Image An image is a digital file, slide or film negative which has been produced solely by the member using a photographic process.

Competition Coordinator A Member of Society Committee appointed to organise Print or PDI competitions.

Composite Image A Composite Image shall be the sole work of the entrant produced only from a Member’s Image or Images

Colour Images Images can include as much or as little colour as you like. The subject matter is open except photographs that look like “nature” are excluded and should be entered in the Nature Section.

Monochrome Images Monochrome Images must be completely black and white with shades of grey or can be completely tinted with one colour. The subject matter is open except photographs that look like “nature” are excluded and should be entered in the Nature Section.

Panoramic Image Panoramic images cover a wider field of view than the one from human vision. The normal proportion width to height shall be three to one or greater.

Portrait An original photographic likeness of a human being, who is living at the time that the exposure was made and the individual is the main subject.

Print A print shall have been produced from an Image

Projected Digital Image (PDI) An Image taken by either a digital camera or by use of a scanner.

Section Colour, Monochrome or Nature, Prints or Projected Images

Slide A slide produced by any process of photography in which the original is a

transparency, a negative or a computer image and which includes duplicates of it.

Society Year The period from 1 September to 31 August in next Calendar year.

Depending on the number of photographs entered, the Competition Coordinator may reduce the number of entries accepted in each section to make a viable competition, so that members benefit from a worthwhile critique. Make sure that your entries are numbered in the order you want them to be used. If the number of entries are reduced then the higher number(s) will not be used. For example: if you enter two photographs in a section,

“1 sunny day.jpg” and “2 winter walk.jpg”, “2 winter walk.jpg” may not be used. The following Society competitions are to be held each season:

Print Competition League

Four print competitions will be held throughout the season. There are three Sections for each competition in both Class 1 and Class 2, i.e., colour prints, monochrome prints and nature prints. Members may submit a maximum of two entries in each section. Members are also required to submit as directed by the print coordinator, a PDI of the print

Projected Image Competition League

Four projected image competitions will be held throughout the season. There are three sections for each competition in both Class 1 and Class 2 i.e., colour image, monochrome image and nature image. Members may submit a maximum of two entries in each section.

Annual Competitions

Two annual competitions (i.e., one projected image and one print) to be held towards the end of the season. Members may submit a maximum of three entries in each section.

Portfolio Competitions

This is a single class competition, which is open to all members of the Society. There will be two Portfolio Competitions each year, i.e., Print and Projected Image. The format and themes for these competitions will be decided by the committee at the beginning of each season.

Themes for the season will be notified to members in September.

Three of a Kind Competition

This is a single class competition, which is open to all members of the Society. It includes all images in projected image and print formats. Members may enter one Composite PDI of the three images and separate PDI’s of the individual images and/or one Panel of three prints. In PDI and Print the images used should relate to each other in some way.

Panorama Competition

This is a single class competition which is open to all members of the Society. Members may enter two PDI Panoramic Images into the competition.

Each section is divided into two classes.

Class 1 is for advanced workers and Class 2 is for beginners and improving workers. Members are free to choose, at the start of each season, which class they intend to enter for that season for each section. For reasons of fairness, members who have transferred from another society/club, in which they entered as Class 1 or similar photographers, are expected to elect Class 1. 

The Annual competition entry will be in the same chosen class. The choice is made for the whole of that season and movement to another class can only occur at the start of the next season. 

Any Class 2 member who wins the class twice must move up to Class 1 the next season. A member may choose to be in different classes for each section. For example, Class 1 for Colour prints, class 2 for Nature prints.

New Members are recommended to discuss their class decision with other longer serving members or the Competition Coordinator. Selecting either too high a class or too low a class is discouraged.

All entries will be submitted by the Competition Coordinator to the Judge, except that the Competition Coordinator shall, at their discretion, exclude any entry that does not comply with the Competition rules. The Competition Coordinator shall notify the author of any excluded work. The decision of the Competition Coordinator shall be final.

a) Monochrome, Colour and Nature prints must be the sole work of the entrant produced from an Image, mounting & printing excepted, printing and/or mounting may be commercially produced from the member’s Image.

All prints must be mounted. Prints and mounts may be of any size, up to a maximum of 20” x 16” (50cm x 40cm) overall. 

