Competitions

The Atlanta Photographic Society is one of the oldest photo clubs in Atlanta. We realize the most important activity within a photo club needs to be image critiques and competitions done by independent judges and to a lesser degree by professional photographer members of the club. Listening to the critique is the only way to learn and improve our craft.

Monthly Competitions – Members have the opportunity to enter as many as 9 images per competition (up to 3 color prints, 3 black & white prints, and 3 digital entries). Competitions are held at the first meeting of each month, January through October, with a master competition in November.

At each monthly competition, a judge will critique and score each image as “in” or “out”. Any image that is scored “out” will no longer be considered for a ribbon. All images that receive an “in” will be compared by the judge and the best will be awarded ribbons (20% ribbon awards for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mentions for each category).

Master Competition – A collection of all the ribbon-winning images from monthly competitions throughout the year are entered into the November master competition on behalf of the winners. The master competition is the only competition where no critique will take place, but every member present will score each image. The scores will be tabulated after the competition and “Best of the Year” ribbons will be presented to the winners at our annual holiday party in december.

APS Regular Competition Rules

All members in good standing who have paid their annual dues may enter APS competitions. All images entered (film or digital) must be exposed and manipulated (if applicable) by the entrant. Professional processing, printing and mounting are acceptable. No entry should carry any writing that is visible during the presentation such as: name, title or other info. Previously entered images in regular competitions are allowed in subsequent regular competitions provided they have not received a ribbon in the category they are to be entered in.

All entries in regular competitions are commented on by a judge in 3 distinct categories: Black & White Prints, Color Prints, & Digital. Members may enter up to 3 images per category. The entry fee is $1.00 per category.

Print entries must be mounted but not framed or glassed. Matting is optional. Mounts must not exceed 16” x 20” x 1/4” thick. The minimum mount size is 11” x 14” (or 154 sq. in); the minimum image size is 6” x 10” (or 60 sq. in). All prints must carry a title, the photographer’s name, and an arrow pointing to the top of the image on the back of the mount (preferably in the lower left-hand corner). No writing or decoration is allowed on the front of the entry unless the writing is part of the image. Print entries may be conventional prints or digital prints.

Digital entries need to have about 1280 pixels at their longest dimension and be in the jpg format with a #8 compression. The entries need to carry a title and the name of the entrant (Example: Flower by John Doe.jpg) and are to be submitted ahead of time via the APS Upload Page. The deadline for submissions is 8:30 PM on the night before the competition day. Send the entries using the APS Upload Page.

Any entry may be disqualified when, in the opinion of the competition chairperson or the judge, the image is not in good taste, does not conform to the rules or does not fit the theme (in a theme competition).

Approximately 20% of the entries will receive a ribbon. There will be 1st, 2nd, 3rd and HM ribbons depending on the amount of entries per category. The Master competition (Nov) will have a “Best in Show” additional ribbon.

This guide was written for people that are just starting out with digital competitions. Print competition winners may also find this guide helpful for submitting electronic copies of their photos to be displayed on the web site.

Most laptops that we use for competitions have a screen size of 1280 x 960 ppi. Therefore, your image will fill the screen and show up big when you fill all the 1280 x 960 pixels. There are many ways to accomplish the same goal, and this is just one way that works.

Computer Preparation:
Establish a separate folder wherever you normally store your images and call it “Competition Entries.” Do this only once and use it throughout the year. This will establish a record of your entries and you will be able to quickly locate and replace a lost entry when needed without going through the resizing process again.

Image Entry Preparation:

Open your image in Photoshop (other programs are not considered here).
Before you do anything else, click “SAVE AS,” and give the image the following naming convention: Use a short title, add the word “by” and then type your name (Example: Building Art by Bernd Greulich).
Select your new “Competition Entries” folder and click SAVE as jpg, using a #8 compression.
Do whatever changes, cropping, or enhancements to the image now.
As a final competition preparation, size your image by selecting Image Size from the Image menu in Photoshop.
De-select the Resample Image check box at the bottom, then enter a resolution of 214 pixels/inch and click OK.
Go back into Image Size from the Image menu and this time select the Resample Image check box at the bottom.
Enter a pixel dimension of 1280 as your largest dimension (depends if you have a horizontal or vertical image) from the Pixel Dimension dialog box. Click OK.
Save your image and your digital entry is now ready for email submission.

