The 30th Shrewsbury Open Photography Exhibition - 2024
Under PAGB patronage, and we are members of British Photographic Exhibitions, BPE.
Acceptances gained will count towards the BPE Crown awards
Exhibition Chairman - Judy Mainwaring
www.shropshire-photographic.org.uk
All enquiries: sope@shropshire-photographic.org.uk
Quick Links
Classes (Digitally projected only):
- Open Colour - any Colour image (subject to the General Rules) may be entered in this class
- Monochrome (PAGB Monochrome Definition, see below)
- Nature (PAGB Nature Definition, see below)
- Scapes - This is a broad interpretation of landscape. Any image depicting our physical environment - land, sea, urban, rural, is acceptable. Images may range from scenic views to intiimate compositions and fine details, from wild country to inner city. People and animals may be included in the scene as long as they are ancillary to and/or supportive of the main subject. Entries into this class may be colour or monochrome. Entries in this class are not required to be from a single image as long as the entry conforms to the General Rules.
Awards: PAGB Gold medal for Best image in each category
- PAGB Gold medal for Best Entry of 4 in one category
- PAGB Silver Selector’s medals x 3 in each category
- PAGB Ribbons for Highly Commended
- BPE Ribbons for Commended
Selectors:
- Ian Whiston EFIAP/p, MPSA, FBPE, DPAGB
- Sue O'Connell FIPF MPSA EFIAP/d3 DPAGB ABPE
- Peter Brisley DPAGB BPE2* EFIAP
Exhibition Calendar
- Postal entries close Monday 30th September 2024
- Online entries close: Midnight (23.59) GMT. Sunday 29th September 2024
- Selection: Saturday 5th - Sunday 6th October 2024
- Notification of results: 13th October 2024. Entrants should ensure that they provide an active, individual e-mail address for this purpose.
- Exhibition Catalogue & Presentation link sent by: 25th November 2024
All entrants will receive an online link which will include the catalogue in pdf format and a silent, automatic slideshow of all the accepted images in formats suitable for both Mac or PC . These links will also be available on the website at www.shropshire-photographic.org.uk. Pdf catalogues for the last 10 years' exhibitions will also be available after this year's exhibition has closed. If you prefer a CD to be sent from this year's exhibition instead of a download link, please check the box in the online entry system. There is no extra charge for this.
Exhibition Showing of accepted images and Awards Presentation:
- Monday 18th November 2024at the Hermitage Centre, Belle Vue Methodist Church, Belle Vue Road, Shrewsbury SY3 7NL
- Further shows: Online via Zoom, January 2024, details to be announced.
Disks or a download link of the show set to music (for clubs at venues with a PRS licence only) and/or with manual advance for club showings, will be available at no charge. Please send an e-mail to sope@shropshire-photographic.org.uk
Entry Rules
- The competition is open to all amateur and professional photographers resident in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and British Forces posted overseas only.
- Entries may be submitted online or if you wish by post on CD – in that case, please download the postal entry form from the quick links above for instructions and postal address. All final work must be submitted as digital files.
- A maximum of four images for each class may be submitted as 1600 x 1200 JPEG files using the SRGB colour space profile. Images entered in one class must not be duplicated in another class. For example, a monochrome landscape image can be entered in either the monochrome or the landscape class but not both.
- A Shrewsbury entry form (online or printed) must be completed by each entrant.
- CDs will be destroyed and rejected images deleted from SPS computers not later than 31st January following the exhibition.
- Entry fees: £1.50 per image - (minimum fee £6.00). Entry fees can be paid by using a PayPal account or credit/debit card, or by cheque for postal entries. All payments should be made in pounds Sterling. All cheques to be made payable to Shropshire Photographic Society. Entries sent with insufficient or no entry fees will not be judged.
- CDs should be posted with sufficient strengthening. No responsibility can be accepted for broken CDs received or for damaged/lost images, howsoever caused, although every effort will be made to contact the entrant to resubmit images.
- Permission to reproduce any entries on the website, the exhibition catalogue and show or in any publicity material is assumed, unless otherwise stated by the entrant on the entry form or notified by e-mail.
- Judges’ voting will be by electronic machine. Scores will be reported in writing by e-mail to each entrant. Entrants should keep a separate copy of their entries or the completed form(s). The judges’ decision is final.
- Entries accepted in a previous Shrewsbury Open Photography Exhibition (or ones so similar as to be indistinguishable) are ineligible.
- For all entries, the original exposure(s) must be made by the entrant, any modification to the original exposure must be made by, or under the personal direction of, the entrant. Important - See also rule 12. Images may be colour or monochrome, depending on the class entered, from film or digital originals.
- Entrants must own the copyright of all images or components of images used in any submitted entry. Composite images, and the use of software for image enhancement, such as cloning, compositing, sky or background replacement, blurring etc. are permitted, except for the Nature section, (see the specific Nature Definition), provided all component images meet the copyright requirement. Use of images or components from any other source including, but not limited to, AI generation, image banks, third party brushes, textures, software and clipart are not permitted. Images generated solely by AI (Artificial Intelligence, i.e. computer generated) are not permitted. An image must not display the photographer’s name, their club, a business name or their Federation.The Shropshire Photographic Society accepts no liability for any breach of copyright by an entrant.
- For Nature entries, please see the PAGB nature definition (May 2020) below. Note that images already meeting the separate FIAP Definition of Nature and Wildlife will satisfy this less restrictive definition:
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 minimisation, 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 licences. - For Monochrome entries, please see the PAGB Monochrome definition (May 2020):
Monochrome Images include:
An image in tones of neutral grey ranging from transparent/white to opaque/black. An image in a single colour:
A digitally produced Image ‘colorized’ in a single hue. - No liability is accepted for any transgression of a third party organisation's rules or permissions by an entrant in the act of taking a photograph.
- The Exhibition Committee reserves the right to withhold without consultation any entry deemed unsuitable for public exhibition.
- The catalogue will be provided via a download link to all entrants as a pdf file, together with a silent, automatic slide show of all the accepted images and award winners. This show can be played on a PC or Mac. No actual image files will be released, to prevent unauthorised copying or use of images. Copyright of any image resides with the author; but entrants must be aware that their work could be downloaded from the website, however the resolution will be insufficient for reproduction in any other media.
- Any enquiries should be submitted by e-mail (sope@shropshire-photographic.org.uk)
- Entry of the Exhibition is deemed to be acceptance of all these conditions.
Image Preparation
Entries will be processed by computer with little human intervention so it is essential that these instructions are followed exactly. Mac users please ensure file extensions are enabled - entries are processed on a PC which will not recognise a .jpg without the file extension in the file name. Entrants should note that any images which are incorrectly submitted in terms of size and colour space will be rejected by the online entry system. Images that are smaller will be displayed against a black background at the size provided.
Images not conforming to these requirements may not be shown to the selectors or included on the exhibition show or the catalogue and the entry fee will not be refunded, although every effort will be made to contact the entrant for resubmission.
Image size/format: Entries must be submitted in .jpg format, at a screen resolution of 1600 pixels wide by 1200 pixels high, in sRGB colour space, and should be at maximum quality. If borders are used they should be no more than 2 pixels wide. If your image is less than the maximum in any direction you may, if you wish, fill the unused area with any colour, design or texture, although it is advisable that you do not use white or very light colours. If there is no fill, the software used for projection will automatically present the image with a black background. Make a copy of your finished image, convert the colour space in the copy to sRGB (even for monochrome images) resize it, and then submit the copied image.
Titles: Each image must have a unique title no more than 30 characters long, with no identification of the photographer in the title or embedded in the image. Copy your resized files into a folder for the class you are entering. There is no need to rename your files for online entry, the titles can be manually entered at the time of uploading. Do not type your name into the image title field, or anything else that might identify you. Type the titles with capitals and punctuation as you would want it to appear in the catalogue.
Entry on CD
Please download and print the postal 2024 entry form and follow the instructions carefully for submission on CD. Multiple entries may be sent on a single CD, provided that each entrant’s images are in a separate folder named with the entrant’s name and the CD is clearly labelled with the names and email addresses of all the entrants.
If you need any direct help, you may e-mail sope@shropshire-photographic.org.uk