Competitions are an integral part of the Sarnia Photographic Club each month. Competitions not only give incentive for members to shoot new pictures, but also allow members to learn from one another's photos, by discussing the strengths and opportunities for improvement of each entry.
Monthly Competitions
Members are encouraged to enter photographs monthly, one for each of the two categories. (Open and Nature categories will alternate each month and there will be a Monthly Theme category). The images are reviewed by a judging committee and shown at the next meeting, with the judges' critiques. The photographer is not identified, except for the top entries. Entries are due on the 15th of each month.
Definitions:
Open: Any topic, can include: abstract, landscape, low light, macro, nature, portrait, still-life, wildlife etc… All different in-camera, on-camera and post-processing techniques can be used. This includes combining multiple images and elements in a final image. However, all components of the final image must have been created by the Entrant.
Submitted image MUST NOT contain any watermarks, name of the image or name of the photographer.
Colour or black & white or monochrome images are permitted.
Nature: Nature Photography is restricted to the use of the photographic process to depict all branches of natural history, except anthropology and archaeology. The image can include landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible. Human elements shall NOT be present, EXCEPT where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as nature subjects, like barn owls or storks, adapted to an environment modified by humans, or where those human elements are in situations depicting natural forces, like hurricanes or tidal waves. Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement.
To avoid having your image disqualified as containing a human element, all entrants should review the following details prior to submitting their image for this competition:
Sky– No: cables, telephone/power lines, jet streams (contrails), aircraft, etc…
Land – No: man-made structures or paths, concrete, man-made stone, telephone poles, fences, posts, domesticated or cultivated plants/food, cut grass, organized or systematic laying out of planted trees, etc…
Elements – No: cut trees or branches or stems, cut branches, tree stumps, man-made food, objects or background, etc…
Sea – No: boats, ships, piers, docks, posts in the water, etc…
No Feral Animal Reference – Wikipedia definition
Annual Competitions
Each month the winning images are assigned points: 1st Place-4 points, 2nd Place-3 points, 3rd Place-2 points and Honorable Mention-1 point. The points are tallied throughout the year and the following awards presented for the photographer with the highest points in each category.
Sorensen Best “Open”
Kinart Best “Nature”
Photographic Club Best “Monthly Theme”
In addition, Club Members may submit two images to be judged and be eligible for winning the Certificates below:
Carryer Subject “Marine”
Carman's Foto Source Subject “Travel”
Paisley Subject “Open”
Lyall Smith Subject “People”
Submission instructions The following formats are accepted for both monthly and annual competitions:
Digital submissions - must be in the form of jpg's formatted with a maximum of 1400 horizontal pixels and a maximum of 1050 vertical pixels. All images should be in the sRGB color space.