Help with photo comp criteria please

Nojelc · Oct 23, 2005

Hi Guys

Just joined you in here, so here is your chance to show what a nice lot you are by answering these simple, I am sure, questions.

I am about to enter a photo comp for the first time, run by a travel magazine and I am not quite sure of some of the requirements.

For digital images it says "The uninterpolated file size for digital entries should be at a minimum 10MB at 300dpi. I need to submit a print less than A4 and the jpeg.

Q1 : If I have photos taken on a "5mp camera", i.e. 2592 by 1944 pixels, that is 5038848 pixels, using one byte per color that would be 15,116,544 bytes - i.e 15MB in "raw".
Also 2592/300 = 8.64, so the long side of any print I submit must be less than 8.64 inches.
So am I OK? - or have I got it all wrong?

Q2 : How do I get prints of my 1.333333 aspect ratio images? - If I send them in to printers as they are they always seem to get cropped to fit with the aspect ratio of the paper they use, which is never 1.33333. The rules state that cropping/resizing is not allowed.

Q3 : Can anyone suggest a good digital photo printing service in the UK to meet my requirements for these prints.

Thanks in advance

Rob · Oct 23, 2005

Hi there,

Firstly, welcome to the forum! A requirement for a file to be a certain size in MB seems really daft to me - there are plenty of ways to make a file larger which do not increase the quality. Anyway onto your questions:

1: Sounds right to me

2: Cropping is not allowed??? How strange. You'll have to print on paper the same aspect ratio as your camera's sensor to comply with the rules then. Or cheat where you've got a number of options, the most obvious is to take a picture which has the potential to be cropped in PS to the size you require. As long as the end file and the print match, they don't really have a way of telling it's cropped.

3: Snappy Snaps will do all of this for you.

Rob

DocFrankenstein · Oct 23, 2005

What are you applying to? Sounds like a scam almost...

Nojelc · Oct 24, 2005

DocFrankenstein said:
What are you applying to? Sounds like a scam almost...

No - I do not think so, unless I am being particularly nieve.

It is in the Wanderlust magazine, details here

Now I've blown it - you lot will all enter now and beat me to the otherwise assured 1st place that I had :wink:

Anyway thanks for the advise Rob

Rob · Oct 24, 2005

Yeah, it's a "scam". Was looking into somthing similar with a photog friend a while ago with a company I shall not name. Travel companies frequently hold these phoney competitions (well, not actually phoney...) and the winner gets a crap prize and they get all the submitted entries to use in their mag.

Imagine the scenario - you're going to produce your travel rag for the next year. It's a bit like a holiday brochure. What's the cheapest way of getting unique art work without paying loads? Hold a competition where the top prize is say £500 and a "big" presentation ceremony. Then get all your guillibles together in a room, charge them big style for drinks and say how terribly well they've done. Pat yourself on the back, cos you've got the rights to a bunch of good photographs.

BTW, looking at certain publications the result is actually crap photos.

Rob

Rob · Oct 24, 2005

Bingo, having looked at the small print - here's the catch:

darich · Oct 24, 2005

Isn't that smallprint kinda standard in a lot of competitions, Rob?

I've seen several where the orgainser is entitled to use the image for promotional purposes but they aren't all scams.
I did notice that it states the photographer retains all copyright and permission must be obtained from him/her for any third parties requesting use.

Rob · Oct 24, 2005

I don't think so mate... read carefully - "Winners will retain copyright", not "Entrants will retain copyright".

darich · Oct 24, 2005

Well spotted!!

I wouldn't imagine they'd use a 4th or 5th place shot for promotional purposes but i suppose that one word makes all the difference.

If they did go for a lower ranked shot for promotion, you'd be up a certain creek without a paddle if you tried to claim royalties from them!

DocFrankenstein · Oct 24, 2005

robhesketh said:
I don't think so mate... read carefully - "Winners will retain copyright", not "Entrants will retain copyright".

Yeah, but the mag gets free use.

Nojelc · Oct 25, 2005

Basically the first prize is a crap prize - i.e. one that I am not interested in now that I think about it - a "[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]photographic commission, courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission.[/font]"

It is hard to tell in the following para what is relating to the photos taken on the commission, and what is relating to the photos entered in the comp.

However the final phrase is "Wanderlust may use any of the photographs free of charge in follow-up features." so that sounds like all the entries and everything taken on the commission.

darich · Oct 25, 2005

it's a bummer when something you think is grat turns out not to be so good.
However you'll appreciate it more now when you get your first sale or proper commission without having to enter a competition for it.
Keep clicking and take shots for yourself and you will get a sale - it happened for me!! :thumbup:

the nightfly · Oct 25, 2005

Scam or no, I'm puzzled by the first point of the original post: The uninterpolated file size for digital entries should be at a minimum 10MB at 300dpi.

Since interpolation isn't allowed, and they're requiring a JPEG (not a TIFF, which would drive file size up) this would seem to imply that you'd have to use a camera of extremely high megapixel count. I know that, when I use a 5MP camera, the highest quality JPEGs I get are 3-5 MB.

darich · Oct 26, 2005

nightfly
the same thing occurred to me. My 8.2mp 20D produces jpegs around the 3-5mb aswell.

The only other way i could think of would be to add a layer or several in photoshop!!!! :mrgreen: