Rule 1          Members must have photographed the entries themselves, including those used in digital work. Copies or derivatives of other people’s work will not be accepted into any competition.

Rule 2      There will be five monthly rounds, each with an open theme.  There is no time limit as to when the pictures were taken.

Rule 3          Two rounds will be restricted to Prints, when members may enter THREE prints MAXIMUM. They can be any combination of Monochrome or Colour.  Prints must be designated 1, 2, and 3.  In the event of a high number of competition entries, image 3 will be withdrawn.

Note: The Master Photographer series gives an additional opportunity for print entry, as an alternative to PDI.

Rule 4  Three rounds will be restricted to PDI, when members may enter THREE digitally projected images MAXIMUM.  PDI filenames must be designated _01, _02, and _03.  In the event of a high number of competition entries, image _03 will be withdrawn.  The withdrawn image may be entered in a subsequent monthly competition.

Rule 5   Entries must be presented on the dates indicated in the programme.

Rule 6  Judges are asked to give maximum consideration to the critique of all entries, particularly to help the less experienced photographers.  The judges are also asked to grade any number of images, which they consider to be of extra merit, using the categories Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Highly Commended.  Some will indicate a “near-miss”.

For the purpose of the end of the year awards, (Photographer, PDI Worker, and Print Worker, of the Year), all entered images will receive at least one point, whilst Highly Commended to Gold will receive a total of 2 to 5 points respectively.

Rule 7   Any Print or PDI may be submitted for a monthly competition only once, unless previously withdrawn due to unmanageable high numbers, and must not have been used in the Master Photographer series. If the image is subsequently produced in a different format it may be submitted once again, but not in the same season.

Rule 8  To be eligible for any competition, the entrant must be a fully subscribed member of Newton Abbot Photographic Club.

Rule 9  Titles are required for Digitally Projected Images.  Titles are optional, but preferred, for prints.  There must be no names on entries, only the membership number.

Rule 10  All submissions must be accompanied by completed entry forms, downloadable from the Club Website.

RULES SPECIFIC TO PRINTS

1.   Entries must be mounted on card, (or similar), with a size of 50cm by 40cm.

2.   Framed or glass mounted submissions cannot be accepted.

RULES SPECIFIC TO DIGITALLY PROJECTED IMAGES (PDI)

1.  Digitally projected Images may be sourced from either digital camera files, or digitally scanned objects and / or photographic film images.

2.  All entries must be submitted by email, before midnight on the published dates, and must be supplied as simple attachments to the email, and must NOT be embedded.  The email address is given on the entry form, which should also be attached to the email.

3.  Files must be carefully named to include your chosen title (max 30 characters), prefixed with your membership number, followed by _01, _02, 03, or _04.

Example filename             010_01 Cat in a Coal-shed.jpg

The title should reflect the exact requirements of the member, including displayed capitalisation and spaces, with hyphens, ( – ), only where appropriate.  The use of the three digit Membership Number, followed by an underscore (_), not hyphen (-), followed by the 2-digit number, is fundamental to the competition software now used by NAPC.  It also continues to allow the flexibility to limit entry numbers when required.

The organisers take no responsibility for misinterpreting the entrants’ requirements when not in the above format.

4.  JPG files should be provided within a 1600 x 1200 pixel overall landscape format, and must not exceed 2MB.  The maximum width for a landscape image is therefore 1600 pixels, and the maximum height for a portrait image is 1200 pixels.  A 1600 x 1200 jpg image, at quality 10 or higher in Photoshop, will normally be less than 2MB.     When resizing in the Image Size Windows Dialog box of your software, only the pixel width and height are important – ignore document physical width, height, and pixels per inch (ppi).

5.  The actual photographic image content may be of any size, orientation and aspect ratio, at or within the 1600 x 1200 pixel file format.

6.  Digital projectors are designed for use with images prepared in the sRGB colour space ICC profile. NAPC, in common with most clubs, now uses competition software which will remake your image if it is not provided in this colour space, or is over-size.  All image editors – e.g. Photoshop, give the entrant the facility to provide SRGB originals.

RULES SPECIFIC TO IMAGES OF THE YEAR (IOY)

1.   Each member may enter a maximum of THREE Digitally projected Images (PDI), together with TWO Colour Prints (max) plus one Mono, OR TWO Mono Prints (max) plus one Colour.

2.   Images must have been entered in a competition, Monthly or “Master Photographer”, in the current season. – NEW!