Digital Contests

Hi - this topic is in reply to Herb's quesiton about digital contests.

Herb,

I think that we used the NCUPS rules as a basis for our contest. We allow users to adjust things using photoshop, as long as they do NOT edit the content of the photo in any way.

Photos must be 1024x768 and submitted either on floppy at the meeting or emailed in by the day before the meeting, provided they are less than 1.44 megs.

We use the same categories as we use for the film HUPS contest, but we only do the digital contest quarterly.

Cheers

James

Well, the Dallas UPS now has a digital category, or I should say categories.

Here is an excerpt from the new bylaws:

Digital:

Unmanipulated – those images that are pulled directly from the

camera with no editing. The original, unmodified digital camera image

must be submitted with your entry. The original digital camera image must

contain valid, unmodified EXIF data. EXIF data is information that the

camera embeds in the original file, which our system must be able to read

to validate your contest entry

Digital Creative:

- Digital creative images can be manipulated using whatever

methods the artist desires.

I don't agree with these categories. I shoot unprocessed RAW and do all adjustments via PS. In order to play in the unmanipulated game, I'd have to shoot in another format in order to use in-camera sharpening.

How do they know the EXIF data is unmodified? A judge would need to be present when each contestant uploads his images so that certifiable originals exist. Otherwise, just modify and submit two copies. Preserving EXIF data is no problem.

If you are shooting RAW complying with the contest rules is a big step back for you and you may well be disappointed with the outcome anyway.

Switching threads, why is there a 1024x768 limitation? I understand the inconvenience issue, but this is not the right thing to do. Taken to the extreme, you could specify 320x240 or smaller. Clearly no one would like that, but the same problem exists to lesser extent with 1024x768. No one requires only 400 speed film in a slide contest, for example, and there's no precedent for trying to level the equipment playing field. The judges' ability to judge needs to be at least as good as the best entrant's ability to deliver the goods. Even the cheapest P&S digital cameras have long since passed the 3/4 MP range. If a common format should be adopted, why not 2.1 or 3.3MP?

The 1024x768 limitation is due to the projector. These are on-the-spot contests where the images are projected on a screen and the audience votes for the winner. There are projectors that have higher resoulution than 1024x768 but they are really expensive. BTW there are two basic types of projectors, LCD and DLP. The DLP projectors are much much better, and of course more expensive. We have a DLP projector at NCUPS and the difference in the contrast of the images between that and the LCD projector I have at work is huge.

I agree with scorpio_fish that the Dallas UPS catagories are unreasonable. We went through some of these issues at Northern California UPS (NCUPS) about a year ago. They had originally proposed to allow no manipulation at all. Fortunately, a friend of mine on the NCUPS board got me involved in the decision process, and I basically gave the same arguement you did, that unmanipulated really has no meaning for someone shooting in raw mode. My friend also chimed in and added that there's a long list of manipulations that can be done with slides without going digital.

So far, I'm the only one who's entered anything, so it's been an empty victory.

I see. Are these contests pretty casual then?