EASTERN MAINE CAMERA CLUB

COMPETITION RULES FOR DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

January 8, 2004

(Revised September 3, 2007)

(Note: This document is still being revised to reflect our adoption of a Digital Projection format that is replacing the Photo Artistry format.)

Introduction

            This document is intended as Eastern Maine Camera Club’s formal recognition of Digital Photography as an acceptable method of creating photographic images for the purpose of the Club’s monthly photo competitions.  The statement contained herein will describe both acceptable and unacceptable practices for the digital manipulation of images that our members enter in these competitions.  This statement is necessary to preserve the integrity of the Club’s purpose and competition rules as stated in the “Eastern Maine Camera Club Information Booklet.” 

Definitions

            Several terms that are used in this statement must be defined or clarified to ensure understanding of the Club’s rules concerning digital photography, and avoid unnecessary disqualification of images submitted for competition.

 “Digital image” or “digital photograph”—For our club’s purposes, this refers to any photographic image that exists as a digital file in a camera or in a computer during any part of its creation.  This includes both images captured in a digital camera and images captured on film that are later scanned into a computer.   The only exception to this is if a slide or negative is taken to a commercial processing lab where the image may be scanned only for the purposes of enlargement and printing at that lab.  However, if the scanned image is returned to you on a disk, any additional prints you produce from this scanned image will be considered as a digital image.

Image Quality—This refers to two of the criteria that we use in judging images for our competitions:  1) Composition–The skillful or artistic placement of the subject and related elements within the frame at the time of exposure (i.e. when the shutter button is pressed), and 2) Technical quality–Correct exposure, accurate focusing, sharpness, good use of depth-of-field, color balance, etc.  In other words, for our purposes, image quality is the summation of those image properties that show the skill of the photographer in using his/her equipment, regardless of the subject matter.

Image Content—All of the physical elements within the frame of the image.  This includes the actual subject matter, any extraneous elements, the spaces between each of the elements, the shapes of the elements, and the colors and tones specific to each element.

Digital Manipulation of Images—The alteration of either image quality or image content through the use of computer programs such as Adobe Photo Shop, Corel Paint Shop Pro, etc.  The types of manipulation that will be acceptable in the Club’s competitions will be discussed in the Competition Rules, below.

Competition Rules For Digital Photography

Categories for digital image competition:

Prints—Digital images may be entered to compete alongside traditional film images in the Color Print or Black and White Print categories, provided they meet the criteria for Acceptable Digital Image Manipulation as described below.  Generally speaking, this will mean you may ONLY manipulate the image quality, but NOT its content.

Slides—At this time, digitally produced slides will NOT be allowed into competition.  Film based slides are the only format we have where both the image quality and content are fixed at the time of exposure.  As long as the film is processed in standard chemistry, there is no possibility for manipulation of single images (other than cropping through the choice of slide mount or the use of cropping tape) that can be done to an original slide after exposure.  This makes the use of original slide images the most effective way to judge a photographer’s skill with a camera, and as such should be retained as a traditional method of teaching and promoting basic photographic skills.

Digital Projection—This format is replacing the "Photo Artistry" category the club had   The images may be as close to reality as you like, or may be as different from reality as you can make them.  This will be essentially an “anything goes” category.  The only rule regarding digital manipulation in this category is that the images you submit should be all original work–No use of “clip-art” or other images in whole or in part that are another person’s work will be allowed. 

Images entered in the Digital Projection category may be either color or black and white.  The topic for Digital Projection must follow the assigned topic for the month.  They will be judged on the same criteria of impact, composition and technical quality as the standard competition categories.  However, creativity of the photographer in manipulating the image may also be considered by the judges.  Note that if the manipulation is done poorly, it may lower the image's score because it may detract from the impact,

Acceptable Digital Image Manipulation:

Regardless of the computer program or specific digital tools used, there are two rules of thumb you can consider when trying to decide what is appropriate manipulation of a digital image.  Referring to the above definitions; 1) If the manipulation only alters the Quality of the image, it is probably OK, as that does not fundamentally alter the truth of what the image represents or what the photographer actually saw at the time of exposure.  2) If the manipulation alters the Content of the image, it is usually NOT acceptable because that changes the reality of what the image shows and what was in front of the photographer at the time he took the picture.  So, for example, you may improve on the image exposure or sharpness, but you may not “put a moose that wasn’t already there in the middle of a stream.”  The only exception to this will be the standard practice of cropping to remove or reposition elements within the frame.  Following is a guide as to what digital tools are OK and are not OK for manipulating images submitted in the regular print competitions:

Tools that are OK to use (except as noted):

(Note that this borrows heavily from the declaration of manipulated images as presented on the www.photo.net web site.)

·         Brightness/contrast adjustments and color balance adjustments may be made, as may selective darkening or lightening of areas of the photograph (dodging and burning).  The emphasis should be on realism and the result should be as true to the original as practical.  You should only use these tools to enhance an image like you would when selecting normally available films, filters used to correct (not alter) color balance, or applying traditional darkroom techniques.

·         Sharpening tools are OK.

·         Cloning/airbrushing tools may only be used to remove miniscule processing artifacts, such as produced by dust, but not to add features that were not captured by the camera or to move or remove unwanted features that were captured.

·         Cropping is OK.

·         Stitched panoramic images are allowed in this revision of the rules.

·         Desaturating a color image to make it black and white is OK, provided the desaturation is complete and not selective.

·         Removal of “red eye” as a result of a flash exposure is OK.

Tools that are NOT OK to use (except in the Digital Projection category):

·         No use of perspective correction tools is allowed. Any perspective correction must be done pre-exposure through camera movements or PC lenses.

·         Composites of more than one image are not allowed, except for panoramic images as noted above.  In other words, the image should be the result of a single exposure (shutter release) by the camera.

·         Colorizing a black and white image is not allowed.

·         Cut or Copy and Paste tools are not allowed.

·         No tools that artificially add artistic effects or otherwise alter the content of the image are allowed.  These include, but are not limited to:

o        Tools that add flare patterns, starbursts, or other artifacts that normally occur in-camera at the time of exposure.

o        Blurring tools.

o        Grain enhancing tools.

o        Tools that change the texture or shape of objects.

o        Tools that add 3-D effects.

o        Tools that add illumination or reflection effects.