Newark & District Photographic Society

Competitions

Prints

Print submissions must conform to the following:

• Prints must be either surface or window mounted
• Mounts must be 500mm x 400mm (in either orientation) and no more than 4mm thick
• Labelled clearly with the orientation, name of the author, and title (if any) on the reverse
• Submitted at least one week prior to the competition, using The Society's online submission mechanism (except with the agreement of the Competition Secretary), and with the title precisely as it should appear.

• Accompanied by Projected Digital Image style copies compliant with General Competition Rules and PDI guidelines that are as representative of the final print as possible – although finishing touches that are simply for presentation and not important to the creative effect (e.g. simple borders) can be safely left out to allow more pixels for the image itself if the author prefers.
  

  It is requested and strongly recommended that PDI copies of prints not be prepared and submitted until after the final print has been made and mounted, so as to ensure the best possible match.

  Example 1: In the following print the white margin between the image and its mount is not an essential part of the image and can be safely omitted from the PDI (or reduced in size in it) to allow a larger copy of the image to be projected.

  

  Example 2: In the following print the ragged margin between the image and its mount is an essential part of the image and must not be omitted.

  

  Where electronic copies are not supplied, POY prints must be made available (for photographing) at least one week before the deadline for the heat entered.

Titles submitted and on the reverse of prints must match in all cases.

Beginners must make themselves known when entering their first heat.

Colour Gamut

Prints are viewed by reflected light, rather than transmitted light, which allows for richer colours and printers typically have a larger colour gamut than projectors, even where standard, rather than Wide Gamut, inks are used. Where a print was made from an sRGB file there should be little change in brightness, contrast, saturation, or gamut on screen but where a larger colour space, such as Adobe RGB (1998) or ProPhoto, has been used some compression of the colour space will be necessary to avoid clipping of out-of-gamut colours.

Colour Consistency

A given Monitor and Printer combination can give consistent results yet be poorly calibrated, such systems are internally consistent only and when files are transferred to other systems (for competitions or printing) colour shifts can occur. Anyone submitting files that don't project as expected (taking into account any previous gamut reduction) should consult the projectionist who will attempt to diagnose the problem—although in most cases the solution will be to hire the Society's ColorMunki to calibrate and profile your system.

Sharpness

The perception of sharpness is the result of Circles of Confusion and is affected by both enlargement and viewing distance; while projecting reduces perceived sharpness, this is largely mitigated by the greater viewing distance. Reducing the pixel dimensions of an image, as is necessary for PDI submissions, can affect the perception of both overall sharpness and Depth of Field when the fine halos that increase contrast and produce the impression of sharpness become too small. The solution is either to use a Bicubic Sharper resizing algorithm or to resharpen the image for screen after resizing.

Projected Digital Images

Projected Digital Image submissions must conform to the following:

• JPEG only (not RAW, PSD etc.) at the highest quality (giving a typical image size of approx 1MB, although fine sharp detail may result in files up to 5MB)
• sRGB profile only (see Image Preparation Guide below if you are unsure about this)
• Maximum width of 1400 pixels
• Maximum height of 1050 pixels
• Submitted at least one week prior to the competition, using The Society's online submission mechanism (except with the agreement of the Competition Secretary), and with the title precisely as it should appear.

  Beginners must make themselves known when entering their first heat.

Image Preparation Guide

The following guide has been written for anyone who is unsure of how to ensure their images are displayed as intended (watch flash tutorial — 1.5MB).
If you have trouble with this process please approach one of the more experienced digital workers in the Society.

RAW workers may benefit from referring to the Image Preparation Guide for High Colour Depth Workflows below instead.

1. Open the image (or a duplicate if you are concerned you may accidentally overwrite the original).

2. Most digital cameras photograph in sRGB although some offer the option to select other profiles (e.g. Adobe RGB 1998).
   If you have the image already tagged as sRGB you can skip this step — otherwise choose one of the following options as appropriate:

   • If you shot in sRGB, or assigned sRGB during RAW processing, but elected not to colour manage: Assign Profile > sRGB
   • If you shot JPEGs in sRGB and have since converted to another profile, or you shot RAW and assigned a profile other than sRGB during processing:
     Convert to Profile:
     • Change the Destination Space to sRGB
     • Set the ENGINE to Adobe(ACE)
     • Set the INTENT to RELATIVE COLORIMETRIC (or PERCEPTUAL)

   You should choose the PERCEPTUAL intent if you have very saturated colours you wish to retain detail in; but note this can cause flattening of other tones.

   Colour shifts may occur if you attempt to assign a profile — other than that in which the image was created — to an untagged image or one which has been opened in an environment in which colour management is disabled.

   Untagged images entered will be assumed to be sRGB and may consequently not display as intended.

3. Step 4 may take an unreasonable amount of time and resources with layered files unless you first flatten your image:
   Layers > Flatten Image.

