Photo Assignment Guidelines

As our membership grows, we recognize that it has become increasingly important to communicate some of the parameters and guidelines for assignments as well as how to vote effectively for the photographs submitted for assignments.

All photographers must be aware of copyright laws as they pertain to photographing someone else’s copyrighted creative works. We encourage our members to be more than cautious if you plan to include photos of works by others or of people. Canadian copyright law is pretty stringent on this topic. There are exceptions with regard to buildings or works that appear in public but nevertheless we should err on the side of caution in this regard. We will be putting links to a number of sites which deal with Canadian Copyright Law on the website to help you through some of the issues.

When submitting your work for assignments we ask that you follow a few simple guidelines. The assignments are thought of as a form of homework and images are to be recent, typically taken within the past month or two.

Images from cameras with advanced internal operations such as HDR, photo stacking or blurring are for the Creative Category.

Submitting the same image in Colour then in Black & White is not accepted.

Colour Images

These images are based on a single shot. The shot remains intact and no objects are removed. The following range of modifications are acceptable:

• crop
• straighten horizons or verticals
• adjustments with exposure, saturation, shadows, contrast, sharpness, brightness, noise reduction, dodging & burning, curves & levels, dust spot removal
• long exposures
• panning at slower shutter speeds
• HDR is only acceptable if it has been produced from a single image
• In Camera Manipulation is not acceptable in this category

Black & White Images

These images are based on a single shot. The modifications applied in colour are applicable in black & white.

Selective colour or colours as well as various monochrome colour tones such as sepia are not allowed

Creative Images

Images and manipulations that are outside of the scope of Colour and Black & White are accepted in the Creative Category. Entries must demonstrate manipulation and not be simply adjustments. These manipulations may be subtle or bold in nature.

• Complex images from HDR or photo stacking are permitted.
• Objects may be removed and objects from other images are permitted such as sky replacement.
• The use of in-camera techniques or photo software is unrestricted.
• The criteria is that all components originate with the photographer.
• In a composite image, ALL ASPECTS within the frame must have been shot within a three month window. Photographers may not use their personal file that is outside the three month window, to add completely or partially to the finished photograph.
• In camera manipulations such as multiple exposures and in camera movement are only acceptable in the Creative Category.