Contest Rules

The Orlando Camera Club (“OCC”) holds all-digital competitions only. Please review these competition rules prior to entry.

Competition Guidelines

The primary objective of these instructions is to provide uniform procedures for conducting Orlando Camera Club (“OCC”) competitions. It is the sole guide for entrants to our competitions.

The principal purposes of OCC competitions are:

  • To provide a vehicle for sharing work among our membership.
  • To encourage friendly comparison of the current photographic efforts of the members.
  • To serve as a proving ground for new techniques and current work.
  • To serve as an educational platform via gentle critiques by acclaimed judges.

Number of Competitions

There shall be six (6) competitions per OCC year, as well as a year-end judging. The OCC holds all-digital competitions only.

Themes

  • Themed Competitions–Themes will be announced in advance of the coming competition year and are posted on the OCC website. The Competition Chair may disqualify images if they are NOT consistent with the monthly theme. Even if accepted for entry to the Competition, images may be scored lower if their relevance to the monthly theme is marginal. Frontal nudity is not allowed.
  • Open Competitions–Entries to the Open Competitions are not limited to a specific theme, therefore; appropriate subject matter is allowable within the parameters set in the categories of competition. Frontal nudity is not allowed.

Entry Categories

There shall be three (3) categories of entries:

  • Color
  • Monochrome
  • Creative

Competition Classes

There shall be two (2) Competition Classes in the Color category only. There shall be one (1) competition class in all other categories. For the Color category only, the two classes are as follows:

  • Class A – Advanced, includes all competitors who voluntarily rate themselves as A and enter this class, as well as those assigned this class by the Director of Competitions.
  • Class B – Beginners, includes all competitors who voluntarily rate themselves as B and enter this class.

Reclassification of Class

The primary purpose of competing in a class is to have your work compared to those with similar skill levels. As a first-time competitor you may rate yourself as an A (Advanced photographer) or B (Beginner photographer). You may voluntarily move upward from Class B to Class A at any time, by contacting the Director for Competitions. Once Class A, always Class A – no one may move downward from class A to B. Members ranked in “Class A” in FCCC competition must compete in Class A in OCC competitions.

Criteria for Moving from Class B to A

A member who achieves a total of 30 points will automatically be elevated into the Class A. You will be notified of this change by the Director of Competitions.  This will be retroactive to October 2016.

Points are accumulated in the following manner:

  • 10 points for a first-place win in a bi-monthly competition
  • 5 points for a second-place win in a bi-monthly competition
  • 3 points for a third-place win in a bi-monthly competition

Any member who wins first place in any category in the annual competition as well as the winner of The Wayne Bennett Image of the Year award will automatically be categorized as an “A” shooter.

Eligible Entries

  • Any member in good standing of the OCC shall be eligible to enter any OCC Competition. A current membership list will be used for verification.
  • Images shall originate from a negative, slide or digital image taken by the maker.
  • Image title and/or maker’s name shall NOT appear on the face of the image.
  • No image that has been entered into any previous OCC competition shall be acceptable for any future competition.
  • Entries into the annual Year-End Judging shall be limited to images that have received an award during the previous year, running from October – September. Additional runners-up may be entered into the annual competition to the discretion of the President and the Director of Competitions.
  • Eligibility will be confirmed by the Director of Competitions. Only entries conforming to this set of rules will be judged.
  • Only images that are totally the work of the individual photographer may be submitted. Work that is not completely your own is not allowed.

Categories

There are three (3) categories, each judged separately. Color will be subdivided in Class A and Class B and judged as individual categories.  In all categories, only images that are totally the work of the individual photographer may be submitted. Work that is not completely your own is not allowed.

