COMPETITION RULES

Members are entitled to enter all competitions when they have paid their subscription and have been given a number by the Competition Secretary.

Members may submit up to SIX images in any competition as defined on the programme unless otherwise stated with a maximum of 3 in any of the following categories. Both A and B Categories have a PRINT and DIGITAL IMAGE section. (L) = Points go towards the league.

COMPETITION	CATEGORY A	CATEGORY B
1 (L1)	OPEN MONO	PICTORIAL COLOUR
2 (L2)	NATURE	PORTRAIT (Col or Mono)
3 (L3)	OPEN COLOUR	CREATIVE/ABSTRACT
MEMORIAL COMPETITION	OPEN MONO	OPEN COLOUR
4 (L4)	OPEN MONO	SPORT
5 (L5)	OPEN COLOUR	CREATIVE/ABSTRACT
6 (L6)	OPEN (COLOUR & MONO)	NATURE
FIELDTRIP COMPETITION	OPEN MONO	OPEN COLOUR
IMAGE OF THE YEAR	1 st Place Winners +	Best Image of the Year

Digital Images should be sized at 1024 x 768 at 72 dpi. The longest side of a landscape is 1024 pixels and the longest side (i.e. height) of a portrait image is 768 pixels. Entries should be titled with Category Letter (A or B), Image number (01, 02, 03), Membership Number and Title A03_56_The Winner refers to the third digital entry in category A from member number 56 with a title of ‘The Winner’
Prints should be on a maximum mount size of 40 x 50 cm (20 x 16 inches) and on the reverse should have the title following the naming convention in point 3 above. No other information should be shown. All entries for external competitions must be on a mount of 40 x 50 cm.
All entries to be with the Competition Secretary at least two weeks before the competition (prints and digital) unless otherwise requested by a club officer or committee member. Hand-in of Prints can be made at any club meeting before the closing time/date. Hand-in of digital images on CD/DVD or Memory Stick can be made at any club meeting before the closing time/date. Digital Images can also be emailed to the Competition Secretary but must arrive before the closing time/date.
Entry to competitions will close at 8.45pm on the deadline date.
Points earned for the league are 1 st (10 points), 2 nd (7 points), 3 rd (5 points) & HC (2 point) – The number of HC’s is dependent on the number of entries in the category. Categories with 5 or less entries = no HC’s, categories with 6-10 entries = 1 HC, and categories with 11 entries or more = 2 HC’s.
Each Category is divided into an INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED section. Movement from Intermediate to Advanced is by league table position at the end of the season or by consistency of work shown at competitions and decided by the committee. New members can be approved to join the Advanced Section straight away by showing a selection of their work to the committee.
Image of the Year Competition. The 1 st place winners (Intermediate & Advanced) in the 6 competitions plus Memorial will go through to Image of the Year. There will be no differentiation between Intermediate and Advanced in this competition. PRINT winners are requested to re-enter their images, DIGITAL IMAGE winners will be on file and need do nothing. Each club member may enter a further ONE image (PRINT or DIGITAL) to go into the competition to represent ‘Their Image’ of the Year. ‘Their Image’ must be an image that has been entered in one of the 6 league competitions or either the Memorial or Field Trip competitions during the current season. The judge will be asked to choose the Best Mono Print, Best Colour Print, and Best DPI-Mono & Best DPI Colour then finally to choose the overall TOP IMAGE from these four. This image will win the image of the year trophy.
If you feel that your image should have won/been more successful and did not get awarded points you may show it for a second time in the league in order to obtain a second opinion. Only one image in any competition can be used for this purpose. No image that is so similar to one already entered by the author may be entered again (other than covered by the ‘second time’ rule mentioned above. No image entered as a colour image may be converted to mono and entered again (or vice-versa). No digital image may be re-entered as a print (or vice-versa) – this applies to the 6 league competitions and not to external competitions such as inter-club or CPA / WCPF competitions for example.
The ‘Western Counties Photographic Federation (WCPF) set subject’ will be announced to the club members as soon as the committee are made aware of it by the WCPF.
All members are entitled to attend ‘Selection Evenings’ where the selection of images for external competitions will be voted on. The top voted images will represent the club.

DEFINITIONS

NATURE:

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.
Photographs of animals which are domesticated, caged or under any form of restraint, as well as photographs of cultivated plants are ineligible.
Minimal evidence of humans is acceptable for nature subjects, such as barn owls or storks, adapting to an environment modified by humans, or natural forces, like hurricanes or tidal waves, reclaiming it.
The original image must have been taken by the photographer, whatever photographic medium is used.
Any manipulation or modification to the original image is limited to minor retouching of dust blemishes and must not alter the content of the original scene. After satisfying the above requirements, every effort should be made to use the highest level of artistic skill in all nature photographs.

MONO:

A black and white work fitting from the very dark grey (black) to the very clear grey (white) is a monochrome work with the various shades of grey (0-256)
A black and white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the black and white category
On the other hand a black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category

TRAVEL:

A Photo Travel image must express the feeling of a time and place, and portray a land, its people, or a culture in its natural state.
Photo Travel images have no geographical limitations.
Ultra close-ups, which lose their identity and studio-type model shots, are unacceptable.
Techniques that add to, relocate, replace or remove any element of the original image, except by cropping, are not permitted.
Techniques that enhance the presentation of the image without changing the photo travel content are permitted. All adjustments must appear natural.

CREATIVE/ABSTRACT:

Creative is defined as “altered reality”. Creative, experimental, imaginative and/or a departure from realistic representation
The subject matter is secondary
Elements such as line, shape, texture, shadow, form & pattern become the primary concern of the photographer

PICTORIAL:

The artistic portrayal of scene(s) and or persons expressed through mood, composition & tone

PORTRAIT/PEOPLE/ANIMALS:

A photograph of a person(s) or animal(s)

EXAMPLES:

Images of St Michael’s Mount, or Porthtowan Beach etc is TRAVEL, PICTORIAL, or OPEN
Images of your pets are OPEN, or PICTORIAL
Zoo animals are OPEN not Nature
A butterfly feeding on heathland is NATURE
A butterfly in a butterfly farm is PICTORIAL
Bluebells at Enys is NATURE

Please ask a committee member for assistance with the understanding of these rules if required.

Wendy Allard
Competition Secretary

Updated January 2012

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