Use of the 50cm x 40cm mount is preferred by the External Competition Coordinator because most external competitions only accept this size. Using other sizes will mean a print cannot be entered.

b) All Projected Images must be of a standard format of no larger than 1600pixels wide or 1200 pixels high for landscape format. For portrait format maximum 1200 pixels high. Images not correctly sized will not be resized by Competition Coordinator and therefore may not be projected correctly. Files must be in sRGB profile and JPG format,

c) The following two paragraphs only apply to sections in the competitions named Print Competition League and Projected Image Competition League.

In any Society Year an image as print or projected image may be entered only once in the Competition Leagues, regardless of section. The image may be entered only in one subsequent Society Year. An image used in the Competition Leagues may be used in Annual competitions.

d) Images that have been used previously by a member of this society while they were a member of another club/society may be eligible for entry into any internal competitions but must be identified as such. Such restriction is necessary to avoid the society using them in external competitions in contravention to the rules of that competition.

e) A title must identify all prints, or projected images. Designations such as “No Title” will not be accepted. On subsequent entry the title shall not be changed. The Print shall have a label affixed, the label to be determined by the Print Coordinator. 

Download full sheet of labels to fit on A4 Avery Labels code L7173 or J8173.

▪ PDI’s file names shall be the title of the image and numbered for the order of projection. The title shall not contain any form of punctuation marks. i.e. “1 sunrise.jpg” or “2 blue boat.jpg”

▪ Do not use the .jpeg or any other extension

Nature Section.

Images for the Nature Section shall follow the PAGB Nature Rules current on 1 September of the Society year (Agreed EGM Dec 2023)

PAGB Rules current at October 2022 – Nature means Images where living organisms are the primary subject matter. The story telling value of an Image will normally be weighed more than the pictorial quality.

Nature includes:

• Images taken with subjects in controlled conditions such as zoos, game parks, botanic gardens, aquariums and enclosures where the subjects are dependent on man for food. Scientific bands, tags or collars are permissible.

Nature excludes:

• Images where the subjects are obviously domestic animals or plants.

• Images where an obviously artistic treatment has been applied.

Processing of the captured image, by cropping, exposure adjustment, colour correction, noise minimization, dodging/burning, HDR, focus stacking and sharpening, is permitted, as is cloning of image defects and minor distractions including overlapping elements. An Image appearing to meet these criteria will be accepted as Nature. The Judges will normally assume that any Image presented to them is eligible.

Access to some biological subjects may be restricted. Where that is relevant, then Photographers warrant that they have followed relevant codes of practices and hold any necessary licenses

Whilst not included in Rules, PAGB wish to ensure titles used for Nature competitions names the organism and describes activity but avoids trite wording. Not following this advice may result in comments from the judge and a potentially lower score.

The judge or judges will be asked to score as follows: –

Awarding marks between 1-20. The operational matters such as method of presentation to the Judge will be determined by the Competition Coordinator.

5 League Competitions

Awards for League Competitions are given to members with the highest score in each Section calculated as follows: –

The total score for each member in each of the League Competitions will be calculated by adding all scores in League Print & League PDI rounds. In the event of a tie a “count back” system will be used and the member with the most 20 scores will be declared overall winner, this method will continue through 19, 18 etc. until a winner is declared

6 Photographer of the Year

“The award of ‘Photographer of the Year’ is given to the member who scores the most points aggregated across all internal society competitions within that season”

1 External Exhibitions

The external competition coordinator may retain any competition entry for use by the Society in external competitions. A Member may specifically request to be excluded for any or all of their images.

2 Liability of the Society

All reasonable care will be taken of entries, but neither the Society nor any of the Society’s officers shall be liable for any loss or damage that may occur to entries.

Annual Competitions

Two annual competitions (i.e., one projected image and one print) to be held towards the end of the season. Members may submit a maximum of three entries in each section. (Depending on the numbers entered, the Competition Coordinator may reduce the number to two per section.)

Portfolio Competitions

This is a single class competition, which is open to all members of the Society. There will be two Portfolio Competitions each year, i.e., Print and Projected Image. The format and themes for these competitions will be decided by the committee at the beginning of each season.

Three of a Kind Competition

This is a single class competition, which is open to all members of the Society. It includes all images in projected image and print formats. Members may enter one Composite PDI of the three images and separate PDI’s of the individual images and/or a Panel of three prints Print Image which shall be made up of images. In PDI and Print the images used should relate to each other in some way.

Panorama Competition

This is a single class competition which is open to all members of the Society. Members may enter two PDI Panoramic Images into the competition.