Landscapes, Seascapes, Cityscapes, Skyscapes, Waterscapes. This competition will be judged pictorially. Adjustments and use of filters are allowed in this class.

Must be black and white or black and white and one fully toned color such as a single tint like sepia or cyan applied across the entire image.

Photojournalism images shall consist of pictures or sequences of pictures with informative content and emotional impact, including human interest, documentary and spot news. Sport and action photos are allowed in this class. The journalistic value shall be considered over pictorial quality. In the interest of credibility, photos which misrepresent the truth, such as manipulation to alter the subject matter, posed photos or situations which are set up for the purpose of the photo are unacceptable. Reality based class in which no elements may be moved, cloned added deleted, rearranged or combined. No manipulation or modification is allowed except for resizing, cropping, selective lightening or darkening and restoration of the original color of the scene. No special filters may be used to alter the photos in this class. Any sharpening must appear natural.

The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality Human elements shall not be present, except where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as nature subjects, like barn owls or storks, adapted to an environment modified by humans, or where those human elements are in situations depicting natural forces, like hurricanes or tidal waves. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars are permissible. Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement. Something that exists in nature: insects, butterflies, spiders, trees & leaves, etc., Nature can have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food. Reality Based - see Notes below [Rev 01/2015]

Portrayal of a person or persons either posing or candid. An image is eligible for the Portrait class whether or not the image is acquired indoors – such as in a formal studio setting – or outdoors in a natural or artificial environment. Such elements include but are not limited to: the lighting, including the use of reflectors and diffusers; the arrangement of people, props; backgrounds; makeup; or apparel. [Rev 01/2015]

This competition will not be judged, instead our membership will also vote on their favorites. It is not necessary to resubmit your qualifying digital entries but prints must be brought to the competition.

If you are not going to be able to make it please contact Bonnie J. Matthews-Franke to get your prints delivered to the competition.

The Nature, Photo Travel, and Photojournalism Classes are all termed ‘Reality-Based Divisions’ because images entered are required to represent what the photographer actually saw. In addition to the definitions applicable to each of these Divisions, the following special rules apply: Borders are allowed with any Reality-Based Division entry/image, but must not exceed 3 pixels in width and must be white or a shade of grey. No techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are permitted. Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene, are permitted including HDR, focus stacking and dodging/burning. Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise, and film scratches, are allowed. Stitched images are not permitted. All allowed adjustments must appear natural. Color images can be converted to grey-scale monochrome. Infrared images, either direct-captures or derivations, are not allowed. [Rev 01/2015]