Next Meeting

Tuesday February 21st

Here are some details to help members prepare for our next highly popular Digital Competition.

There's little doubt that in the past some members had been nervous at the thought of displaying their efforts in public but for most of us now those fears have been dispelled.  Judges know that we expect positive and constructive comments in order to assist us improve our photographic skills.  This month will be no different and we are pleased to have Allan Livingstone back wih us again.

The full competition rules are available on the Member Tips web site but for a quick synopsis, this is what we do for a digital competition.

Members submit:-

• A maximum of two photos by email to Brian Brooker. This year you are restricted to entering only one in each category.
   
• Provided you follow the naming procedure it will be clear as to the name of your image otherwise on your email state which category each picture is for.  Each month we have a Defined category and an Open category.  This month the Defined category is "Depth of Field.  In the "Open" category you are free to enter an image on any subject.
   
• For competition purposes:-
  1)  Only your highest scoring image will count
  2)  To encourage entry into the Defined category we will add two points to any score given by the judge.
  3)  To qualify for entry into the Defined category your image must bear in the EXIF data the image date which must be after the date that the Defined category was announced.  (EXIF data is added automatically by the camera - ensure your camera date is correctly set.
  4)  All entries to the Defined category are subject to acceptance by the competition secretary
   
• Give each picture a descriptive name - we have a preferred format for naming which is as follows:-
  1)  MyPicture105BGOpen.jpg or MyPicture105BGDefined.jpg
  2)  The format is all one word.
  3)  If your image has a name consisting of more than one word then commence each word with a Capital letter.
  4)  Follow this with your membership number
  5)  Follow this with your group BG, IG or AG
  6)  Follow this with the word Open or Defined as appropriate
  7)  Finally be sure to send the image as a jpg - no other format is acceptable.
   
• If you require further assistance it is available on  Member Tips or call Brian.
   
• Ideally each photo must fit into an imaginary fixed frame that is 1900 x 1200.  If either dimension is greater than this, it should be reduced accordingly by retaining the correct proportions.  Full details of how to easily resize your image is available on Member Tips but if you are unable to do it then send your image in anyway and Brian will do it for you.  Please note that 1900 x 1200 supercedes the size given on Member Tips.
   
• Picture Resolution should be 120 ppi - see Member Tips for an explanation of how to achieve this but as before, if you are unable to do this then just send your picture(s) in anyway and Brian will do it for you.
   
• Ideal file size between 500kb and 1mb - again see Member Tips for further information.
  (Brian can and will reduce them in size where members are uncertain how to go about this but it's not good to increase them in size so do try not to use a program that downsizes them to a size less than 1900 px x 1200 px automatically when emailing as you will lose quality - if in doubt please call Brian and ask.

Once entered, all photos will be displayed using the name you ascribed to your photo. - your name will not be attached to the photo nor displayed. In this way all photos viewed will be anonymous not only to the judge but also to the viewing audience. Points out of 20 will be awarded to each photo and only the names of the authors of those photos achieving the highest scores will be announced to the viewing group at the end of the competition.  We have no intention of embarrassing anyone.

During the review, the judge, far from criticising the photo, will offer where appropriate, specific positive comment as to what could have been done to improve the composition.  In this way members will learn how to make better pictures in the future.

At our last digital competition we had over 80 entries and we all went home feeling we knew what was required to take better pictures having learnt something during the evening and that's what coming to the competition evening is all about. Have a look at some of the photos submitted in the past by clicking on the Galleries pages.

Competition evenings do result in a lot of administration effort behind the scenes so please enter early.  There is a deadline of 4:00pm Sunday February 19th but if they all arrive in Brian's email on the deadline, we'll be in trouble so the earlier the entry the better.  If you are in doubt as to your member number and group, you will find details on the Member Tips web site - just log in and you'll see the page with this information.

NB The deadline shown above is absolute because the images will be made available to the judge for early viewing before the competition.  In this way we would hope to make it easier for the judges to be far more consistent in their marking

In terms of competition points, this year only your highest scoring image will count and at the end of the competition year we will be awarding an etched crystal trophy to the member in each group with the highest aggregate number of points.

 It's a great way to learn so do take part.