Once a member, you are eligible to enter either ONE digital image in the monthly competition at each meeting. Competition categories for each month are listed in the newsletter, THE GOBY. Regardless of previous photographic experience, you are automatically placed in NOVICE. To advance from NOVICE to AMATEUR you must accumulate 26 points. To advance from AMATEUR to ADVANCED you must accumulate 71 points.

Points are awarded for placement in the competition at the following values: 1st - five points, 2nd - three points, 3rd - one point.

In case of a tie, all tying photographers will be awarded the corresponding point value of their placement. 

RULES FOR DIGITAL SLIDE COMPETITION

What IS Permitted:
Cropping - Sharpening, Color Adjustments (Levels, Hues, Color Balance, Dodge, Burn), Contrast Adjustments, Backscatter Removal.

What IS NOT Permitted:
Alterations of Image Content:
Removal or Addition of Subjects or Material

Preparing Digital Images for Competition and for Digital Interlude:
Digital images must be in the JPEG format with the ‘jpg’ extension. Set the resolution on all files to maximum. Any size or shape jpg image can be displayed without needing to be modified. However, 
the club computer and digital projector have a pixel resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels so larger files and/or higher pixel resolutions provide no benefit but require much longer times to send by email. 

These points are cumulative for advancement to the next division, however, only points earned in a given calendar year are used to determine Photographer of the Year.

Advancement to the next division (either AMATEUR or ADVANCED) occurs at the beginning of the next calendar year after the above mentioned criteria is met. For each division, a Photographer of the Year award shall be given to the member in that division who earns the most points during recognition and corresponding award shall be given to the member in that division who earns the most points during that calendar year. This recognition and corresponding award will be given during the SDUPS Officer's Installation and Awards Banquet, or its equivalent.

Voting for the winning images is by secret ballot attendees. The Secretary/Historian is solely responsible for tallying and keeping an accurate record of all members current point status, and is available for any questions arising on this topic.

Preparing Digital Video for Competition:

1. Media Types: We are going to try to use PICASA2 as a media player for both stills and video. PICASA2 will play, Window's Media (.wmv), Quicktime (.mov) and AVI's, or .mpgs. PLEASE put your short clip video into one of these formats for easy display. DVD's will no longer be accepted.

2. All video's must be copied to the club computer before 6:30PM.

3. All video's must be UNDER 30 seconds. There can be multiple clips, but it will be perferrable to keep your video to 10-20 seconds. Any video over the 30 second RULE will be disqualified.

4. The video can be any subject. This rule may change in the future.