2.3. Members of the Competition Sub-Committee shall decide the class in which a new member is placed. The sub-committee shall take whatever steps necessary to ascertain the standard of work of a new member, or a member applying for reclassification. However, unless they have demonstrable previous experience in club photography, new members shall normally be classified as Standard Class with the option to submit to the Critique Category.

2.4. Promotions are considered annually by the competition sub-committee and recommendations made to the main committee. See Appendix 2 ‘Guidelines for Promotion within the League’

2.5. New members joining after the first Print and/or PDI League competition evenings of the season may not enter the League Print or PDI competitions until the following season. However, they may submit images into the Critique Category to get helpful advice from the judge on the Print or PDI league competition evenings. There are also eight non-league competitions during the season. They are open to all members including those who may have joined mid-season.

3. General Rules Applicable to All Competitions

3.1. All elements of all images must have been taken by the member i.e. must originate as photographs (image-captures via light sensitivity). The photographer must have been physically present with the camera at the location that the image was captured and have been responsible for all the settings. Digital, or other manipulation is acceptable in all Print and PDI competitions except Nature and Street Photography where special rules apply - see Appendix 4 and 5. Third party or professional printing, without further manipulation, is permitted.
Note[1]: AI (Artificial Intelligence) used within post-processing software is acceptable. Generative AI that is within post processing software or sourced by other means and uses pixels which do not originate from the photographer’s image, may not be used in any way, including, but not limited to, replacing elements or introducing content in an extended canvas. Should there be a dispute concerning the use of AI either within the club or in external competitions you may be required to provide your original raw image or images. Members must hold the copyright. A photograph found to fall outside these rules will lose all points associated with it.

3.2. Members must ascertain that the subjects of portraits are willing to have these displayed unless clearly candid.

3.3. Entries must be submitted by the deadline date published in the programme. Late entries will not normally be accepted and will only be so at the discretion of the relevant secretary

3.4. Entries must be suitable for public display. Any considered “unsuitable” will be referred to the committee for judgement.

3.5. Entries into any competition or exhibition are at the authors’ own risk and the Club and its Officials cannot accept any liability for loss or damage to entries however caused.

3.6. Prints will be returned as soon as possible after competitions, but some may be retained for consideration for external competitions or exhibitions that require a panel of work representing the club’s best work. When possible, prints can be returned earlier at the request of a member.

3.7. PDIs may be retained by the club on its archiving devices and be considered for external competitions as described above for prints. The author may be asked to resize the original high-resolution version or edit appropriately.

3.8. Entries will be accepted and shown at the discretion of the competition sub-committee who may arbitrate on any interpretation of the rules. The Print Secretary has the right to withdraw a badly mounted print that is considered likely to damage another member’s print.

3.9. In the interests of fair play new members with previous club membership elsewhere are encouraged to use new images in CCC competitions, not those previously successful in competitions at other clubs.

4. Specific Rules for Each Competition and the Annual Exhibition

4.1. Open Subject League Competitions

4.1.1. A print gaining 9 points and higher is ineligible for further entry in this competition. Otherwise, the print is eligible for one further Open League Print competition.

4.1.2. A PDI gaining 9 points and higher is ineligible for further entry in this competition. Otherwise, the PDI is eligible for one further Open League PDI competition.

4.1.3. Each member may submit up to a given number of entries for each competition (currently 2). Any change will be announced in good time.

4.1.4. An image, whether print or PDI, is ineligible for any further league competition, if it’s essentially the same as an image previously entered. ‘Essentially the same’ in this context means a different picture (frame) but taken at the same time and containing the same main elements (with any same people/animals in similar poses) in similar lighting conditions from the same or similar position. ‘Essentially the same’ also means a previously entered image which has been processed in a different way.

There are two exceptions as follows:

4.1.4.1. It is allowable to enter such an image as a second entry provided the first scored 8.5 or less (in other words, it will be treated as the same image as the original entry).

4.1.4.2. It is allowable to enter the same or essentially the same image in both prints and PDIs, preferably not in the same season.

