What is a Nature Slide?
Nature slides depict untamed animals and uncultivated plants in their natural habitat, geology and phenomena not produced by man. The accurate record of the subject and natural environment is the prime factor. Evidence of man, manipulation of his environment in any part of the image is undesirable and should be avoided. After satisfying the above requirements, every effort should be made to use the highest level of artistic skill in all nature photographs. Photographs of cultivated plants, formal flower arrangements, domestic and caged animals, mounted specimens, museum groups or man and his specialized environment are not acceptable.

Authentic Wildlife is defined as one or more organisms living free and unrestrained in a natural or adopted habitat. Therefore, photographs of zoo animals or photographs of game farm animals regardless of the game farm's use of wildlife terminology are not considered wildlife images. Photographs depicting wild animals taken in man-made areas where these wild animals have elected to live are acceptable (e.g. Botanical Garden, Morgan Arboretum, etc.).

Titles
Titles are announced for Nature slides. Descriptive titles should correctly identify the subject by its common name or its species name.

Digital Manipulation:
Film slides, scanned slides/negatives and digital captures are accepted in Nature Competitions.

Limited post-processing i.e. corrections equivalent to those reasonably feasible with a film camera will be permitted, but digital manipulation is not (see "permissible prost-processing below"). All other post-processing will be considered digital manipulation. No composite images or montages are accepted. Since there is not practical way to verify that the participant has adhered to these guidelines, we rely on the integrity of the photographer.

Permissible Post-Processing Digital Film Equivalent Color Saturation Adjustment Choice of film/filtration Exposure & contrast adjustments Exposure compensation/filtration Cropping & re-sizing Slide mount mask Color balance adjustments Required by digital technology Sharpening Required by digital technology Cloning dust marks & hotspots Required by digital technology

Deadlines:
All images must be submitted one week prior to the competition date. In the event that an image is not accepted prior to a nature competition because of a compliance issue with the above rules, the photographer will have a maximum of two days to submit a replacement image.

The pictorial group holds both open and theme competitions at the end of the Fall and Spring seasons. The Harry Burbidge Photographer of the Year trophy is awarded to the person or persons with the highest accumulated score in the open competitions, and the Zoltan Kallai Pictorial Themes trophy is awarded to the person or persons with the highest accumulated score in the theme competitions

What is a Pictorial Image:
Pictorial competitions are open to any kind of image, as long as there is no added text, no non-photographic elements and no graphics included in the final submitted image. The images must have been made and submitted by the person who made the image. No combined efforts are permitted i.e., an image cannot have been shot by one person and then manipulated by a different person.


The Pictorial Theme competition is an "Anything Goes" competition, where any type digital manipulation, or the physical use of filters or multiple exposures are used to aquire the end result. As of September 2007 the Pictorial Open competition will be split into two competitions that will run on the same evening. The first competition is a "Traditional Capture" competition where only minimal post prosessing is allowed (See below). The second competition will be an "Anything Goes" competition allowing for any type of post processing.

Permissible Post-Processing for "Traditional Capture" Competitions Digital Film Equivalent Color Saturation Adjustment Choice of film/filtration Exposure & contrast adjustments Exposure compensation/filtration Cropping & re-sizing Slide mount mask Color balance adjustments Required by digital technology Sharpening Required by digital technology Cloning dust marks & hotspots Required by digital technology

For composite images, all the images included in the composite must be images made by the participant i.e, a participant cannot scan an image that is not their own, manipulate it into "their own" image and enter it in a competition.

Image Submissions and Titles:
For pictorial competitions each club member is invited to submit up to three images, either digital, slide or a combination of the two formats for each competition. In Pictorial competitions, titles are announced for all images. On submission the photographer must supply their name and a distinct title for each image (Calling all four submissions "Untitled" is unacceptable. If you must use "untitled", please call them "Untitled 1", etc). Traditional film slides must also be marked according to the slide submission rules.

Submitting Entries:
All entries for the competitions can be made via the LCC Web site competitions submission form. We request that slide entries also be made through the Web form. All submissions must be made at least one week prior to the competition. Slides entries must be hand delivered to one of the Pictorial chairs by this time, or left in the LCC Work room clearly marked for the specific competition.Submission deadlines are posted on this website, are on the schedule available at the reception desk, and are announced several times prior to the competition. Therefore absolutely no late entries will be accepted.

1. We have eliminated the 'commercial category' since we now accept commercially processed prints in all categories.
2. All registrations for the Print competitions are required via the LCC Web site competitions submission form.

For all prints, the exposure and any digital manipulations must be the exclusive work of the member who made the image and submitted the print. The resulting file may be printed on any printer provided there are no further adjustments by anyone other than the submitting member. I.e. you may have the image printed at a commercial lab or on a friend's printer, but the file must be printed without further adjustments on the part of the lab, or friend.

In the wet darkroom, any traditional enhancements (dodging, burning, etc.) must be done by the submitting member. If the negative or transparency is printed commercially, or by someone else, it must be printed without further manipulation. Toned prints are considered to be monochrome. We encourage the mounting/matting process to be done by members themselves. The club workroom is fully equipped for this purpose. Ask Drew if you need help or if it's your first time using the equipment. He is present at most Monday night meetings by 7 pm.

Colour negatives or black and white negatives may be trade-processed originals or trade-processed internegatives from a transparency. Colour or black and white transparencies used for making prints may also be trade-processed.

All prints must be mounted, but not framed, on a 16 x 20" mat. A second 'window' mat is recommended as it protects the print and displays the image to best advantage. Any colour or type of mounting board may be used, however, white, black and grey tend to produce the best results. Prints may be any size up to 16 x 20" with a minimum of 48 square inches (examples: 6 x 8" , 4 x 12", 3 x 16", etc.)

Prints must be clearly marked on the reverse side as follows:
. The title of the print
. The competition and category in which the print is to compete
. The member's name
. An arrow indicating the correct orientation for viewing

There are four categories of Print Group competitions:
(Please note of the number of prints you may submit is now THREE per category)
1. Black and white (monochrome) / THREE prints maximum. This category will include all images captured with a camera and printed either by computer, or traditional wet darkroom methods. Prints are to be in black and white. Toned prints will be considered monochrome

2. Colour / THREE prints maximum. This category will include all images captured with a camera and processed/enhanced without changing the original content. These images are to be true colour as the non 'colour blind' eye sees. Traditional enhancements such as dodging, burning, minor adjustments to hue and/or saturation are allowed. Nothing may be added or removed from the original image: removing twigs, wires, leaves or adding a different background to a foreground subject, etc.

3. Theme / Three prints maximum. This category will include all images captured with a camera and converted into a print. A theme will be announnced in September for the fall competition and a second announced in January for the spring competition. Please be aware we may *require submissions to be 'Traditional' and/or 'Anything Goes' in the theme category to give all interested parties opportunities to participate.

4. Anything Goes - formally called - Creative/digital art - THREE prints maximum. This category will include the following:

Images created on the computer using photographic images and printed by the photographer.

Images created in the darkroom using multiple images on one print;

Images to which elements have been added, moved, or removed, in the darkroom or by computer.

Hand-coloured prints

Digital prints originally in black and white or converted to black and white from colour and still containing some colour elements.

Images whose colours have been altered in a way that is no longer true to the subject as it exists in nature.

Any combination of multiple images.

Use of filters and film to create false colours will also be considered 'creative', i.e. colour infrared.

Use of on-camera filters that change reality as the human eye sees it are also included in this category. This does not include close-up filters, neutral density filters, warming filters and other enhancement filters that have small effect to the image, or the use of coloured filters with black and white film.

Deadlines:
All images must be submitted one week prior to the competition date. In the event that an image is not accepted prior to a print competition because of a compliance issue with the above rules, the photographer will have a maximum of two days to submit a replacement image.

Submitting Entries & Deadlines:
All registrations for the Print competitions are required via the LCC Web site competitions submission form at least one week prior to the competition date, ie. *the Monday previous. The physical matted prints submissions must be made at least one week prior to the competition date, ie. *the Monday previous. Hand delivered to one of the Print chairs by this time, or left in the LCC Work room clearly marked for the specific competition. Submission deadlines are posted on this website, are on the schedule available at the reception desk, and are announced several times prior to the competition. Therefore absolutely no late entries will be accepted.

Digital Images may be entered in any competition category. The following summarizes specific rules regarding image format, size and naming:

Image Resolution and Size Please resize your images to fit the maximum display resolution of the projector. All images must be resized to make the largest side 768 pixels. File Format and Size Images can be captured in any file format but need to be converted to a jpeg because of file size considerations. A high quality jpeg should not exceed approxi-mately 350kb. File Identification Please include your last name, and image number in the file name Example: Smith_01.jpg

Slides are no longer accepted for projected competitions. If you have a slide that you would like to enter into a competition, it will first need to be scanned and submitted through the on-line submission process.

Judging will be done by three judges, and their decisions are final. For the spring and fall competitions two of these judges are normally from outside the club.
Judging conditions and standards match those set by CPAC and NAPA closely. Before scoring starts, a random selection of slides is shown to the judges
so that they may estimate the overall quality of the entries. Scores are not read out so that judges are not aware of how their fellow judges are scoring.

Each image will be scored twice out of 100 points. The first score is awarded for the application of image making skills such as: appropriate exposure, focus, sharpness, depth-of-field, and composition. The second score addresses the actual content or value of the image; some may prefer to think of this simply as impact. There are three cases: for theme competitions this score measures how well the judges think that the image interprets the theme; for nature competitions, which may be thought of as special cases of theme competitions, this score measures the nature value of the image, i.e., that which imparts to the viewer information about the subject which is characteristic of the species such as its ecology or life cycle; for the remaining competitions this score measures the pictorial value of the image, i.e., its aesthetic, artistic, or journalistic value; it may also be thought of as visual impact. Thus each image has a total maximum score of 60 points. For prints, the reverse side of the mount will be marked with the competition date and the score received. Slides will not be marked, but a listing of the obtained scores for each submitted slide will be provided instead on the entry form when returned to the maker.

