DCC COMETITION RULES 2023/2024
The Club will hold the following competitions in the 2023/24 season.
The Moller League (PDI)
The Tate League (Print)
Print Panel Competition
Special Projected Digital Image (PDI)
Annual Projected Digital Image (PDI)
Annual Print
Photo on a Phone (PDI)
David Multon Trophy – Multi media
NEW Inter Club PDI
Detailed rules for each of the above are given later, but the following rules apply to all.
1. The club adheres to The Royal Photographic Society charters definition of what Photography is
“Photography' shall mean the Art or Science of the recording of light or other radiation on any medium on which an image is produced or from which any image may by any means be produced."
1a Permitted images in Club competitions.
All images must conform to this standard, regardless of subject and elements of the image submitted for competition must have been the sole work of the entrant and entirely be their copyright.
Images may be produced by any optical means, including pinhole cameras, and by any Cyanotype or similar photography technique.
A submitted image can be a Single, ICM, Multiple Exposure, Composite or Montage image.
All component elements of a submitted image must be 100% the photographer's original work. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes water/sky replacements, textures, brushes, royalty-free images, clipart and the like.
It is considered that AI-enabled algorithmic automation of basic imaging processing (including exposure optimisation in-camera, the cloning of a background, or removal of subject elements), as being under the control of the photographer and represents an ongoing evolution of long-standing capabilities. Therefore, Photographic editing programs are permitted, including algorithmic processing in-camera or post-processing software, which supports digital photography, on the condition that photographers, when asked, are transparent and open where such tools have been used.
The Dorking Camera Club will trust in the integrity of its members but, in certain circumstances, may request further evidence in the form of RAW files or EXIF data, accepting that such evidence may itself not be definitive.
1b Prohibited Images not permitted in Club competitions.
All images produced by or containing elements produced by:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) renderings generated via text prompts may not be used in whole or part in the creation of images.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) renderings generated via text prompts that are used to alter an image that may be the photographer’s own work, may not be used in whole or part in the creation of images
2. With the exception of trade processed film and prints all retouching and digital manipulation of prints and digital projected images must be the sole work of the entrant.
3. Unless the competition specifies a set subject, the subject matter is the entrant’s own choice.
4. The deadline for entering each competition will be confirmed, but for PDI’s it is 12noon on the Friday prior to the competition held on the following Monday, uploader via the DCC Uploader software. Prints are to be brought to the hall by 7.45 latest on the day of the competition. All printed entries MUST have had a copy PDI image uploaded via the Uploader software no later than 12noon the on the Friday prior to the competition. Late entries will not be accepted, except in unusual circumstances, beyond the control of the entrant.
4a. If COVID restrictions are in place all print competitions will be judged as a PDI and the above submission protocols apply.
5. Judging will be carried out by a judge who is not a member of the Club. He/she will be selected from a list of approved judges.
6. The Club will take reasonable care handling members’ work but will not be responsible for any damage or loss however caused. (see how to mount a printed image on website)
7. Any issue arising over the conduct of internal Club competitions, or the appropriateness of an image entered therein should be raised at the time with the Chairman or Competition Secretary. Any objections concerning the appropriateness of an image will be assessed by the Selection Committee. The final decision will be made by the Chairman and the Competition Secretary.
8. An image may be used only once in EITHER the League or Special Competitions, and may then ONLY be used again in the Annual competitions. An image may be entered in EITHER ‘Print’, or ‘PDI’ format. Once an image has been used in a competition, its format cannot be changed (eg from PDI to Print).
9. Trophies awarded to members who win a competition will be held for one year. Trophy winners will also receive a certificate and commemorative plaque to keep. Trophies will be returned to the Competition Secretary when requested near the end of the following season. Runner-up and Highly Commended entries will receive a club certificate.
Marking and formatting of entries
1. Images must be clearly marked with the entrant’s name, and a title must be provided which will be read out. Untitled or un-named images will not be accepted. The title must remain the same, should the image be entered in more than one Club Competition.
2. Prints must be mounted on card, minimum size 25x25cm, maximum 50x40cm, but not otherwise framed. The print itself may be any size. A Club label giving full details must be attached to the back of the mount, together with an arrow pointing to the top edge to identify the orientation. Please ensure the mounts have a backing board. Do not use Sellotape to fix an image to a mount board.