4.2. Annual Exhibition

4.2.1. Prints are ineligible if they have been entered in any previous CCC Annual Exhibition.

4.2.2. Members will be notified of the Annual Exhibition requirements at least 6 weeks before the handing in date.

4.2.3. See Appendix 3 for panel guidelines.

4.3. Monochrome Print Competition

4.3.1. This is an annual competition that will fill half an evening. All entries will be judged as a single class. Members may enter up to 2 prints.

4.3.2. Prints previously entered into the monochrome competition are not eligible i.e. only new images or those previously entered into other competitions are allowed.

4.3.3. For monochrome rules see Appendix 4

4.4. Nature Competition

4.4.1. This is an annual print or PDI competition (to be rotated) that will fill half an evening. All entries will be judged as a single class. Members may enter up to 2 prints/PDIs.

4.4.2. Prints or PDIs previously entered into the Nature competition are not eligible i.e. only new images or those previously entered into other competitions are allowed.

4.4.3. For Nature and Wildlife rules see Appendix 4.

4.4.4. A sub-set of ‘Nature’ is known as ‘Wildlife’. The Wildlife category is strictly for the portrayal of wild animals and plants in their natural habitat. In this case captive animals are not acceptable. 'Wildlife' competitions are not expected to be frequent. Members will receive guidance if the club chooses to organize one. For all other purposes the guidelines for ‘Nature’ will apply.

4.5. Human Portrait, Natural Landscape/Seascape and Street Photography Competitions

4.5.1. These are annual print or PDI competitions (print/PDI to be rotated). Each will fill half an evening. All entries will be judged as a single class. Members may enter up to two prints/PDIs per subject.

4.5.2. Prints or PDIs previously entered in the genre are not eligible i.e., only new images or those previously entered in other competitions are allowed.

4.5.3. Rules for Human Portrait competitions are given in Appendix 4.
Guidelines for Natural Landscape/Seascape, and Street Photography competitions are given in Appendix 5.

4.6. Other Non-League Competitions

4.6.1. This will be an annual print or PDI competition to fill half an evening. All entries will be judged as a single class. The elected photographic genre will be announced to members in good time and will be, for example, Urban Landscape including Architecture, Events, or Still Life. Guidelines are provided in Appendix 5. Members may enter up to two prints/PDIs.

4.6.2. Prints or PDI previously entered into these genres are not eligible i.e. only new images or those previously entered into other competitions are allowed.

4.7. Set Subjects Competitions

4.7.1. Two set subject print competitions, each to fill half an evening. The subjects will change each year and focus on ‘creative, conceptual, experimental’ techniques. Members may enter up to two images per set subject. Images previously entered into other competitions are allowed.

5. Presentation of Entries

5.1. Prints

5.1.1. The competition name, date, author’s name, class, and title must be clearly written on the back of the mount.

5.1.2. Prints must be mounted on stiff card or board. The board may be of any colour, although neutral colours are generally recommended. The print area must not be less than 355 sq.cm, and the mount exactly 50 x 40 cm.

5.1.3. Prints must be presented in such a way that no damage could be caused to other prints. Black-backed board or masking tape is not allowed.

5.1.4. The PDI versions must be uploaded to the Photoentry online system on or before the published competition deadline. These will not normally be used for judging but for the generation of lists and results, and archival purposes.

5.2. PDI Competitions

5.2.1. PDI submissions are only accepted through the Photoentry online system and should be uploaded on or before the published competition deadline. The system may automatically prevent entry after this date, but you can change, edit or delete entries until this date. The titles of the images you enter into Photoentry will be shown without checking. The filenames of the images are used for uploading only and are never displayed to the judges or audience.

5.2.2. It is recommended to always save a high-resolution copy of the picture you wish to submit, before resizing it to the format required by the club. The original can either be taken on a digital camera or produced by scanning a slide, negative or print. Keep the original in a safe place and only process a copy for the club competition.

5.2.3. Image Size: Images must be sized to fit within an area 1600 pixels wide and 1200 pixels high and do not have to fit this space exactly. Images will be projected at the dimensions supplied. See Appendix 6.
Please note that images for some external competitions might be required to fit different pixel dimensions. For this reason, you should keep a high-resolution version in case your work is chosen for such a competition.