Repeat the above procedure for any remaining entries.

Uploading your digital entries:
Submit your digital entries to the APS Upload page by 8:30 PM on the night before the day of the competition.

Note:
There are many photo programs available and each one works differently. If you are not using PhotoShop you need to learn how to do the above by consulting your operating instructions. But please remember one important step: Always do the “SAVE AS” first before anything else or you may loose your original image.

Click here for the Competition Score Sheet.

Monthly Open competitions (B&W prints, Color prints, Digital)

Open competitions means that members can enter any subject image such as Portrait, Nature, People, Animals, Buildings, Landscape, Abstracts etc. Ribbons are awarded to the winning entries. The images can be plain or manipulated but must be in good taste and must conform to all rules and regulation.

February Theme Competition: Reflections

Reflections, suggested by Vinnie. This could be reflections of buildings, animals or people reflected in water, glass or mirrors. It also could be the play of light and color on the ripples of the water in a pond. The primary focus should be on the reflection, not the “real” things around it.

Monthly Open competitions (B&W prints, Color prints, Digital)

Open competitions means that members can enter any subject image such as Portrait, Nature, People, Animals, Buildings, Landscape, Abstracts etc. Ribbons are awarded to the winning entries. The images can be plain or manipulated but must be in good taste and must conform to all rules and regulation.

April Theme Competition: Shadows

Shadows, suggested by Cheryl. Shadows can be abstract or realistic, black and white or wisps of color. Many interpretations are possible.

Monthly Open competitions (B&W prints, Color prints, Digital)

Open competitions means that members can enter any subject image such as Portrait, Nature, People, Animals, Buildings, Landscape, Abstracts etc. Ribbons are awarded to the winning entries. The images can be plain or manipulated but must be in good taste and must conform to all rules and regulation.

June Theme Competition: Wall(s)

A Wall (s), suggested by BG. Do you have a wall in your neighborhood? With graffiti or perhaps a good looking arch over the door in that wall? Do you know of any old wall of times gone by? A wall that has been destroyed by weather, rain and time? Or may be you have a wall in your house with all your images nicely displayed? Or may be you photographed a historic wall during all your travels? The wall of China would qualify or you could include shadows with a wall to make it spooky. If you think, that what you photographed was a wall and if the judge agrees with you, well, it qualifies as a wall.

Monthly Open competitions (B&W prints, Color prints, Digital)

Open competitions means that members can enter any subject image such as Portrait, Nature, People, Animals, Buildings, Landscape, Abstracts etc. Ribbons are awarded to the winning entries. The images can be plain or manipulated but must be in good taste and must conform to all rules and regulation.

Monthly Open competitions (B&W prints, Color prints, Digital)

Open competitions means that members can enter any subject image such as Portrait, Nature, People, Animals, Buildings, Landscape, Abstracts etc. Ribbons are awarded to the winning entries. The images can be plain or manipulated but must be in good taste and must conform to all rules and regulation.

*In addition to the open competition, this is the time to collect all Assignment Zone entries for the digital competition, scheduled for the October program show date.

October Theme Competition: Red

Red, suggested by Enrique and Stan. Enrique suggested red as the main element in an image and Stan suggested one additional color in the Black and White category. By combining those 2 suggestions we now have a B&W category that allows red as an additional color, while a color image needs to show red as the main color.

Master Competition

This is your chance to be the judge. A collection of all the ribbon-winning images from the past year are entered into the November Master competition. No critique will take place at this competition. Instead, all members in attendance will vote on each image. All you have to do is show up, enjoy the images and decide which are your top picks of the year. The scores will be tabulated after the competition and “Best of the Year” ribbons will be presented to the winners at our annual Holiday Party in December.

Holiday Party and Awards Dinner

This is a Holiday Party and Awards dinner where we award the annual Trophies and Medallions as well as the Master Competition Ribbons to the best photographers of the APS club. We also honor members that have given extra time and efforts for the benefit of the club throughout the year.