Structured Judging Guidelines

 

Photo Editing Info

Photo Editing Info

Photo Image Resizer:

Photo Editing:

  • Pix Builder Studio – Information
    PixBuilder Studio is a free image editing software program for digital photo editing, images processing, and resizing.
    For digital photo editing, you can use its many professional quality functions.
  • Pix Builder Studio – Download
  • Pix Builder Studio – User Guide, pdf.

 

Helpful Links

Helpful links

Canon online SLR Simulator: http://www.canonoutsideofauto.ca/play/ CamaraSim online simulator: http://camerasim.com/apps/original-camerasim/web/ Online Exposure Tool: http://www.exposuretool.com/

Categories

Pictorial (pc)
Nature (nt)
Photojournalism (pj)
Portraiture (pr)
Contemporary/Altered Reality (ar)
Landscapes (ls)
Still Life (sl)
Photo travel (pt)
Black & White (bw)

Add the category abbreviation after the image name in PhotoVault with a space between:
eg:
Fishing Boat pc
Sunset ls
Piets Moustache ar

Category Descriptions


Category Descriptions
The following may be used as a broad guideline to the categories:

Pictorial (pc)
Pictorial entries include all the subject material, which is not already defined for other categories for e.g.
nature, photo travel, etc.
Digital manipulation is allowed, provided the end result “looks natural”.

Nature (nt)
A nature image is restricted to the use of the photographic process to depict observations from all branches
of natural history in such a fashion that a well-informed person will be able to identify the subject material
and to certify to its honest presentation. This includes aspects of botany, geology, insects, fauna and flora,
but excludes Anthropology and Archaeology.
Human elements shall not be present unless, on the rare occasion where human elements enhance the story
but must be unobtrusive. For this reason, animals shown to be in captivity or domestic animals are not
accepted.
Photographs of artificially produced hybrid plants or animals, mounted specimens, obviously set
arrangements, derivations, or any form of photographic manipulation that alters the truth of the
photographic statements are ineligible.
Digital manipulation is not allowed.

Photojournalism (pj)
Photojournalism entries shall consist or story telling pictures or sequences such as are seen in the news
media, including human interest, documentary and sport news. The images capture events in the
photographer’s time, be they of national importance or local neighbourhood pictures.
These images have one thing in common – they must be informative and have emotional impact, usually with
human interest. The journalistic value of the image will be considered more than the pictorial quality.
Images may not misrepresent the truth and therefore, digital manipulation is not allowed.

Portraiture (pr)
A portrait arrests our gaze for what it reveals. However, fleeting the moment, the photographer must
connect with the subject and extend the connection to the audience. Subjects include people, animals,
insects etc. The image may be head and shoulders or full figure, but must depict the subject’s character or
emotion at that moment. Animal portraits are usually only of the neck and head.
Digital manipulation is allowed.

Contemporary/Altered Reality (ar)
This category stands apart from the other categories as a form of art and may be defined as a concept which
stimulates the mind of the viewer to interpret the message conveyed through the creative uses of line, form
and colour.
This definition specifically includes computer generated / manipulated images and covers technique,
experimental work or contemporary work. The final result does not have to bear any relation to the original
image since reality may be altered.
Digital manipulation is allowed.

Landscapes (ls)
Images covering landscape scenes of land, sea, cloud and cityscapes may be entered in this section.
Depictions of these scenes may include human elements or domestic animals.
Only images that do not alter the truth of the photographic statement will be eligible.
Digital manipulation is not allowed.

Still Life (sl)
Inanimate objects pictorially arranged.
Digital manipulation is allowed.

Photo travel (pt)
Subject matter must portray photo travel. A photo travel entry should capture the feeling of a time and place,
and portrays a land, its people, and its culture in its natural state. Ultra close-ups that lose the identity, model
shots or manipulated images do not qualify. Entries should not be limited to geographical areas and may
include, but are not limited to other lands or countries and may include those of domestic origin. The key
differentiation between Photo Travel and other forms of photography is the portrayal of Culture.
Digital manipulation is not allowed.

Black & White (bw)
A monochrome image is an image consisting of a single colour or shades of that single colour against a neutral background.
All black and white images are monochrome images, but not all monochrome images are black and white.
For example, a monochrome image might consist of black on yellow.
Gray scale is a method of representing black and white images on a computer.
Gray scale images are represented using only 256 shades of Gray rather than the full pallet of colours.
Digital manipulation is allowed.