  • Color – This category includes color images, (except those defined as “Creative” below) whether or not they have undergone digital enhancement, but the image must maintain a realistic or natural look. Multi-colored infrared images are allowed. A stroke, outline or border is allowed and must be limited to a solid thin line, of any color. Partially desaturated images that result in a mixed color/monochrome image should be entered in the Color or the “Creative” category.
  • Monochrome – This category includes monochromatic images (except those defined as “Creative” below) which are either completely desaturated into black, white and gray or contain only one single color tone (e.g. sepia, blue, etc.) over the entire image. Digital enhancement is allowed but the image must maintain a realistic or natural look. Infrared images in one color tone are allowed. A stroke, outline or border is allowed and must be limited to a solid thin line in the same monochrome tone, (e.g. black, white, gray, sepia, blue, etc.) as the image.
  • Creative – This category includes color or monochromatic images that do not have a realistic or natural look because they have been creatively altered in-camera (shaken, zoomed, etc.) or digitally manipulated in post-processing. Strokes, outlines, borders and frames of any size and type are allowed. Creative images must not be constructed in the computer but must originate from the maker’s photograph or photographs. All elements in the photograph must be the maker’s own work and must originate as an original photograph taken by the submitting member.  An image, which is a composite of more than one unique image, MUST be entered in this category.
    This does NOT include bracketed images taken for High Dynamic range (HDR) purposes, as these images differ only by exposure and are not unique. This also does NOT include panorama images. However, any other image that the photographer deems “creative” may also be entered into this category. Members ARE permitted to use textures that are NOT the photographer’s original work when used as a blended or overlay effect. These textures can be those found in proprietary software, plug-ins or individual photographs that are not the original creation of the submitting photographer.

Submission of Entries

  • Entries must be submitted via the OCC competition website at http://orlandocameraclub.photoclubservices.com.
  • Image files must be in JPG format and can be no larger than 1400 pixels on the long edge. A dpi of 72 is suggested.
  • It is recommended for display consistency (but not required) that you use the sRGB color space when saving your images.
  • Make sure the title reflects your image, and does not contain your name, your club’s name, or anything else that identifies you as the maker. Choose a title carefully. A good title will complement the image. Avoid using your name, numbers or the manner in which it was processed. Please try to keep the title to four words or less; less is usually better. Examples: “Swallowing it Whole”, “Buddies Forever”, “A Gift for You”, “Smooth Landing”, “Veronica”, “Blue”, “Beach Ruins”, “Abandoned”, “Beyond the Pale”, “Bigger Than Life”, etc.
  • Entries must be received by the cut-off date and time indicated on the website.
  • Failure to adhere to these submission guidelines may result in your image(s) being disqualified for that competition. Disqualified images may be re-submitted for future competitions if appropriate.
  • The deadline for submission is midnight on the FRIDAY one week prior to Competition Night.  Failure to adhere to these submission guidelines may result in your image(s) being disqualified for that competition. Disqualified images may be re-submitted for future competitions if appropriate.
  • It is highly recommended that images be submitted prior to that Friday to allow the member substitutions in the case of disqualification during approval process.

Number of Entries Per Competition

  • Each qualified entrant will be limited to a total of two (2) different images per contest.
  • One qualifying entry in any TWO of the three categories is permitted. Options for entries:
    1. One color image and one mono image
    2. One color image and one creative image
    3. One mono image and one creative image
  • The same image may not be entered in more than one category or in more than one bi-monthly competition. That is: A color image that is entered in the competition may not be converted to monochrome and entered as a separate mono image.

Judging

  • Either 2 or 3 judges will judge each competition.
  • At least one of these will be a non-member from the local photographic community.
  • One or two judges will be experienced members of OCC.
  • Judges who are club members are not precluded from entering a competition but will NOT be allowed to score their own entries.
  • In each Category, the image with the highest score will receive a rosette for the Best of Category.

Scoring

The rating system is based on a scale from 1-100 where:

60-68 … Needs improvement
69-77… Average
78-86… Above Average
87-95… Excellent
96-100… Superior

Approval Process

  • When a member enters an image into a category in which it does not fit according to the category description, theme or submission guidelines, the image may be disqualified by the Director of Competitions and the President. The maker may be notified of such disqualification. Entries submitted closer to competition close risk disqualification without enough time to notify member or to allow any corrections/substitutions.
  • The approval process may be continuous once competition opens but will be fully done on the Monday prior to competition night.
  • Substitutions can be made until competition closes (Midnight on the Monday prior to competition night).
  • The final decision will be left up to the member to adjust image categories for images misplaced in incorrect categories. (eg. A Creative images in monochrome category). However, judges may take points off a score for an image that is obviously misplaced.
  • Any images that remain in the competition after closing date that do not adhere to these competition guidelines, risk disqualification.

Awards

  • In each Category, the image with the highest score will receive a rosette for the Best of Category.
  • The winners of each Category may or may not receive a gift from club sponsors.
  • Ribbons will be awarded for second and third runners up.
  • In the event where multiple images tie for a place in the top third, a tie will be announced and those images will also be eligible for rosettes and/or ribbons.

If you have any questions please feel free to email Director of Competitions at [email protected]. They will be glad to help you.

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