to increase the dynamic range of the image

a.k.a. High Dynamic Range or HDR

• Depth of field extension (e.g. Helicon focus)

• 3D image creation

** These tools may be used only if they do not significantly alter the image.

4 Policies on Entries

• Entry fee: $1.00 per category.

• Maximum of 3 images per category.

• Images entered in Subject of the Month category must have been taken following the announcement of those subjects at the start of the competition year.

• Images entered in Field Trip category must have been taken during the event. Maximum of 2 images for this category.

• All other images used in competition must have been taken no more than 3 years prior to the date of the competition.

• An image may be reentered only once, and must be unaltered from the original.

Only one entry per member may be reentered per club year.

Label image as re-entry.

5 Archival Images

An archival image must be submitted with each competition entry.

The Absolute Deadline is the close of the competition meeting.

Winning prints without on-time archival prints are subject to disqualification.

Runners-up will be promoted.

Digital Images

Archival images submitted digitally should be formatted as follows:

• Resolution: about 180 pixels/inch

• Long Side: 1024 pixels

• Format: Name files with extension (lower case) .jpg

Archival image files submitted digitally should be named as follows:

• category photographer's initials 2-digit month 2-digit year orientation image title.jpg

• Category abbreviations: c - color; m - monochrome; s - subject of the month; cr - creative; o - outing

• Orientation abbrevations: h - horizontal; v - vertical; s – square

• Example: m jad 0312 h clearing storm.jpg

Archival image files submitted via email:

• Send emails to Candee Read, triplecphoto@gmail.com

• The email subject must appear as follows:

DVCC year month (spelled out) photographer

Example: DVCC 2012 January John Doe

Archival image files submitted on disk:

• Label disk with DVCC, photographers name, date of the competition, and Subject of the month (even if you don't participate)

Prints

• Archival images submitted as prints are limited to 3.5 x 5 to 5x7

• Label with photographers name, title, category, date, and arrow pointing to the top.

6 Proper Submission of Prints

• All prints must be mounted on a 16x20 mat board.

Glass, foam core, plastic backboard or covering, and frames are NOT acceptable.

• An additional mat is acceptable but not required.

• No print or backboard may exceed 16x20 inches.

• No print shall be smaller than 10 inches in the longest dimension.

• No identification of the photographer may appear on the image side of the print.

• A Competition Label must be filled out and attached to the reverse side in the upper left corner.

• A Competition Entry Form for each category entered must be filled out with the titles of 1-3 images, and placed in the corresponding box on the submission table.

• Entry forms and competition labels can be obtained from the submission table. Members can also request a template for printing their own labels in the club preferred format. Email requests to Candee Read at triplecphoto@gmail.com.

• Please come early to fill out the labels and entry forms.

7 Disclaimer

Members of the DVCC shall be honest and ethical in the making and in the presentation of images to be shown to the club. The club is not responsible for the unethical use of copyright by the photographer.

Revised Mar 2012