Competitions

1. Go to http://westbridge.zenfolio.com/
2. Click on the current month's competition gallery.
3. You may view the photos and submit any comment or suggestions by clicking on the individual image and adding a comment on the right of the page.
4. Please make your selection of the winners: 1 to 5 and 10% honorable mentions, and forward in a email to the competition chair, Mark Fohl (m.fohl@att.net)
5. Please DO NOT post the winners in the comments as they will be announced on the night of the competition.

PLEASE READ THESE DISCLAIMERS!

The following contains instructions and entry requirements for the new Digital Competition process that are subject to change by the Competition Committee.  We will do our best to keep this information as up-to-date as possible.  However meeting entry requirements and entry deadlines is ultimately your responsibility.  When in doubt, please contact a member of the Competition Committee to obtain clarification.

Westbridge is an amateur photo club.  Our digital competitions provide an ‘open’ and public venue for sharing and feedback.  If you are concerned that someone will steal your images online, then please participate in the print category only.

Westbridge is run by volunteers.  Those who complain about unclear rules, specifications or deadlines will be recruited to volunteer... or lead!

Remember, the award is a $0.50 ribbon and 30 seconds of fame, not a scholarship to photography school.  So relax and enjoy the club.

Q: When Are the Digital Competitions Held?
A: Digital competitions are now held every month, September thru April and are part of the 'Annual Salon' competition in May.

Q: How Many Images May I Submit?
A: A total of two digital images in each gallery; scarlet and grey UNLESS you were one of the photographers who received 25% of the top points the previous competition year.  Those individuals will be notified before the next year’s competition. If you were in the top 25% group you CAN ONLY enter two in the scarlet gallery.  Unlike the print categories, there’s no distinction between color or monochrome images.

Q: If I Enter the Digital Competition, Can I Still Enter the Print Competition on the Same Night?
A: Absolutely.  There’s no correlation between the two.  You may enter a maximum of two color prints, two monochrome prints and two digital in scarlet and maybe two in gray (see above question).  But don’t show up on competition night with your digital images in hand (see digital deadline details below).

You cannot enter multiple ‘substantially same’ or identical images in a given competition.  (Why would you want to anyway?)  If you cannot decide between two images, ask another Westbridge member for feedback.

Q: When Can I Upload My Entries?
A: A member of the Competition Digital Subcommittee will create a folder on the Zenfolio web site.  When that folder is present, and before the entry deadline, you may upload your entries.  Entries can be added any time, but the entry deadlines are midnight on the Monday prior to the competition.

Q: What are the Entry Deadlines?
A: One week prior to the competition meeting. That provides enough time for the judge to review, score and hopefully comment on images.  And it provides enough time for the competition committee to prepare the images for display on competition night.

Q: What Are the Prerequisites to Participating?
A: Your dues must be paid in full before you may participate in Westbridge competitions.  The good news is, membership is cheap.  We will audit the paid membership list with the entries.

Q: Will I Receive Points and Ribbons if I Place?
A: Absolutely. Points and ribbons will be awarded, similar to the other categories (B&W or Color Prints).  Point winnings are tracked throughout the year and awards are given at the Annual Banquet/Salon in June.  Points earned in the digital category factor into the calculation for the ‘Photographer of the Year’ award, which is granted to the member with the highest points accumulated during the year.  Refer to the Rules of Competition for more details.

Q: Will My Image Be Displayed at the Competition Meeting?
A: Yes.  All entries will be displayed, regardless of whether they received an award or not.

Q: What Happens if I Don’t See My Uploaded Images on the Competition Night?
A: Occasionally, someone will ‘think’ that they’ve uploaded an image, but perhaps they missed a step, like clicking the ‘Upload’ button.  Be sure to visit the competition website folder (a.k.a. gallery) just prior to the deadline, to confirm that your image is included.

Whatever the case, let the competition committee know that you had an issue and try again next time.  Remember, we’re competing for a simple ribbon.  So give others a break if something goes awry.  They are unpaid, hardworking volunteers.

Q: Can I Post Comments on Others' Images?
A: Yes, after the competition has ended.  We want the judge to post his or her comments first.

Q: Who Can Post Comments on My Images?
A: Comments may be posted by the public.  In other words, anyone, anywhere.  If you discover rude or improper comments on the website, please notify the competition committee.  You may also log in, navigate to the comment and delete it.

Q: Can I Replace an Image That I’ve Already Uploaded with a Different Image?
A: We would prefer that you upload your images and then leave them “as is”.  Since everyone has access to the competition folder, it is possible that someone might decide that they want to delete their image and inadvertently delete all of the images.  Please, do not use the ‘delete’ function, or do so carefully.

Q: Can I Post Images of Nudes?
A: Nude images or those with strong sexual content are permitted but are strongly discouraged, given that the Westbridge meetings often include children and grandchildren.  This applies to all categories of competition.  Note that Westbridge members will also be sharing the online photo galleries with their friends and families.  So viewership isn’t limited to just those who show up at Westbridge meetings.

Q: Can Someone Steal My Images?
A: Frankly, yes.  Anything you post online can be captured and saved to another computer.  By uploading an image that is 1000 pixels on the long edge, you’re only providing an equivalent print size of 3-4 inches.

One suggestion: Add a copyright to the image metadata.

Westbridge is an amateur photo club.  Our digital competitions provide an ‘open’ and public venue for sharing and feedback.  If you are concerned that someone will steal your images online, then please participate in the print category only.

People can also walk into your studio or by your exhibit and take pictures of your images with a camera too!

Q: What Are the Image Specification Requirements?
A: While there are no requirements for image size, JPGs larger than 1 MB will be viewed at the smaller size necessary for a computer monitor. Images should be, JPG format, 85% quality (or better), sRGB color space.  Number of points per inch is irrelevant, but use 96 ppi.  Images sized to this format cannot be easily reproduced into large prints.  Images must be named as follows: "your name - title".   ( e.g. "Robert Westbridge - Bee on Sunflower")

Q: How Can I Be Assured That the Colors in My Image Will Be Displayed at the Meeting Accurately and Also Viewed by the Judge Accurately?
A: Zenfolio does an excellent job of storing, compressing and displaying images.  That’s one of the main reasons why we chose that site.  Images are also displayed at the maximum resolution in accordance with the viewer’s screen size.

The judge will be viewing your images on his or her high-resolution color monitor.  Regardless of whether he/she has color-corrected the monitor, the images typically render more accurately than when displayed by a digital projector.  However, Westbridge has a new, very accurate, very bright digital projector.

In any event, every image is viewed with the same monitor.  So, if the reds in your image are off slightly, then they are off for others too.  That’s something that is out of our control. 

And that’s not to mention that the judge may have a well-adjusted monitor, but yours needs fine tuning.  There’s a saying that no two monitors are alike.  So, if you’re concerned about color balance, be sure to calibrate your monitor regularly.  And compare your images on other monitors to see how it looks.

Bad color, contrast and luminosity can certainly spoil an image.  But that’s part of the equation in the digital venue.  The biggest problems we have seen in the past are:

• using the wrong color space (should be sRGB)
• using too high of a JPG compression (quality should be 85% or better)
• submitting too small of a file (keep the longest dimension 1000 pixels)

Recall that the JPG format compresses your image each time that you save it.  That means image information is discarded each time it is saved, anytime you are using less than 100% quality.

END OF DOCUMENT.

Last updated: 9/4/2017