Many of the monthly meetings include a photo critique session. Entering and getting feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of a photograph is a great way to better your photography. Club members are informed about upcoming critique sessions via email, and on this website.
Club members can submit up to three (3) photos for a critique session in one or more categories. Visitors are always welcome to attend the meetings, but are not eligible to enter photos into these events. Only digital images (jpg) are accepted. With our new club projector, images can be up to 1920 pixels horizontally, and 1080 pixels vertically. DPI does not matter. Although any aspect ratio is acceptable, the largest view-able image is 1920x1080.
Each entered image must be named as follows:
The name must begin with the two letter code for the category in which it is entered, followed by a hyphen, the title of the image, followed by a hyphen, and the authors name. An example for an entry in the landscape category, submitted by Mike Schumacher, with a title of "Grand Canyon" would be:
La-Grand Canyon-Mike Schumacher.jpg
PLEASE NOTE: Because we are now posting some of these images on our club website, it is very important to insure that the file name format is correct. The name should have two (and only two) hyphens separating the category, title, and author. Spaces or "_" characters are also allowed. Spell your name the way you would like to see it displayed on the website. Any "_" characters will be converted to spaces before a title or name is displayed on the website. Members should include their name spelled the same way on every submission. Member name should be full first name and last name (no initials) separated by a space or "_" character.
ONE FINAL NOTE: The maximum size for an image (in pixels) is 1920 (horizontal) by 1080 (vertical). If your image is larger than that, it would be helpful if it could be resized before submitting it, so that it fits within these limits. A smaller horizontal and/or virtical resolution is acceptable for image crops that do not have a 16:9 aspect ratio. Also try controlling the image quality when saving a jpg so that the size (in kilobytes) of the image is as small as possible while maintaining acceptable image quality for display. A large image takes longer to display on a webpage.
Save the files as jpg. You’ll want to use the srgb color space as that is the color space of our projector.
Email your entries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please email your images by the Monday before the meeding day to insure they are included in the critique session.
For each critique session, a qualified judge is appointed by a club officer.
Judges discuss and evaluate the entered image in front of the group so members can learn from the comments. Beginning with our January 2018 meeting, scores will no longer be given to images. All images entered will be posted on the club website.
The OPEN (Op) category is a catch-all category. If your image does not fit another category it goes here. You can enter any type of image here, manipulated or not, but edits should look natural including hdr. Strong emphasis is placed on composition, lighting, impact and technical excellence.
ALTERED REALITY (Ar) images are those which the subject may or may not be readily identifiable. It might be a ‘what is it’ type of image or an artistic interpretation of a common subject. Imagination is the key in this category. There are no limits on image enhancement or image edits. Images in this category should look obviously altered. Creativity and imagination are encouraged.
A TRAVEL (Tr) photograph must express the feeling of a time and recognizable place. It should portray a land, its people or culture. There are no geographical limitations. Photographic manipulations which misrepresent the true situation or alter the content of the image are not acceptable. Only basic adjustments are allowed in this category.
A PHOTOJOURNALISM (Pj) image should tell a story. A P.J. image should have an emotional impact and be informative. Images that misrepresent the truth such as manipulation to alter the subject matter are not acceptable. Set-up situations are not acceptable. Only basic adjustments are allowed in this category.
WILD NATURE (Wn) is the story of nature. The story telling value of the subject must be weighed more than pictorial quality. Human elements shall not be present except where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as barn owls adapted to an environment modified by humans. Domestic flowers and animals are not allowed in this category. Only basic adjustments are allowed in this category.
DOMESTIC NATURE (Dn) is for those nature images that don’t qualify for the Wild Nature category. Domestic animals, flowers and the hand of man are acceptable. Only basic adjustments are allowed in this category.
PEOPLE (Pe) is for images that include people. Crowd images, portraits, children playing, any image that includes people.
LANDSCAPE (La) is an image that can show different spaces within the world, usually vast and unending. Landscape photography attempts to capture a place and convey that to the viewer and reveal something special and spectacular about it. Hand of man is acceptable as well as cityscapes. Only basic adjustments are allowed in this category.
THEME (Th) or Assigned Subject (As) is an image which conforms to a theme choosen by the club board members. A different theme is selected for each critique session. Only basic adjustments are allowed in this category. The following themes have been selected:
Basic Adjustments include cropping, brightness, contrast, color correction, dodging and burning. All adjustments must appear natural and not alter the content of the image.