5.2.4. Image File Format: Save the image as a JPEG format picture, with a high-quality setting.

5.2.5. Image Colour Space: The colour space of the image file must be set to sRGB. Photoentry, the projector and laptop software are set to this format.

5.2.6. Photoentry will check the technical specifications to ensure they adhere to the technical rules. It will warn you of a problem, prevent upload of a file in error and require you to correct the file.

5.2.7. You will be invited to register and choose a password. Photoentry knows your competition class automatically. Carshalton Camera Club does not have access to, or knowledge of the password that you choose.

5.2.8. The Photoentry website is at https://compent.photoentry.uk/compent/
You should use your email address and chosen password to login.

6. Points system for open subject League Competitions
(Standard and Advanced Class)

6.1. In each competition, marks out of 10 are awarded to each entry in Standard and Advanced Class.

6.2. The marks awarded during the season are displayed as a league table and accumulated and posted on the CCC website. In addition, all individual scores are displayed on the website.

7. Awards and Trophies

7.1. At the end of the season, the members gaining the highest accumulated marks in each class and category in the Open Subject League competitions receive a trophy. In the case of a tie for first place the member with the highest number of ‘tens’ will receive the trophy. Those members gaining 2^nd and 3^rd place will receive a certificate.

7.1.1. Winner Advanced Class PDI League – Peter Stroud Trophy

7.1.2. Winner Standard Class PDI League – Syd Jennings Trophy

7.1.3. Winner Advanced Class Print League – Tony Orchard Trophy

7.1.4. Winner Standard Class Print League – Woollerton Trophy

7.2. Trophies or certificates are awarded to the outright winners of the Monochrome, Nature, Portrait, Landscape/Seascape, Street Photography, Standard Genre and two Set Subjects competitions. Five Highly Commended certificates and two Commended Certificates will be awarded for each competition.

7.2.1. The Henry Clay Trophy is awarded to the winner of the Monochrome Print competition.

7.2.2. The Nan Summers Trophy is awarded to the winner of the Nature competition.

7.2.3. The Victor's Mug is awarded to the winner of the Human Portrait competition.

7.2.4. A Trophy is awarded to the winner of The Master Photographer Competition. The winner will be the member who accumulates the highest number of points from each of the non-League competitions. The Winner of each competition will receive 5 points, the five Highly Commended certificate winners will each receive 3 points and two Commended Certificates will each receive 1 point. There is no requirement to formally enter the Master Competition. The top five results will be published at the end of the competition year.

7.2.5. The Chairman’s Award (trophy) is awarded by the Chairman for their favourite image of the season.

7.2.6. The Roy King Trophy is awarded for the Best Panel in the Annual Exhibition.

8. Notes

8.1. No distinction is made between monochrome and colour (except in the monochrome competition) or between the method of printing (traditional darkroom/wet process, trade processed or digitally produced).

8.2. For the Surrey Photographic Association (SPA) and Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) competitions:

8.2.1. Prints must be mounted on 50cm x 40cm board.

8.2.2. Members belonging to more than one club must designate one club from which they will enter work into interclub competitions.

8.3. Members are strongly advised to keep records of their competition entries.

8.4. Try to avoid the use of duplicate titles; append no.1, no.2, etc to the title if the same words are used.

8.5. By entering any club competitions, you grant CCC the right to use the image for any publicity purposes and to be included in any panel representing the Club in any external inter-club competitions or exhibitions, unless you specifically inform the competition and publicity secretaries of your wish to opt out.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Critique Category

· The Critique Category is open to all members. Any club member in Standard or Advanced Class may choose to enter work into the Critique Category instead of their Standard or Advanced class league for a whole competition year or more. In doing so they will not lose their current Standard or Advanced Class status. However, this category is outside the usual Print or PDI League Competitions, points are not awarded for images and judges are asked to offer helpful critiques only. Members who choose the Critique Category may enter all the Open Competitions as these do not affect the League standings.

· At the beginning of each competition season members of the Standard or Advanced Class wishing to enter the Critique Category for that competition season must notify the Print or Digital secretary as appropriate. In the absence of such notification members will remain in their competitive league (Standard, or Advanced) for that competition season.

