New members may find it a little daunting to try to enter our friendly competitions but the “rules” are fairly simple and we are always happy to help by email or phone. Competitions are meant to be fun and help everyone get more out of their photography so we don’t want technical requirements to put anyone off!
You can find the full competition rules via the menu tabs above or just follow this link. For normal competitions, you should aim to submit two images as mounted prints and/or two as electronic jpg files (known as PDIs – projected digital images).
Prints should be mounted on a card backing no more than 16 x 20 inches but most people use quite a lot smaller, especially for A4 sized prints to keep costs down. For simplicity, you can simply mount your print onto a suitable card backing but many members use cut mounts. The mounting technique is not part of the judging but a nicely mounted print helps to set off your image.
PDIs are simply jpg files but they do need to be sized and named correctly so they can be processed by our competition software. Once you have prepared your PDIs, all you need to do is to access our Upload page on our website and follow the on-screen instructions. If you encounter any problems, please email us at info@shaftesburycameraclub.org.uk or ring Chris at the number on the front of our printed Programme leaflet. In brief, the steps to preparing your PDIs is as follows…
- Keep a copy of your original jpg file on your computer as the following changes cannot be undone: never ever work on your original files!!!
- Resize your jpg using any good quality photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop Elements or Faststone (free!) so it is no more than 1400 pixels wide and 1050 pixels high. Letterbox (i.e. wide and thin) images should be the full 1400 wide while portrait-oriented images should be the full 1050 pixels high.
- Save your image in a quality level so the file size is no more than 2 Megabytes (2MB, 2000kB): file sizes less than 500 kBytes are unlikely to look good when projected onto a 6 foot screen.
- Rename your files so they look like 01_Gold Hill at Night_Your Name.jpg, 02_Lost in thought_Your Name.jpg
- Complete the web form at www.shaftesburycameraclub.org.uk/upload and remember to select your images and click the green button.
- If everything goes well, you will quickly get an automated reply: for new members, Chris will also send a personal email as soon as possible.
Chris
ps1 PDI sizes are measured in pixels – the size in inches means nothing for projectors and you don’t need to worry about dots per inch!
ps2 Mac users might like to look at ZnViewMP, another free editor that works on virtually any computer operating system.
Updates to this post will be in blue.
Brian is proposing a member’s trip to Abbotsbury abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk/ on Sunday afternoon and early evening on 28th October 2018, meeting up at 13:00hrs. The afternoon is an daylight opportunity followed by a tea break in their cafe and an evening of “Enchanted Illuminations”. Sunset is at 16:52hrs (clocks having just gone back to winter time).
Plans will be confirmed at our meeting on Thursday 25th armed with the weather forecast. If at least 10 members are willing to commit in advance, we may be able to get a group discount, otherwise the on-the-door price is £12.50.
More details, car sharing etc.: ask Brian or Chris
Any updates to this note will be in Blue
Welcome back to our new season! A good turn out (mid-thirties) with just over half a dozen potential new members who we hope will join in one or two meetings time. (Please note only paid-up members can enter competitions). Apart from a glass of wine, a nibble of cheese and a catch-up chat, the evening covered Bill’s new printed programme and some ideas for trips, and workshops. We also saw some examples of member’s summer work, plus a few “shadow” images – some useful positive and negative feedback!
Competitions: We are always keen for members to participate in our competitions, regardless of their level, as it is one of the best ways to improve your skills. We will have a 30 minute pre-meeting workshop in the small committee room starting at 6:50pm on 27th September to explain how to enter the Shuffell competition including preparing and uploading PDIs (projected jpg) and/or your Prints. We are always very happy to help individuals with any problems.
Workshops: We received several ideas for members-only full workshops which we will pursue: some of these will require us to book the hall for an extra Thursday evening so we will need confirmation of your interest and topics before we can give more details. Please email Chris at info@… or any of his email addresses.
Trips: Brian is proposing an afternoon and evening visit to Abbotsbury at the end of October to see their illuminations. Decisions will be made at our meeting on 25th October when we should know that weekend’s forecast. Please see separate post about this trip…
And always keep an eye on our Top Panel for news about our next meeting!
info@shaftesburycameraclub.org.uk
You can find it under the News/Newsletter… tab above or via this link. Please note you will need to log in using the usual name/password.
You also need to log-in to view Competition Results.
We only issue occasional newsletters during the season. Our printed or downloadable Programme leaflet has all deadlines for competition entries and if you have any queries, please just ask/email/phone Chris.
Our full programme for our new season starting in September is now available via our Programme page.
Just a reminder and some guidance about the subjects for our upcoming competitions.
But first of all, we would like to emphasize that we don’t want set subjects to put anyone off entering competitions: some members find set subjects difficult and fear their attempts are not good enough and thus do not enter. If you are really unsure, do let Chris or Helen see your photo in good time so they can try to give you some initial feedback. Remember it is better to enter a mediocre image rather than not enter anything!!!
- First round of the Shuffell Trophy, Thursday 11th October: Your first print and/or PDI should be “Shadows” and your second print and/or PDI should be “Open”
We hope to be able to find some strong “Shadow” contenders from this competition as our entry for the annual Bradford Abbas Shield inter-club competition later in the month.
- Ladies v Gents, 10th January 2019:Set subject for any entries is “Fluid”. Please see our post on the web about how this can be interpreted, remembering this is a fun competition where everyone who submits one or more entries will have at least one selected by the team leaders. We always hope everyone will enter something.
For all other competitions, the subject is “Open”, i.e. any subject you like!
As ever, do please ask if you would like help.
We have a new page on our web site for our members to suggest or recommend photo venues others may find interesting for either individual visits or as a group trip. This page can be found from our Quick Links panel at the top right of the page or simply clicking on this www.shaftesburycameraclub.org.uk/photovenues link.
If any member would like help contacting other particular members, please ask Chris at info@shaftesburycameraclub.org.uk or perhaps try our Facebook Page. Members can also contact Chris with their own suggestions.
The subject for our light-hearted annual Ladies v Gents competition on 10th Jan 2019 is “Fluid”. We intend this to be interpreted flexibly, or should we say “fluidly” :-))
Obviously seascapes with movement qualify or a still life of a glass of whisky and an ice cube but we would like to see much more imaginative or creative interpretations. Perhaps both the ladies and the gents teams might like to each have a brain-storming session or two! For inspiration, you may like to explore some dictionary definitions and synonyms e.g. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fluid
Our LvG competition is meant to be a fun evening with lots of banter and in recent years, we have had the Ladies seated on one side and the Gents on the other. We hope we can encourage everyone to participate by submitting up to 6 PDIs. We guarantee any member submitting images to the team captains will have at least one selected so don’t worry about being too rigorous over the interpretation of “fluid”!
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