Digital Entry Requirements

Digital Entries

1) Refer to Competition Rules for complete information.

2) Prepare Your File. Image files are to conform to the following specifications:

File Format	JPEG
Color Space	sRGB
Resolution	72 dpi, uncompressed
Image Size	Not to exceed either 1920 pixels in width or 1200 pixels in height. • Proportions are your choice. If either dimension is exceeded, the projected image will be downsampled, with a potential loss in quality.
File Size	1MB - 3MB • Tip: See Digital Entry Preparation FAQ. • Tip: See How to Resize an Image in Elements
File Name	DivHYPHENTitle with spacesHYPHENFirstNameSPACELastName.jpg • Make the title descriptive enough for the score keepers to match it easily to your image and to distinguish your entries from each other if you submit two. (For example, choose the title "Yellow Tulips by Brick Path" over "Lovely Garden" or "Brookside Tulips.") Example File Names: YES: Adv-Red Tulips by Brick Path-John Smith.jpg YES: Nov-Sunset Over River-Mary Hatfield.jpg NO: Int_Blue_Moon_Over_Rockville_Hal_Burns.jpg NO: Advance-Sunflower-And-Bee-Jim-Smith.jpg • Note: Use hyphens, not underscores. • Note: Abbreviate your division as Adv, Int, or Nov, with no periods.

3) Enter Before the Deadline. (Before midnight the Wednesday prior to the competition meeting.)

Use e-mail to send the entries as follows:

To: Use one of the following (depending on your division):

(Having trouble sending the email? Hint: Copy and paste the email address to your favorite email program.)

Cc: Send a copy to yourself for your records.
Subject: GCC Digital Entries, month-year
Body:Include your full name and your division (“Advanced,” “Intermediate,” or “Novice”) and your image title(s) (i.e., “Sunlit Reed”)
Attach: Send images as attachments (No more than two entries.)

WARNING: Make sure the email address is correct. Some members are sending email to just "novice@g..." instead of "digital_novice@g..."

4) Check Your Entry. Before the Monday competition, the Digital Coordinator will send an email listing all digital images received. Verify that your entry is included on the form. Contact the Digital Coordinator if you have any questions.

5) Additional Notes on Digital Entries The competition computer and projector will be calibrated for best possible color balance, brightness, and contrast using a colorimeter. Specifications important for proper display of your images on our equipment include:

Color space. Be sure to convert your digital image to the sRGB color space, if necessary, before saving for competition. Most compact digital cameras and digital SLRs are factory set to sRGB, but many photographers use the Adobe RGB color space for its presumed broader range of colors for their photos. If not converted to sRGB, these images may look a bit dull when projected.
Check your entry's histogram. Converting an image optimized in Adobe 1998 to sRGB color profile can alter its histogram, usually the red tones. If your JPEG's histogram shows an unacceptable amount of shadow or highlight clipping, this might help: In Photoshop, open Image> Adjustment> Hue/ Saturation. Choose "Reds" for the Edit window, and move the Saturation slider down to correct the problem. The amount will vary depending your image, but start with -13. Check the histogram again to make sure the clipping is under control and the image still looks good.
Monitor white point. Our projection system is calibrated to a white point of 6500 degrees Kelvin. If you profile your monitor, you may want to use the same white point setting for improved color matching with our projector.
For more information, an Internet search for "Adobe RGB VS sRGB" and on "Monitor white point" will yield more facts and opinions on this subject. We use a Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite to create color profiles for our projector.
Note: Images must be received in correct form and correctly titled by the deadline or risk being disqualified from the competition. Contact a board member if you need help with your images. Contact info is on the web site and in every newsletter.