To enter the Digital Image Competition, you must email your entries as attachments to
Wayne Carlson, our Vice President of Competitions. Please use the Contact if you have questions.

All entries must be received by 6 p.m. on the Tuesday prior to the Monthly meeting. If you are a new member, bring your dues to the meeting you plan to compete at or make other arrangements with Wayne prior to the meeting.

Formatting Digital Image Submissions

The key thing to keep in mind is that images must be in a format compatible with the projector. 

The projector and laptop combination we use in the competition has a maximum resolution of 1400 x 1050 pixels–that’s 1400 wide by 1050 high.

This means that any photo that exceeds this size in either dimension could end-up being cropped or squished by the projector. In other words, the image width cannot be more than 1400 pixels and the image height cannot be more than 1050 pixels.  A resolution (PPI/DPI) of 72 or 100 is sufficient for the projector, but we ask that you use 300 PPI so that high scoring images can be included in our news letter, the Shutter Tripper.

Resize an Image For the Digital Competition

The key thing to keep in mind is that images must be in a format compatible with the projector. 

The projector and laptop combination we use in the competition has a maximum resolution of 1400 x 1050 pixels–that’s 1400 wide by 1050 high.

This means that any photo that exceeds this size in either dimension, could end-up being cropped or squished by the projector. In other words, the image width cannot be more than 1400 pixels and the image height cannot be more than 1050 pixels.  A resolution (PPI/DPI) of 72 or 100 is sufficient for the projector, but we ask that you use 300 PPI so that high scoring images can be included in our news letter, the Shutter Tripper.

To Resize an Image in Photoshop

After you have finished editing your image and saved your original:

1. Open or leave your image open in Photoshop.
2. Click Image on the Menu Bar
3. Then click Image Size
4. In the pop up dialog box, make sure the chain link icon that constrains proportions is checked on. (Number 2 in the image below.) If you change image height dimensions and the width number doesn’t also recalculate/change or vice versa, then the chain is clicked off. It needs to be on, so that if one length dimension changes, the other does too.
5. Then make sure the dimension type is set to Pixels and not Inches.
6. Then change the image dimensions:
   1. For a horizontal image (landscape orientation), change the width field only to 1400 pixels
   2. For a vertical image (portrait orientation), change the height field only to 1050 pixels.
   3. Again, do not change both fields. The other field will automatically adjust.
   4. For an image that is square or close to square, change the height field only to 1050 pixels.
   5. You can tell if an image is in the square category rather than horizontal, by the auto adjustment of the fields.  If you change the width to 1400 and the height auto-adjusts to more than 1050, then you have a square(ish) or a vertical image.  If that is the case, before clicking Okay, you can change the height field to 1050 and the width field will auto adjust to less than 1400.
7. Then go down to Resolution and change that field to 300.
8. Click Okay.
9. ​Use Save As to save the resized image so you do not overwrite your original full size file.

The illustration above is from the Image Size pop up dialog box in Photoshop. Note: Step 2 should be done before Step 1.

Note 2:  Resizing will down-size the image from the native resolution coming out of your camera which also significantly reduces the file size. This helps when emailing the files and takes up less space on our hard drives.

If you do not have the ability to re-size a picture via a photo editing program, there is an easy web based program you can use at: http://www.picresize.com/.

Saving Your Images & Naming the File for Competition

When you save your images for competition, Save As as a .jpg or .jpeg

The maker’s name, title of image, date entered and division (Open or Special Subject) must be included as the title of the file. When you have finished re-sizing your image save your image with a new file name.

Name the file like so:

• Your Last Name_Image Title_Competition Month(MM)-Year(YY)_Category(O or S).jpg
  
  Note:  O=open, SS=special subject.

For example, the file name would look like this for February, 2024:

• Smith_Bridal Veil Falls in Winter_02-24_O.jpg
• Smith_Fire and Ice_02-24_S.jpg
• Smith, J_Fire and Ice_02-24_S.jpg

For the special subject category the file name would look like this:If you have the same last name as another member, then add the initial of your first name like this:
The very last portion of the file name must have the file extension of .jpg.  If you end up with .jpg twice in the file name, i.e., .jpg.jpg, then delete one of the .jpgs.  It only needs to be there once.

Sending Your Images Via Email for Competition

When you email your images to Wayne, send

 your image .jpg files as email attachments and…

Please include in the email Subject line:

1. Your name.
2. The month and year of the competition you are sending the photos in for.

• Example Subject Line: Smith March 2024 Entries

Note: we have put this formatting in place to not miss photos as Gmail likes to combine and hide multiple emails with the same subject line.

Please include in the email message text:

1. Your name
2. Whether you are in the Beginner (A), Intermediate (AA), or Advanced (AAA) class.
3. It is also helpful to include in the email message text your image titles and what category they are submitted under in case there is a problem with the file name.

The VP of Competitions will send a confirmation of receipt with how many photos he/she received and that they’ve been compiled. If you do not hear from the VP a day before the competition, please follow up with him/her to verify your images were received.Non-members please use the Contact Page if you have questions.
Members please contact the VP of Competitions with questions.