Competition Categories
2022-2023 Competition Year
Prints
Monochrome
Color (No longer separated into Class A, and Class B)
Nature
Panoramic
Digital Projection
Color Class A, and Class B
Theme (No longer separated into Class A, and Class B)
Creative
Nature Class A, and Class B
Monochrome (No longer separated into Class A, and Class B)
Photo Travel
Fine Art (new category)
Class A is for more advanced photographers and Class B for beginner to intermediate.
Definitions. (See Competition rules for more information.)
Black and White : Monochromatic images with a grey scale ranging from black to white. Toning, such as sepia, which is transparent and uniformly applied is permitted.
Color Print and Digital: No assigned subject or aspect ratio. Monochrome images must be entered in Black and White. Selective Color Retention must be entered in Creative.
Panoramic To be considered Panoramic, the width must be at least 2.5 times the height (i.e. divide width by height and the result must be 2.5 or bigger). Horizontal format only is allowed due to the physical limitations of the print display box. There is no requirement on the number of frames used to generate the Panorama.
Theme An assigned subject each month. Themes for the full competition year will be announced before the start of the year. Portrayal of the theme is a judging criteria. Digital Composites using only elements from your own photographs are allowed. The result must still have the appearance of a photograph. Altered Reality, such as artistic filters or improbable composites, must be entered in Creative.
Creative “Altered Reality”. The image must obviously display a change in natural color, form, shape, or any combination of these three. All elements in the image must originate from one or more photographs. All images must be original and may not incorporate elements produced by anyone else.
Nature Nature photography is restricted to the use of the photographic process to depict observations of natural history in such a fashion that a well informed person will be able to identify the subject material and to certify as to its honest presentation. The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality. Human elements shall not be present, except where those human elements enhance the nature story. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible. Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, domestic animals, or mounted specimens, are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement. No techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are permitted. This includes strong vignettes and any blurring. Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene, are permitted. Examples include HDR and Focus Stacking. All allowed adjustments must appear natural. Color images can be converted to grey-scale monochrome.
Examples of what is and is not allowed in Nature are found
here
Photo Travel A Photo Travel image expresses the characteristic features or culture of a land as they are found naturally. There are no geographic limitations. Images from events or activities arranged specifically for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography are not appropriate. Close up pictures of people or objects must include features that provide information about the environment. Techniques that add, relocate, replace or remove any element of the original image, except by cropping, are not permitted. The only allowable adjustments are removal of dust or digital noise, restoration of the appearance of the original scene, and complete conversion to greyscale monochrome. Other derivations, including infrared, are not permitted. All images must look natural.
This is the PSA definition of Photo Travel. An additional clarification:
"If the image is predominantly or exclusively a land-, sea- or cityscape, these “scapes” must include characteristic, distinctive and recognizable physical features, although it is not necessary that the image identify the exact location."
Examples of what is and is not allowed in Photo Travel are found here
Fine Art. [A new category being explored by the club].
Images may contain multiple composites and/or significant artistic edits. However, any/all elements must have been photographically captured by the member. Composites of multiple images are permitted. Significant alterations to color, exposure, darkening or lightening of backgrounds, adding/deleting backgrounds, adding blurring, filters, etc. are permitted. However, everything in the image must be original photographic content of the member, and may not incorporate elements produced by anyone else or via AI tools/applications. While the guidelines for Fine Art are similar to Creative, Fine Art is intended for images that are more natural (yet artistic or dramatic), whereas Creative images are typically more fictional/surreal in nature.