internal & External Competition hand-ins
A BASIC GUIDE TO:
HAND-INs, COMPETITIONS, BATTLES and SALONS
If you're new to Club Photography, some of the terms and jargon used can be a bit of a mystery. So in this very basic guide we hope to explain some of the more frequently used.
WHAT IS A 'HAND-IN'?
Each month our club holds a friendly competition. This is where members submit prints and/or PDIs (projected digital images) of their photographs to compete against each other.
The submission is refered to as the 'Hand In'.
Prints should be handed in to the Internal Competition Secretary, and PDIs sent via email (see below * for further information)
The competition is then judged by someone from outside the club, who is approved by the Welsh Photographic Federation (WPF) as an independent judge. The judge will score the prints and images out of 20. The scores are collated and at the end of the year prizes are awarded to the winner of each category, ie. Prints and PDIs.
EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS
Throughout the year Afan Nedd take part in competitions against other photographic clubs where trophies and awards may be won.
A Hand-In will be requested by the External Competition Secretary who will then select the photographs and/or PDIs to enter into the competition.
BATTLES
Very similar to an external competition, but where a specific number of clubs compete for a trophy.
Again a Hand-In will be requested by the External Competition Secretary who will then select the photographs and/or PDIs to enter into the Battle.
External competitions and Battles are open for members to visit, and are quite exciting.
SALONS
Taken from the WPF website:
“What The Welsh Salon Is -
The Welsh Salon of Photography is intended to be a showcase of the best work from photographers of clubs affiliated to the Welsh Photographic Federation or the North Wales Photographic Association.”
As Afan Nedd Camera Club is affliated to the WPF, any paid up member may enter their work into the Salon. The member however does so independently and there is a small charge for the entry (details may be found on the WPF website).
Salons take place all over the world and are judged usually by a panel of 3 judges. Each judge marks out of 5, the accumulated scores are then awarded (out of 15).
If the print or image is given a mark sufficient to be accepted, then that image or print will be exhibited in a gallery or SALON of accepted work, and may be viewed by the public.
Members with acceptances will be notified by the Exhibition Organisor via email. An acceptance is considered to be a highly prestigious achievement.
*
HAND-IN … further information.
Prints :- When entering prints for competition, please ensure they are mounted. The finished mount should measure 50 x 40 cms. Write the title of your photograph on the reverse (in the top left hand corner) but do not identify the print with your name.
PDIs :- Please resize your PDIs for competition to 1400 x 1050 pixels. Also a narrow stroke line (5 pixles) around the edge helps when the image is being displayed on the screen.
News & Useful Information
How to resize an image for competitions
To resize an image, using Actions in Photoshop
(FULL VERSION ONLY), to make it suitable for digital projection (the MAXIMUM current WPF preferred size is 1400 x 1050 pixels, giving a file size of 4.21mb). NOTE: the maximum width for a landscape image is 1400 pixels and the maximum height for a portrait image is 1050 pixels:
1.Open any image in Photoshop.
2.From the drop-down menu, click on Window, then click on Actions. A small screen will appear, with a few icons on the bottom of that screen. Click on the icon next to the Bin icon, which will allow you to create a new action. This will bring up another New Action screen.
3.Name the action with an easily identifiable reference e.g. Digital Projection Landscape Resize, then click on the Record button. This then records all of the following procedures to create a simple one-click action to resize the image. This screen then disappears and the original New Action small screen will show a red button (indicating that the actions are being recorded).
4.From the drop-down menu, click on Image then click on Image Size.
5.Change the resolution to 72 pixels/inch, then change the width to 1400 pixels (landscape image) under pixel dimensions, not document size. The height will change automatically, as long as you haven’t unchecked the Constraint Proportions tab (leave the tick in the box – all 3 boxes should be ticked – Scale Styles, Constraint proportions and Resample Image). It is very important to ensure that the resolution is altered before the width is changed or the image will be too small!!
6.If you want to add a white (or any other colour) border to your image, you can include that now by going to the drop-down menu and clicking on Select All, then Edit, Stroke. You then need to select the colour and size (2 pixels is recommended) of the border and ensure that the Inside button is also selected, then click on okay.
7.In the New action box, click on the black square, to stop recording. The new action is now completed and ready for use.
8.Save the image by clicking on File, Save As, from the drop-down menu, and renaming the image and saving it in the appropriate file or folder.
9.Test the New Action by opening an image and opening the actions screen (Window; Actions). Then, using the slider on the right of the actions screen, go to the last entry and click on Digital Projection Landscape Resize (or whatever you have named the action). This makes the action available to use and only requires you to click on the arrow head to resize the image.
10.Portrait images will need to have a similar Action created, but with the height set as 1050 Pixels in item 5 above.
11.Landscape image size is 1400 x 1050 Pixels (Maximum) – each illustration below is shown on a full HD black background, which is 1920 x 1080 pixels, to show the proportion of the maximum image size available with the HD projector:
Landscape image for full 3:2 ratio (35mm sensor size) is 1400 x 933 pixels:
Portrait image size is 1050 x 788 Pixels (for 4:3 ratio)
or 1050 x 700 (for 3:2 ratio – full 35mm sensor size).
If you want to create square images, the maximum size is 1050 x 1050 Pixels.
Note: 4:3 ratio is the native full frame sensor size for most Compact and Bridge cameras, whilst 3:2 ratio is the native full frame sensor size for DSLR Cameras.
To resize your images in elements:
1.Open your image file.
2.If you want to crop the image, from the Tool bar on the left, select the Crop Tool.
3.Look for the image aspect ratio box and set it to Custom.
4.Input the following values, 72 dpi in the resolution box, 1400 px in the width box and 1050 px in the height box
5.Select the area of the image that you want to include in the cropped image by left clicking on any corner and dragging to the opposite corner.
6.Click on the Tick to accept the change and your image is resized.
7.To save this resized image, left click on File, Save As and rename the file and save it in whatever folder (or flashdrive), that is appropriate.
8.To create a border and save your image with the changes see section below.
9.If you want to use the full image, but resize it to 1400 pixels wide, just select the image, resize, image size from the drop down menu.
10.Input a value of 72 pixels/inch into the resolution box and then put a value of 1400 pixels in the width box (under pixel dimensions, not document size). The height will be adjusted automatically, as long as the three boxes (scale styles, constraint proportions and resample image) are checked.
11.To save this resized image, left click on File, Save As and rename the file and save it in whatever folder (or flashdrive), that is appropriate.
12.If you want to add a white (or any other colour) border to your image, you can include that now by going to the drop-down menu and clicking on Select All, then Edit, Stroke. You then need to select the colour and size (2 pixels is recommended) of the border and ensure that the Inside button is also selected, then click on okay.
To Create a coloured background for your images (Photoshop Full versions & Elements):
From the drop-down menu, select File, New. Input the required image size, based on those shown above. Ensure that the resolution is set at 72 Pixels/inch. Left-click OK. You now have a blank box. From the tool bar, left-click on the paint bucket icon and then select the colour that you want to use from the colour picker box. Then place the paint bucket into the blank box and left-click. The colour will then be applied to the blank box.
From the drop-down menu, left-click on File, Save As and name the image as Landscape, Portrait or Square Background (as applicable). You can re-use these for any of your image backgrounds and change the colour by selecting a colour and adding it via the paint bucket.
If you are going to add an image to a coloured background, you will need to resize the image to allow a small border. I suggest that about 10 Pixels or less is sufficient. To do this, when making your initial resizing of the image, make the image size 1380 X 1030 pixels (for landscape) or 1030 X 768 pixels (for portrait) for 4:3 ratio images. If you are using the full image from a 3:2 ratio format, the sizes will be 1380 X 913 pixels (for landscape) or 1030 X 680 pixels ((for portrait). If you want to put a border on the image, from the drop-down menu left click on Select, All, then left-click Edit, Stroke and select the size, colour and position (inside) that you want the border to be. Left-click OK.
From the drop-down menu, left-click on Edit, Copy. Then left-click File, Close and, unless you want to save the smaller image, left-click on No to the save changes option and your original file will be unchanged.
You can then paste the reduced size image onto the background by returning to your opened background and left-click on Edit, Paste (from the drop down menu). The image will be centred on your coloured background. From the drop-down menu, left-click on Image, Flatten image (to save the image as a jpeg, otherwise it will be a dual-layered PSD image), then left-click on File, Save As and rename the finished image to whatever you want to call it and place it in the appropriate folder or on a suitable flashdrive.