[nwbcc] Rules for club competition

[Tony Cropper]

Hi All,


My twopenny's worth, building on Howell's contribution...

> For image size maximum dimensions of 1024 x 768 is clear, on the 
> other hand having a maximum file size may on occasion penalise some 
> photos with a lot of intricate detail. 

Certainly true. It would be unusual for the most intricate 1024x768 JPEG
to be too large to handle so I, too, contend that filesize is pretty
irrelevant.

What concerns me a little here is the conciseness of the instructions on
preparation if the image is in portrait mode. Should its height, ie. its
longer dimension, be limited to 768 pixels? If so it is at disadvantage
over a landscape image which could then be larger. If, on the other
hand, we allow the image to be 1024 pixels in its vertical dimension it
no longer fits on the screen at full size.

Does this actually matter? Maybe we have to suck it and see. But, if it
is seen to make a difference, be prepared to return to a square format
as one sees with slide projection (think about it!). In this case we
could institute a size of simply 768 in the image's longer dimension.
Orientation then ceases to be relevant to image quality.


> For type, jpeg is obvious.

This should be writ large - NO Tiffs, No PSDs etc..

The compression level used for our JPEGs should be left to the
individual with the note that anything more than the minimum compression
will increase the damage to the image caused by JPEG encoding.

> The IoM requirement that all parts of the image must have been taken 
> by the entrant is also sensible.

In essence correct but the IOM's rules use the word 'taken'. Does this
imply that the source material must be of photographic origin. Is this
what is wanted? Or can someone draw a line on an image or put a letter
or number into it? Neither of these would be 'of photographic origin',
so would they be permissable or not?


> With regard to submission: a title will in most cases be sufficient 
> to identify a photo, but if no title is preferred or a very simple 
> title is used, then some extra symbols should be added to the file 
> name in case the same title is used more than once:
> e.g. 'No title d5f.jpg',  or 'Tree 5391.jpg'.

The rules pertaining to entries to the slide competition demand that the
entrant number his entries in order of precedence, most important first.

This could be helpful in this competition as well, not only to allow the
selection of a variable number of individual entries per person per
competition but also to separate filenames (Tree 1, Tree 2 etc.).

However, there is a need to ensure that filenames do not coincide and
Howell's suggestion of adding some extra, personal, symbols is key.

The Western Counties rules require the compsec to ensure no duplication
of names by renaming of all files to include an entrant code. This could
be a lot of work, and no duplication of filenames could be ensured
simply by checking and changing any which are duplicated. I wonder what
David thinks on this.                                     


> As a discussion point:

> I expect digital submission to be very popular. If so, we may like to 
> divide digital images into two categories:

> 1. Straight images - no manipulation other than attention to simple 
> adjustments such as cropping, brightness, contrast, etc.

And burning, dodging, selective colour changes, lens blur, cloning...?
'etc.' is such a large word.

> 2. Manipulated images.

Unless it is possible to define the difference between the categories
precisely, this could cause argument. However, it may cause less than
having a single category in which anything goes.

At what point do we need to add 'and Image Manipulation' between
'Camera' and 'Club' in our name?

Isn't this fun!


Regards,


tony

-- 
tony cropper                                           bristol uk
Web:   http://www.acropper.com/