Rules for Club Competitions

1. Digital (DPI)
2. Color Prints
3. Monochrome Prints

1. Entries must have been taken within the previous 12 months
2. Entries must not have been entered in previous club competitions
3. Prints must be 5x7 or larger
4. Prints may range in size from 5"x7" to 11"x14" and must be securely mounted or matted on an 11"x14" mount board.  (Must be 11"x14" mount).  One print per board. Prints must have the entrant's name, address, phone number and title in the upper right hand corner on back of mount.  You must be a paid member of Morris Camera Club to compete in this contest.
   4"x6" print contest. At the monthly meetings will have a 4"x6" print contest.  Each person (member or non-member) may bring two 4"x6" prints (not mounted) and compete in a contest.  Everyone attending may vote for their top 4 favorites.  This has been very popular. The top four are announced at the meeting, there are no awards given.
   "Share-a-photo".  This is held on each contest night (6 times per year).  Anyone attending (member or non-member) may bring something they wish to share/show to the club.  It can be anything related to photography, eg, a print, a new gadget, a new technique, etc.
5. There will be a limit of two entries per category per member.
6. All entries must be titled.
7. Member must be present at the meeting in order to enter.

DPI REQUIREMENTS:

1. The following instructions will help you prepare image files for our digital competitions. It will assure that the files will load promptly on our computer and will display properly.
   1. Once you have completed editing your images and are ready to prepare them for submission, open the first image in your image editing software.
   2. If the image consists of multiple layers, flatten the image so that is consists only of a single ‘Background’ layer. In Photoshop you can use the command ‘Layer>Flatten Image’.
   3. Your image should be 8 bit … to check this in Photoshop, use the command: ‘Image>Mode’ … ‘8 Bits/Channel’ should be checked. If your image is ’16 Bits/Channel’, click on ‘8 Bits/Channel’ to convert it.
   4. We recommend your image be in the ‘sRGB’ color space. To check this in Photoshop, use the command: ‘Edit>Convert to Profile’ … if the Destination Space is not ‘sRGB’, click on the dropdown box, select ‘sRGB’ and click ‘Enter’.
   5. Your image must be down-sized to fit into a window 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high. The next steps (#6-9) will show you how to downsize the image.
   6. To downsize your image in Photoshop, use the command ‘Image>Image Size’.
   In the Image Size dialog:
   a. Make sure the 3 boxes near the bottom of the dialog are checked (‘Scale Styles’, ‘Constrain Proportions’, and ‘Resample Image’).
   b. In the top section titled ‘Pixel Dimensions’. Examine the Width and Height … the units should be ‘pixels’ … if they’re ‘percent’, click the drop down box and change to ‘pixels’.
   c. If the image is in landscape mode (wider than it’s high), change the width to 1014 pixels, OR, if the image is in portrait mode (higher than it’s wide), change the height to 758 pixels. Whichever dimension you change, Photoshop adjusts the other in accordance with the ‘Constrain Proportions’ instruction.
   d. Once again check both the Width and Height. The Width must be no more that 1014 pixels and the Height no more than 758 pixels.
   e. In the drop-down box to the right of the ‘Resample Image’ box, we suggest your choose ‘Bicubic Sharper’.
   f. Your resultant image should be in the 1M-2M size range … see size immediately to the right of ‘Pixel Dimensions’ at the top of the dialog. Now click ‘OK’.
   7. We recommend you sharpen your image … we suggest using Photoshop’s Unsharp Mask Filter, or equivalent.
   8. You may create a white or colored border around your resized image. In Photoshop, use the command ‘Image>Canvas Size’ … in the lower section of the dialog box is a section titled ‘New Size’:
   a) click the ‘Relative’ box,
   b) set the units to ‘Pixels’,
   c) set the ‘Width’ & ‘Height’ to ‘10’, and
   d) make sure ‘White’ or your chosen color is selected in the ‘Canvas extension color’ box. Now click ‘OK’. Note: the border created is 5 pixels wide.
   9. In the next steps, you are going to save the file in JPG format. This format provides file compression, thus making it simpler to Email images to the competition.
   10. Use the command ‘File: Save As’ to open the Save As dialog:
   a) Click on the ‘Format’ drop down box,
   b) Select ‘JPEG (*.JPG, *.JPEG, *.JPE)’, the 8th choice down from the top,
   c) Now click ‘SAVE’.
   11. This opens the JPEG options dialog. In this dialog box you select a ‘Quality’ levels from 1 to 12. The ‘12’ is the best quality but the least compression:
   a) Select a Quality level that yields a file size no larger than 350K,
   b) then click ‘OK’..
   12. Repeat this process for the rest of the images you plan to submit.

JUDGING

• Three judges will be selected from members who have not entered the competiton. Judges will score each entry on a basis of points, 4-9, with four being the minimum score and nine being the maximum. Any combination of scores is acceptable. Entries will be rejudged to break ties.

1. Composition: Any or all of the following may apply: Rules of thirds, framing, level horizons, filling the frame, etc.
2. Creative Ability: Original ideas, technical correctness
3. Impact: Communication of an idea...photo should follow the assigned subject and have an impact or a center of interest.

• After the judging, if any members wants an entry to be critiqued, time will be set aside to do so. That member may call upon the judges or fellow members to give a short critiquing.