Post capture processing and ethics

Post capture processing and ethics (Including more on Category Descriptions )

In view of the perceived perception by some that digital photography is synonymous to digital manipulations, it
is essential to address the ethics and “rules” of digital manipulations within the various divisions. While the
aspect of manipulation or alteration of the “truth” of a photo is by no means unique to a digital image, it is a fact
that the digital process allows much greater possibilities with regard to the alteration of the original image.

It is suggested that the “rules” regarding permissible post-processing of digital images be clearly stated and then
to leave it to the photographer and his/her own integrity and conscience to abide by the rules. This is suggested
since it is felt that there are very few practical measures that can be applied to verify whether an image was
changed enough from the “truth of the original scene” to be classified as “altered” or “manipulated”.

Imposing laborious measures to verify the authenticity of an image is likely to be flawed and might in the end
only serve to discourage participants. To add to the complexity of this issue is the fact that it is very difficult to
even try and define “altered” or “manipulated”.

For the sake of practicality, the following post-capture processing procedures performed on a digital image with
the aid of a computer and a digital image editing software package like Adobe Photoshop, within limits, will not
be considered as digital manipulation:

  • Adjustment / correction of the colour balance (especially relevant to scanned images).
  • Removal of dust and scratch marks on scanned images or spots from dust particles on the CCD / CMOS
    sensors of digital cameras.
  • Adjustment of exposure and contrast, including dodging and burning similar to those techniques that are
    commonly used in traditional printmaking.
  • Adjustment of colour saturation.
  • Sharpening.
  • Image Cropping and Horizontal Rotation.
  • Image Resizing.

Judges realise that some of the above adjustments (e.g. changing the colour balance) can be used in such a way
as to create an unnatural / manipulated look, hence the cautionary reference to “within limits”. However, the
permissible range of use of the above will be almost impossible to quantify and it is thus left to the discretion of
the photographer.

No additional alterations should be done to images intended for entering in the following divisions:

  • All nature divisions including zoological and botanical/geological sub-divisions.
  • Photo journalism divisions.
  • Photo travel divisions.

As stipulated by the rules applicable to the various other divisions, additional digital alterations will be
permissible to images entered in other sections like the open or pictorial sections. It is further assumed that the
digital image will be original and does not incorporate elements produced by anyone else but the photographer.
No copying of any kind of somebody else’s work is permissible.

Photo Resizing for Photovault uploading

Background

As a result of Photovaults rigid photo sizes for specific submissions, we at GBPC who are using this upload platform needed to find the image sizes that would best suit our requirements. The 1600px wide and 1200px in height was the best offered, although it would not be our first choice if we could change the PV configuration ourselves.

Resizing

There are a few things to keep in mind, this will keep the process fairly painless.

  • Use your favourite image resizer program, if you do not have one …
  • we recommend Faststone Photo Resizer (click this link to download, click on the downloaded exe file to install)
  • we also recommend this really nice Windows based resizer:  Info and download
  • When setting up the resizing for your image the width must be 1600px and/or the image height must be 1200px
  • This means the image can have a width of 1600px and the height must be 1200px or less (for landscape shaped images)
  • and if the image is a portrait shape then the height must be 1200px and width 1600px or less.
  • Typically a portrait taken with the 3:4 image ratio, will have a height of 1200px and width of 900px
  • If the image required to resize is in landscape format, set the width to 1600px and the height to be calculated by the software you are using.
  • If the  image is in a portrait format, the height is longer than the width, set your resizer software for the height to be 1200px and allow the width to be calculated.

Resizing (Image Resizer for Windows)

  • Download Image Resizer for Windows.
  • Click on exe file to install. (windows).
  • View image files in File Explorer to resize.
  • Select files to be resized and right click on them.
  • Right click menu appears, select Resize Pictures.
  • Resize Pictures popup menu appears.
  • First time use: create a custom size, click Advanced options.
  • Click ‘Create a new size’ give it a name, eg: PV, enter 1600 and 1200 in the other 2 blocks in that order and click OK.
  • The new Custom size will appear in the pop up list for future use .
  • There is an Encoding Tab, use this if the images resized remains above 1Mb, reduce JPEG quality and resize.
  • Use the File Tab to change picture file name as required.
  • Select the new custom size when resizing for GBPC Photovault uploads.
Club Information

New Membership Information

Club Constitution: Updated November 2020

Committee Functions: