Advice on Entering Internal WPS Competitions
General
Please note that the maximum size for submitting Projected Digital Images (PDIs) in WPS competitions is 1920 x 1200 pixels. See the WPS Handbook for more details. Members can logon and see the current season’s handbook in the information section of our website.
If you have any questions please contact the WPS Competition Secretary.
Images entered in WPS competitions must be entirely the work of the photographer. Composite images are permitted provided the photographer owns the copyright to the large majority of the components in the image and the rest must be available publicly. Images from any other source including, but not limited to, royalty free image banks and clipart are only permitted if they constitute a minority of the overall image. It is generally accepted that frames, filters, brushes and other image manipulation tools will not contravene the rule.
An image may only be entered once in any WPS internal competition (the exception is the Christmas knock-out which imposes no restrictions). Once an image has been accepted for exhibiting in a WPS Annual Exhibition it may not be entered in any future internal competitions held by the WPS. For clarity, an image is said to be “accepted” at the end of Judging Day. Judging Day is when all the submitted images are judged and selections made. For the Print Exhibition Judging Day is usually at the end of March and for PDIs it will be in the summer, but the actual dates will be published on the Society’s website and announced on a Tuesday night.
Images that are selected to represent the Society in inter-club competitions are not subject to any restrictions on submission. We cannot use any images that have been used to represent another club.
For each competition an outside judge (picked from a list of accredited SCPF judges) will offer constructive analysis and suggestions, and usually award a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and, at their discretion, a number of Commendations (HC i.e. Highly Commended).
All competition trophies are presented at the Social evening and Prize giving at the end of the season. Trophies must be returned the following April.
Print Mounting and Entering
All prints entered in WPS competitions should be mounted and bear the name of the author, image title and (where appropriate class) on the back. Prints can be produced by any photographic process; chemical or digital, by anyone.
The maximum size, including the mount, is 50cm x 40cm. Prints need to be mounted on stiff material, such as card or mount board, in a manner that ensures no damage can occur to other prints placed adjacent to it. You should avoid using inappropriate or incorrectly applied adhesive material such as masking tape, parcel tape, or cellotape. Ideally no adhesive tape or glue should be visible on the back of the print. See the Preparing Prints for Competitions & Exhibitions guide.
Entries should be submitted well before 19:30 on the evening of the competition to the Competition Secretary or his assistant(s). A completed entry form must accompany each print submitted. Forms are available from the Competition Secretary on the night or via a download. The Monthly Entry Form. The Competition Evening Entry Form.
Titles are announced in Print competitions.
Please note:- The WPS Competition Secretary reserves the right to exclude on the night any print mounted in such a way that it may cause damage to another print.
Loading Winning Print Images to the Website
A digital version, (conforming to the Resizing Digital Images for Projecting guide) of prints awarded first, second, third or Highly Commended should be sent to the Competition Secretary within five days of the competition. These images will be added to the Society’s website in the Winners’ Gallery and be included in the selection process for the Society’s submission to external competitions. Click here for details.
Submitting Projected Digital Images (PDIs)
All PDIs should be submitted via the website PDI upload page, no later than the Wednesday prior to the competition evening (our Programme has the actual dates).
The instructions for using the PDI upload tool are on the PDI upload Page. After logging on to the WPS website, go to “Competitions” > “Monthly League Competitions” > “PDI Image Upload” Note the upload page will be disabled after the closing date. It will then re-enabled after the judging, ready for the next PDI competition.
Having taken your photograph and made all/any desired adjustments (cropping, sharpening, etc) you must then:-
1. Resize the image to fit within a frame: 1920 pixels x 1200 pixels (W x H) – see Resizing and Naming below and the Resizing Digital Images for Projecting guide
Please note PDI files should not be bigger than 2048Kb i.e. 2Mb
2. Rename the image according to WPS Competition Naming Convention – see Resizing and Naming below and the Resizing Digital Images for Projecting guide
3. Save the image as a JPEG with sRGB colour space. If you work in sRGB this is done automatically.
| Resizing (or, ensuring correct Pixel Dimensions of an Image): | |
| If you do not resize your image to match the resolution of our projector, you are at risk of unpredictable results and therefore a poor representation of your image because of the decisions that the projector makes on the pixels in your image. | |
| Most standard image-editing software (Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Lightroom, Picasa) include the ability to re-size an image. Where this function is located varies, but it is usually around an ‘image’ action or the ‘export’ function. | |
| The key criteria you need to bear in mind is that you need to adjust the PIXEL dimensions and not the mm/Inch measurements. The final pixel dimensions of your image need to fit within a frame 1920 pixels x 1200 pixels (WxH), you’ll need to work out which dimension to set. You must also constrain the proportions when you re-size to ensure your picture isn’t stretched or squashed but maintains the correct aspect ratio. | |
| If you need more assistance, see our detailed step-by-step guide “Resizing Digital Images for Projecting” in the Tutorials & Advice section | |
| Naming: | |
| Your image file MUST be correctly named according to the WPS competition naming convention below, and NOT use the camera-created title, eg _DSC0868.jpg. | |
| Before attaching image to your email, right-click and rename if necessary. The WPS Competition Naming Convention is:- X_Name_Title | |
| Where:- | |
| X = B (for beginners), I (for intermediate), A (for advanced), G (for Gold) all uppercase | |
| Name is your full name with the initial characters capitalised, spaces are allowed between each name | |
| Title is the title you have chosen for your image and this is how you would like it to appear on the screen. The first letter of each constituent part of the title must be uppercase, and again use spaces between words | |
| The separator is an underscore NOT a hyphen | |
| For example:- B_Joan Smith_My Best Sunset | |
| This is for an image by Joan Smith who is in the Beginners’ class, and her image is called “My Best Sunset“ |
