Mid Argyll Camera Club

Competitions - RULES & HELP


printable version of competition RULES - PDF

printable competition entry form - PDF

HELP on resizing, converting to sRGB and saving in JPG format

HELP on sending your images.

HELP on Aspects of a photograph that a competition judge may mention for ideas on what may influence judges' decisions.

There are formal competitions, judged by external experts, and often other informal competitions, judged by members.
The formal competitions are usually the 1st & 2nd ("monthly") competitions, the annual (final) competition, and the Harmony Trophy competition.
There are a variety of trophies .

Competition can have different sections:

  1. Colour Prints - Open, ie Any Subject
  2. Monochrome Prints - Open, ie Any Subject
  3. Digital images - Open, ie Any Subject
  4. Digital images on a Special Subject: in most competitions judged individually

For each competition the number of entries will be limited according to an estimate of the potential total, eg:

.1st & 2nd competitionsfinal competitions
total number of entriesup to 6 in totalup to 6 in total
colour printsup to 2 colour printsup to 2 colour prints
mono printsup to 2 mono printsup to 2 mono prints
digital images (open)up to 2 digital imagesup to 2 digital images
digital images (Special Subject)up to 2 digital images on Special Subjectup to 2 digital images
digital images (Special Subject).a set of 3 for the Harmony Trophy

Example 1: you don't enter prints, so can enter 2 open digital images and 2 special subject digital images in each of the first two competitions. In the final competition you can enter 2 open digital images. For the Harmony Trophy you can enter a set of 3 special subject images.

Example 2: you're keen on showing prints, so can enter 2 colour prints, 2 mono prints and 2 digital images (eg 1 open and 1 special subject) in each of the first two competitions. In the final competition you can enter 2 colour prints, 2 mono prints, and 2 open digital images. For the Harmony Trophy you can enter a set of 3 special subject images.

Entering a competition - RULES

You can see a printable version of the full competition RULES (PDF).

The image must have been entirely photographed by the competition entrant, but there is no restriction on when the photograph was taken, or on how it was processed. Combination of more than one image is permitted: all parts of the final image must have been photographed by the entrant (so no clip-art or artificial intelligence content).

Images may be processed only in a camera, or subsequently with processing software. Techniques may inlcude focus stacking, HDR, panorama stitching, monochrome conversion, Artificial Intelligence assisted up-sizing, noise reduction and sharpening, and many others, but not including AI generated content.

Entrants should bear in mind that the title of an image is likely to influence its perception by the judge, and that for a special subject the judgement will be partly based on how well an image interprets the subject.

There is a competition entrance fee - £2 per image, maximum £8 per competition. Fees contribute towards the cost of running the competitions. There is no fee for the very first competition that a member enters. There is no fee for members under 18 years old.

A list of entries, plus your name, should be given (or emailed) to the competition secretary. This can be done with the competition entry form (PDF) , which you can download and print.

It is helpful to also send digital versions of your print entries. The winning prints can then be put onto our results web pages, and the images can be projected at the same time as prints being shown on the easel so that people at the back can see them in more detail.

Entrants are not identified to the judge.

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Beginners and Advanced entrants - RULES

There are Beginners and Advanced classes in Mid Argyll Camera Club competition sections for colour prints, monochrome prints and open digital images, but not for special subject images (including Harmony Trophy).

When entering a competition section for the first time, a member may chose to be classed as a Beginner in that section, unless

The winner within each class and section will be decided by the judge. For the final competition judges will be asked to decide a single winner for each section and class. Judges will be told which entries are from beginners to enable most appropriate comments. A Beginner's class entry cannot win the Advanced class, or vice versa, even if it scores highest.  Judges will be asked to chose the best entry in a final competition from all open subject entries, Beginners and Advanced.

Beginners will be promoted within a section after they have scored Commended (16/20) or higher three times in that section. If in some years the Beginners' class is suspended because of too few entrants, then a Beginner will be promoted if winning the section outright.

Promotions take effect normally before the next competition. A beginner eligible for promotion may choose to remain in the beginners' section for a further year. If the beginner scores a further 3 images of 16+ points in that following year then they will automatically be promoted to the advanced section. However, if in that same year they don’t attain 16+  points for 3 or more images, then they can choose to remain in the beginners’ section for a further year. After that year it will be at the discretion of the President if they move forward or remain in the beginner’s section.