4. Images must be supplied with a maximum Width of 1400 pixels and maximum Height of 1050 pixels: Image > Image Size.
   Set both Width and Height unit drop-downs to pixels and make sure Constrain Proportions and Resample Image are selected.

   Document Size will have no effect, as this applies to printed as opposed to on screen output, but a Resolution of 96 pixels/inch set before specifying the Pixel Width and Height dimensions is required for the PAGB's Great British Cup (to aid with the production of the exhibition DVDs) and should result in a maximum document size of 370.42mm wide by 277.81mm high which can be used to confirm the other settings are correct.

   Unused space must not be filled with black. This is both unnecessary, as the competition software automatically displays all images on a black background, and has to be removed from images in panels or Themed sets as well as before use in paged media and, unless a border has first been applied to all sides, before use in presentations. Borders should be present on all sides or none.

5. No matter how you resize sharpness should be reassessed and any necessary adjustments made, particularly when reducing from a much larger copy.

6. Files must be saved as the highest possible quality JPEGs: File > Save As

   • Select JPEG as the file format
   • Choose a location to save the file to, and a name for the file, that you can remember for Step 7
   • Set Quality to 10–12, Format to Baseline ("Standard") or Baseline Optimized (not Progressive), and select OK to save

7. Repeat steps 1 thru 6 for each image and then use The Society's online submission mechanism to submit your entry.

Image Preparation Guide for High Colour Depth Workflows

The following guide is more appropriate if you are shooting in RAW and making extensive adjustments that might otherwise suffer from posterisation.
If you have trouble with this process please approach one of the more experienced digital workers in the Society.

1. Open the Raw file in your preferred software:

   • Specify one of the wider gamut Colour Spaces (e.g. Adobe RGB 1998) at 16 bits per channel or higher.

   • Make any necessary adjustments.

2. Open the resultant image and carry out any remaining editing; save your work.

3. Open a copy if concerned you may accidentally overwrite this, e.g. click the Create a New Document From Current State button in the History panel.

4. The steps 5 and 7 may take an unreasonable amount of time and resources unless you select the option to Flatten Image to Preserve Appearance in the Image Size dialogue, or first flatten your image: Layers > Flatten Image.

5. Images must be supplied with a maximum Width of 1400 pixels and maximum Height of 1050 pixels:

   • Crop Tool

     • The Crop Tool will also resize if you specify a Width and/or Height including units (e.g. 1400 px).

     • Resolution will have no effect, as this applies to printed as opposed to on screen output.

   • Image > Image Size

     • Set both Width and Height unit drop-downs to pixels and make sure Constrain Proportions and Resample Image are selected.

     • Document Size will have no effect, as this applies to printed as opposed to on screen output, but a Resolution of 96 pixels/inch set before specifying the Pixel Width and Height dimensions is required for the PAGB's Great British Cup (to aid production of the exhibition DVDs) and should result in a maximum document size of 370.42mm wide by 277.81mm high which can be used to confirm other settings are correct.

   Note: Extreme resizing may produce better results if carried out at 16 Bits/Channel or higher instead of 8 Bits/Channel.

   Unused space must not be filled with black. This is both unnecessary, as the competition software automatically displays all images on a black background, and has to be removed from images in panels or Themed sets as well as before use in paged media and, unless a border has first been applied to all sides, before use in presentations. Borders should be present on all sides or none.

6. Images may darken slightly during resizing, whatever the Colour Depth, and in particular fine highlights may become subdued; sometimes this can be alleviated by using Bicubic Sharper but final adjustments may be necessary prior to step 8.

7. No matter how you resize sharpness should be reassessed and any necessary adjustments made, particularly when reducing from a much larger copy.

8. Images must be entered as sRGB with 8 Bits per Channel, for best results carry out the following changes in the order provided:

   1. Convert to Profile:
      • Change the Destination Space to sRGB
      • Set the ENGINE to Adobe(ACE)

      • Set the INTENT to RELATIVE COLORIMETRIC or PERCEPTUAL

   2. Reduce the Colour Depth
      • Image > Mode > 8 Bits/Channel

   Note: Colour shifts may occur if you change Colour Depth first.

   You should choose the PERCEPTUAL intent if you have out-of-gamut (very saturated) colours you wish to retain detail in, that would otherwise be clipped, but please note that in-gamut colours will shift from their original values as a result.

   If you are dissatisfied with the results, having tried both intents, you should choose the PERCEPTUAL intent and then apply appropriate Curves to each channel in order to acheive a satisfactory result that matches the pre-conversion image as closely as possible.

9. Files must be saved as the highest possible quality JPEGs: File > Save As

   • Select JPEG as the file format
   • Choose a location to save the file to, and a name for the file, that you can remember for Step 10
   • Set Quality to 10–12, Format to Baseline ("Standard") or Baseline Optimized (not Progressive), and select OK to save

10. Repeat steps 1 thru 9 for each image and then use The Society's online submission mechanism to submit your entry.