· There will be separate Critique Categories for Prints and PDIs. A member may, for example, be in Critique Category for Prints and Standard Class for PDIs in the same year.

· A member of the Critique Category may enter up to 2 pictures per evening in line with current practice. A picture cannot be submitted for critiquing more than twice. If a member subsequently wishes to use a picture entered in the Critique Category in a league competition it should only have been submitted for critiquing once.

Appendix 2: Guidelines for Promotion within the League

Carshalton Camera Club operates a competition league. Class assignment and promotions are considered on the basis that the member wants to participate in this league competition.

The assignment of participants to a specific class is determined by an assessment of each member’s overall photographic abilities and success in the various Club competitions. This classification is intended to ensure that all members who are interested in participating in league competitions have a fair opportunity to achieve success.

Class placement therefore largely, but not exclusively, reflects the standard of members’ work amongst their peers.

The Advanced class does not have a defined number, but its members should all have a very high standard of photography and be competitive at Association level

Some of the points considered by the competition sub-committee when considering promotions are:

1. High standard attained consistently within the member’s current class (does not have to win class but expected to be winner or close 2nd or 3rd for more than one consecutive year).

2. Standard of work generally commensurate with the higher class to which the member is being considered for promotion.

3. Evidence of acceptances and awards in external competitions will be considered where appropriate.

4. Good breadth of work although excellence within a particular field of photography is also considered highly.

5. Continuing evidence of developing skills (practical and/or artistic).

6. Regular submission of new work.

· Although it is not a requirement that all the individual points in these guidelines are met it is expected that the majority will be.

· The competition sub-committee considers promotions annually between the close of one season and the start of the next.

· Individuals may also put themselves forward for consideration for reclassification (including a move to a lower class).

· The competition sub-committee will provide further guidance on promotion policy on request.

Appendix 3: Annual Exhibition Panel Guidelines

· A panel shall consist of six prints.

· The six prints must all be on the same size mounts and although there is no restriction on the balance between portrait and landscape formats the display should be symmetrical.

· Although the panel does not have to be on a single theme, and it can include diverse subject matter and treatment, it is recommended that the content of the panel should be balanced to produce a coherent presentation.

· Entrants must hang their own panel or ask another member to do so for them.

· The panel will be judged in situ during the Annual Exhibition Open Day and The Roy King Trophy awarded.

Appendix 4: Rules for Nature, Human Portrait and Monochrome

These rules should be read in conjunction with the relevant paragraphs in Section 4.

Nature Rules (Nan Summers Trophy)

Nature means Images where living organisms are the primary subject matter. The story telling value of an Image will normally be weighed more than the pictorial quality.

Nature includes

· Images taken with subjects in controlled conditions such as zoos, game parks, aquariums and enclosures where the subjects are dependent on man for food. Scientific bands, tags or collars are permissible.

· Wild flora occurring in natural habitats or abandoned brownfield site, or naturalised escapees from agriculture and gardens.

Nature excludes

· Images where the subjects are obviously domestic animals, farm animals, house plants, or cultivated plants intentionally planted and/or cross-bred by humans.

· Images where an obviously artistic treatment has been applied.

The amount of processing allowed of the captured nature image is limited to cropping, exposure adjustment, colour correction, noise minimisation, dodging or burning, HDR, focus stacking and sharpening. Some minor cloning of image defects and minor distractions is acceptable including minor overlapping elements.

An Image appearing to meet these criteria will be accepted as Nature.

Access to some biological subjects may be restricted. Where that is relevant, then Photographers warrant that they have followed relevant codes of practices and hold any necessary licences.

Titles should be factual and describe the subject. Titles should not be twee, informal or sentimental.

Human Portrait Rules

The subject can be shown in either head and shoulders or full-length format, formal or candid, and can be taken in an interior or exterior location. The subject must be clearly seen to have been intended as a portrait.

All portraits must have the permission of the model to be entered (unless clearly candid – it may be wise to not to do your candid photography locally).

A GDPR compliant Model Release Form is available from The Royal Photographic Society[2].

Monochrome Rules

A black and white work toned entirely in a single colour is a monochrome work. However, a black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome).

Appendix 5: Guidelines and Rules for other Non-League Competitions

These should be read in conjunction with the relevant paragraphs in Section 4.

Still Life Photography

A genre of photography used for the depiction of small inanimate subject matter, typically a small group of objects. Like still life painting, it is the application of photography to the still life artistic style.

This genre gives the photographer more control in the arrangement of the elements within a composition compared to other photographic genres, such as landscape or street photography.

Manmade objects like pots, vases, consumer products, handicrafts etc. or natural objects like plants, fruits, vegetables, food, rocks, shells etc. can be taken as subjects for still life photography. The art in still life photography is often in the choice of objects that are being arranged and the lighting.

Street Photography

This records everyday life in a public place, indoors or outdoors. It captures a moment in time. Often, this genre includes candid photos of strangers but in contrast to the Human Portraiture genre (which also may be candid) it is the unusual juxtaposition and/or surreal relationship with the surrounding environment that is most important. As such any persons or facial features are often not dominant elements in the image.

It is a Street Photography rule that the cutting and pasting of objects or people is not allowed.

Natural Landscape or Seascape

For the purposes of this competition our interpretation of the genre is restricted to natural landscapes and seascapes and captures the spirit of the outdoors. Elements of human activity may be visible such as farmland, buildings, vehicles and boats, where they contribute to the overall composition but should not be dominant in the frame.

Urban Landscape including Architecture

This genre captures areas of towns and cities of the world and may include parts of buildings that depict certain architectural elements in either a record or artistic manner. Some incidental human activity may be included but, in contrast with the Street Photography genre, animate objects are of much lesser importance.

Action

Action images should capture a sense of movement which may be, for example, a high shutter speed capture of a frozen moment in time where it is clear the subject of the photo was moving. Examples of action are:

· a horse jumping over a fence

· a slow shutter speed capture of a deliberately blurred/partially blurred moving object such as a flower blowing in the wind

· a panned shot of a moving cyclist, with a blurred background

Use your imagination to convey movement, in-camera techniques and/or post-processing methods are equally valid.

Events

These may include village fairs, re-enactments, sports events, and parades. As with street photography, cutting and pasting objects or people is prohibited.

Appendix 6: PDI Image Size

· If PDI images do not fit the maximum dimensions exactly they will be displayed as a letterbox, or with blank sides, but this is acceptable i.e., the “space” can be used as you wish to best suit your composition.

· It is normal to fix your image to either 1600 pixels wide, or 1200 high (depending on how you cropped your image), making sure that the other dimension does not exceed the maximum allowed. Please note that images for some external competitions might be required to fit different pixel dimensions. For this reason, you should keep a high-resolution version in case your work is chosen for such a competition.

· Note that portrait format images will be reduced in size compared to a landscape because they cannot be more than 1200 pixels high as all digital projectors are landscape format.

Appendix 7: Triptych PDI Competition

· An entry must comprise three distinct images of any size or shape either wholly separated or only partially overlapping and have a common theme to form a cohesive panel.

· A background, if included, should complement the presentation of the three images but must not become a significant fourth image.

· Images previously seen in CCC competitions may be used as part of your triptych.

· A maximum of three triptychs per member is allowed.

· For the Triptych PDI Competition only we accept images at the higher resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. You will note that this is much higher quality than we see at the club now, and it is widescreen which is better for a landscape triptych.

· A portrait triptych is permissible but will not benefit much from the higher quality on offer so we would not recommend it.

· Please prepare your images accordingly. We recommend you edit and crop in widescreen and then simply convert to 3840 x 2160 (rather than 1400 x 1050) when you create your final jpegs for submission. The changes to the editing and uploading process are minimal and only in the final step, so this will not take longer or need new editing software.

· There will be a winner plus five certificates awarded for the competition.

· Ideas and tutorials for many brands of software can be found by an internet search 'create triptychs'

[2] GDPR compliant Model Release Form: https://rps.org/resources/

Contents

1. The Competitions

2. Classes