Submitting digital images

RULES

Image files should be named "filemname.jpg", where "filename" is the title of the image. Please abbreviate the filename if the title is very long. We recommend the maximum JPG quality setting of 12 or 100%.

Digital Images should be in JPG format in sRGB colour space, max width 1600 pixels, max height 1200 pixels.

HELP

The title of an image may influence its perception by the judge, and for a special subject the judgement will be partly based on how an image interprets the subject.

Please ask if you would like HELP in submitting images.
Click here for HELP on resizing, converting to sRGB and saving in JPG format (in a new window).

Images should be handed in on a memory stick, camera memory card or emailed to the competition secretary. Emailing may compress images or reduce their size - zip files to ensure size and quality.
See our links page (in a new window)
for HELP on zipping and sending your images.

Try not to edit images with a screen that is very bright or dark, otherwise they may not be judged or shown as you expect.
It is hoped that the judge will view the images at actual 1600x1200 px size, using a calibrated monitor of luminance about 100cd/m 2 (camera meter reading on a clear white screen about 1/50 sec at f/5.6 at ISO 200). The images will be shown to the club using a digital projector, calibrated if possible, but it may not look the same as on a monitor screen.

Publishing digital images

Digital images from the competitions may be published on this website, but only as very low resolution versions. The club may also consider their use in external competitions - with agreement each time from the member, as copyright owner.

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Submitting prints

RULES

Any person or company can print your images, so long as they don't edit them beyond your own work.

All prints should be mounted on mount board or stiff card, or in readymade sleeved mounts.
Minimum size of prints - 7 inches (18 cms) along longest edge of print (before mounting).
Maximum size of prints including mount 20 x 16 inches (50 x 40 cm).

Prints should be titled on the rear of the mount and if ambiguous, the top edge marked.
The rear of the mount should also show whether entering as colour or monochrome (not always obvious). Do not put your name on it.

The method, quality and colour of the mounting should not be taken into account by the judge, unless it significantly detracts from the picture.

If possible, please send a digital version of your print to the competition secretary when entering so that all winning photographs may be put onto our web site, and images are available for chosing entries to external competitions.

HELP

Prints may be fixed to the front of a mount board, slid into a ready mount pocket, or taped behind the opening of a matte. If using a matte, people tape the print all round (if it will stay flat), or tape part of the top edge only and fix a lightweight backing board or stiff paper behind the print. Please don't have anything on the back of the mount that could catch or stick to other prints.
The club sometimes has a stock of ready-mounts (for A4 prints) and larger mount board, bought in bulk for members.

Definition of monochrome - RULES

A Monochrome print is defined as having no more than one colour, but it may be any single colour. 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. A black and white print toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the Monochrome prints category.
A black and white print modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour, must be entered as a colour print.
In our competitions a single-coloured monochrome print (other than strictly black, white and greys) isn't banned from the colour prints section.

Entering an image more than once - RULES

There's a limit to entering photographs in formal Club competitions. If you submit an image that looks very similar to one you've already submitted, it will be considered as entering it more than once. This includes images derived from the same negatives, slides, or digital files, even if there are slight differences, and re-edited versions based on feedback from a judge. Changing the format (eg from digital to print) or the colour (eg from colour to monochrome) doesn't count as entering a different image.

You can't enter the same (or very similar) photo in more than two competitions. You can only enter a photo once in an annual/final competition, or for the Harmony Trophy. If entered in a “monthly” and a final competition it can be in the same or any other section. If you enter a photo twice in “monthly” competitions (eg both the 1st and 2nd) it must be in two different sections and on different dates.

Competition Scoring RULES :

We ask judges to chose First, Second, Third, some Highly Commended and some Commended (eg up to two 2nd=, up to three 3rd=, and as many HCs and Cs as seem deserved).[This method has been adopted since 2019/20 rather than the traditional way from 10/20 to 20/20.]

We need numerical scores for our 1st and 2nd competitions to combine results for some of our trophies. If needed we will allocate 20 points to 1st, 19 points to 2nd, 18 points to 3rd, 17 points to Highly Commended, 16 points to Commended and 15 points to all other entries.

Annual Competition trophies RULES

Harmony Trophy RULES :

Scoring for other trophies - RULES

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