3. Digitally projected images should be sized to a maximum canvas size of 1600 x 1200 pixels by the entrant (including any keyline). Projectors normally accommodate other sizes by automatic trimming but the results are occasionally unpredictable and may not be in accordance with the entrant’s wishes. This size will be revised from time to time as projectors develop. The new SPA size is 1600 x 1200. And this size must be provided for SPA entries.
4. Digital images must be presented in the .jpg file format and sRGB profile. The filename must be of the form: ‘Title’.
5. Black-and-white work toned entirely in a single colour will be classified as monochrome and will be accepted in the black-and-white category for competition purposes. A fundamentally black-and-white work modified by partial toning or by the addition of one or more colours becomes colour work.
Additional Rules for the Tate and Moller League Competitions
These are the Club’s two League competitions and their purpose is to allow members, especially new ones, to develop their techniques in company with other members of broadly equivalent ability and to enable this there are two groups – Advanced and Club. The method used to allocate members to these groups is described later. There are three rounds to each competition held at approximately two-monthly intervals in order to provide ample opportunity for new work to be seen and evaluated. The Club wishes to encourage as many new images to be shown as possible and to this end it does not support the re-cycling of previously shown images. Accordingly, no image may be used in any round which has previously been shown in either of these two competitions, but note that images already shown in other Club or non-Club competitions may be used if desired. Images that have only been cosmetically altered from the original are considered the same image for this purpose. They may be of any age as long as they meet these requirements.
Groups
For the 2023/24 season, Dorking Camera Club will resume the use of groups for the two league competitions: Tate print and Moller PDI. At the end of the season, trophies will be awarded to the top scoring members in each group. The two classes will be known as Club and Advanced. Assignment to groups will take place at the beginning of the season. By default, new and continuing members will be assigned to the Club class. Members holding distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society or the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain will automatically be assigned to the Advanced class. Winners of the Tate and Moller league competitions will automatically be assigned to the Advanced class. Club class members wishing to have their work evaluated by the stricter criteria of the Advanced group may request to participate in the Advanced class. Any member may request an evaluation only (no score) in any competition. The rules for assignment to groups will be reviewed at the 2024 AGM.
Tate Competition (Prints)
· This competition consists of three rounds.
· Members may enter a maximum of two prints per round.
· For scoring purposes each print, in each of the three rounds, will be marked out of 10. At the end of the three rounds, all scores will be totalled to determine the winner.
· Judges will award marks out of 10, and half-marks as appropriate.
· Maximum size of mount 40cm x 50cm. A window mount is optional.
· A label giving full details must be attached to the back of the mount, together with an arrow pointing to the top edge.
· Prints may be trade processed.
Winner Advanced Group – The
Tate Trophy.
Winner Club Group – The Margaret Dane Trophy
In addition, Second and Third places will be awarded in both groups and will receive a Certificate. From September 2023 a Judges Choice Award plaque will be awarded in each group. Also a Pin Badge will be awarded to members who receives two 10’s in either round.
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Moller Competition (Projected Digital Images)
· This competition consists of three rounds.
· Members may enter a maximum of two images per round.
· For scoring purposes each PDI in each of the three rounds will be marked out of 10. At the end of the three rounds, all scores will be totalled to determine the winner in each group.
· Judges will award marks out of 10, and half-marks as appropriate.
· Maximum size submitted is 1600 x 1200px
· sRGB profile
Winner Advanced Group – The Moller Trophy.
Winner Club Group – The Meurisse Trophy. In addition, Second and Third places will be awarded in both groups and will receive a Certificate. From September 2023 a Judges Choice Award plaque will be awarded in each group. Also a Pin Bage will be awarded to members who receives two 10’s in either round.
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Annual Print Competition (OPEN)
This competition provides an opportunity for members to display their best work. Any print is eligible even if already shown in the Print league competitions with the sole proviso that it has not been entered for the Annual Print in previous years. From September 2023 this competition will be judged by CLASS. A maximum of TWO entries is allowed in colour or mono combined. Colour and monoi will not be judges separately.
The Judge will decide a winner and a runner-up in each CLASS and may also award two or three Highly Commended.
Advanced Winner – The Print Shield
Club Winner – Derek Gardner Cup
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Annual Digital Projected Image Competition (OPEN)
This competition provides an opportunity for members to display their best digital projected image work. Any image is eligible even if already shown in the DPI League competitions with the sole proviso that it has not been entered for the Annual DPI in previous years.
From September 2023 this competition will be judged by CLASS. A maximum of TWO entries is allowed in colour or mono.
The Judge will decide a winner and a runner-up in each CLASS and may also award two or three Highly Commended.