Common judging practices The following are practices in general use for judging photographic slide competitions. Regarding the choice of judges: there should be an odd number of judges, usually three but sometimes five they should be selected from among photographers who have demonstrated competence in photography, either by having a record of award winning slides or prints, or by having images published in a reputable publications; in the case of nature competitions. the judges should also have a reasonable knowledge of nature they may include members of the club holding the competition, members of other clubs, professional photographers, artists, photography teachers and, in the case of nature competitions, naturalists Judges should not have entries in the competition nor be involved in preparing entries for the events. Titles are announced only for Nature slides. At the end of a judging session the judges should be asked for specific comments on the winning slides and on the entries as a whole. If the slides are shown to a club at some time other than the judging session a judge should be present to make comments. This judge should not be subjected to rudeness or verbal abuse; neither, of course, should the image maker. The projector should be placed and aimed as follows: the axis of the projector beam should touch the centre of the screen; to avoid 'keystoning', the axis of the projector beam should be at most 10 degrees from being perpendicular to the screen; the illumination of the screen should give a reading of 1±0.5 second at f16 for ISO 25 film when read with a reflected light meter 12 inches from the screen. The judges should be placed as follows: the distance from them to the screen should be at least ten feet, and at most six times the larger dimension of the image; their line-of-sight to the centre of the screen should: be at most 10 degrees above the horizontal plane at their eye level, to avoid neck strain; form an angle with the axis of the projector beam of at most 10 degrees for beaded screens, and at most 30 degrees for other types of screen. Illumination of the screen by stray light in the room should be at most 1% of that provided by the projector. A practical test for this is to place a page of pica type 30 inches from the screen - with the projector lens capped, this page should not be visible. The room should be in darkness for 3 minutes before starting to view, to let the judges' eyes adapt.

Each special interest group of the Lakeshore Camera Club presents a number of awards during the club year. An award may be given for either a high-scoring single image in some competition, or for an accumulation of scores on all images within a certain category.

The majority of the awards are given at one of two awards ceremonies. The first one is during the last meeting before the Christmas break, usually in December; the second is during the last meeting of the club year, usually in June. An award not usually given at one of the awards ceremonies is the prize of a roll of film for the best image in a theme competition. Instead this is given at the end of the competition itself, at the discretion of the group chair. At least three members must have participated for this award to be given.

Ribbons for Fall and spring competitions
In each special interest group, and for each fall and spring competition, the entries with the three highest scores receive the following awards:

• a white ribbon for first place
• a red ribbon for second place
• a blue ribbon for third place

The judges will break any ties for these places, by consensus if possible, or by majority if necessary.

Honourable mentions may be declared in either of these competitions at the discretion of the group chair, tie breaking by judges is not used. Each honourable mention receives a green ribbon. The following are some guidelines for selecting honourable mentions:

• candidates should have a total score of greater than 40/60
• at least one honourable mention should be awarded even if the required score is not met
• there should be no more than either 6 honourable mentions, or 10% of the entries, whichever is less

The awards for the fall competition are given at the first awards ceremony in December; the awards for the spring competition are given at the second awards ceremony in June.

Nature Special Award
In the nature group, a special award ribbon may be given for the slide obtaining the highest score in the Spring competition in a special category which changes with each competition. The category is chosen well enough in advance by the nature group chair. Entries for the special award are to be included among the regular entries for a competition. The entry form should show which slides, if any, are to be considered as part of the special category, since some judges will not make this decision. There will be no special judging for entries in this section of the spring competition. The winner of this ribbon may not win other ribbons for the same slide. If the winning slide also places first, second or third, the slide will win that award and the special award will go to the second highest score in the category. If the winner also qualifies for an honourable mention, it will not receive this.

Trophies
Several trophies are awarded at the last meeting of each club year. Each trophy is awarded to the person with the highest total score of all the images submitted to a particular category. If more than one person has the same total score the trophy will be shared among them.

Image Type Competition Trophy Name Monochrome prints fall and spring J. W. Clark Monochrome Print Trophy Colour prints fall and spring Eric Carnell Colour Print Trophy All non-commercial prints theme Zoltan Kallai Print Themes Trophy Commercially processed prints fall and spring Commercial Trophy Pictorial images fall and spring Harry Burbidge Photographer of the Year Trophy Pictorial Images theme Zoltan Kallai Pictorial Themes Trophy Pictorial images submitted by a new member fall and spring Nettie Clark New Member Trophy Nature Digital fall & spring Nature Digital Division Trophy Nature slides fall and spring Nature Slide Division Trophy