Advanced Winner – Sir George Pollock Trophy
Club Winner – Lady Pollock Trophy
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Special Digital Projected Image Competition (OPEN)
This competition has a set subject. For 23/24 the subject will be: PORTRAITS
This competition will be judged by CLASS. Up to TWO images may be entered. The Judge will decide a winner and a runner-up in each Group and may also recommend the award of up to three Highly Commended Certificates.
Advanced Group Winner – The Lomas Trophy
Club Group Winner - The Chairman's Cup
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Printed Panel Competition
This competition provides an opportunity for members to display panels of Images. Any images are eligible provided they meet the standard for images stated below.
Members are permitted to enter 1 panel of up to 3 images in Print Format (normal mounting requirements apply).
This competition also has a set subject. For 22/23 the subject will be: PATTERNS & TEXTURES
This competition will be judged by CLASS
The Judge will decide a winner and a runner-up and may also recommend the award of up to three Highly Commended Certificates in each Class
Advanced Group Winner – The Butler Cup
Club Group Winner – The Tanqueray Cup
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Photo-on-a-Phone Competition (PDI) OPEN
Introduced in 2019 this is a light-hearted competition using only mobile phones.
· Only images taken on a mobile phone or tablet can be entered.
· TWO images per member
· The images taken on a phone cannot be processed or edited.
1. Rule Change regarding Photo on a Phone Competition:
It was agreed that the below Rule change will apply from 2023/24:
1. The image, must not have been used in any DCC competition before, must have been taken on a phone or tablet, and may be edited (as below, item 2,) on a phone, tablet, or computer.
2. You can add a keyline, straighten, crop and resize to PDI requirements. No further processing enhancement will be allowed.
· Resize the image to within 1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high.
· The images must not have been previously entered in any DCC or other competitions.
· The images will be reviewed by two members of the club, and comments made.
· It will then be up to all members attending to decide if the image is to be held back, this will be done by raising your hand. We will record this.
· Those images that are help back will be voted on and the one receiving the most votes will win. Members may vote multiple times. 2nd and 3rd will be via the same count.
Winner – The Solitaire Cup
Runner-up and Highly Commended: Certificate
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David Multon Trophy
The David Multon Trophy competition commemorates David Multon’s membership of DCC. David was a long serving and highly respected member of the club, he served as programme secretary, Chairman, and President and was a fine photographer. He sadly passed away in January 2020 and is missed by all who knew him and enjoyed his company.
We would like this competition to represent the things that David stood for and appreciated in life and that he enjoyed photographing. He loved his garden at home and gardening and some of his latest Exhibition images were close ups of flowers. David and Jane spent as much time as possible at their harbour side home in Salcombe, South Devon, often joined by other members of the family. They enjoyed sailing, pottering, visiting local coves and beaches, eating out, socialising with local people in the pubs. Landscape photography was a passion, as was travel both in the UK and abroad. David had great enthusiasm for life and DCC was especially important to him.
The David Multon Trophy competition is targeted to be an original proposition so that it is different and stands out from other events, with both Prints and PDI’s entered to the same competition and with no restriction on the size or format of the print – although this may give judges a headache they should be able to get their head around the idea!
The following rules will be applicable:
· Submissions of images may be made in print or PDI format. 2 entries per member are allowed, for example 2 prints or 1 print and 1 PDI or all PDI's, in colour or monochrome.
· Because of the resolution of the projector PDI images will have to be in their standard format: maximum 1600px wide or 1200px high, in sRGB colour space
· Rolling subjects every five years: (1) “Open” (as in Moller and Tate), (2) “Garden Flowers”, (3) “Landscapes”, (4) “The Seaside” and (5) “Gardens”.
The Judge will award a Winner,
Runner Up and three highly commended photos. They may hold back as many images
as they want.
· The photos submitted cannot have been used in any other DCC competition either internal or external.
Following the competition, photos submitted will be eligible for the Annual Print and Annual PDI competitions. They must keep the print or PDI format as displayed for the competition. For photos displayed in large format in the DMT competition when displayed in the Annual print entries must follow standard conventions and be mounted in a mount 400mm x 500mm or smaller.
Winner – David Multon Trophy (Silver Salver)
Runner-up – Certificate
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NEW 2023/24 Inter Club PDI
Full details of this ‘friendly’ competition will be announced soon. This year (23/24,) we will host Reigate for the challenge.
No official prizes – just the luxury of winning . . .