Bird Club Digital Photographic Competition 2024
RULE CHANGE - Images can be entered that have been taken over the last 3 years. This will allow those who don't regularly travel abroad or members not currently active in the county to enter photos in the relevant categories.HDR and stacked images are permitted.
Two trophies - The Graham Soden Shield for the overall winner on the night. A new Wendy Gossage trophy for the photographer with the highest points based on placed photos e.g. if one photographer entered the maximum 24 photos and achieved one first and one second and another photographer entered only 3 photos with each entry being awarded first place then he or she would be awarded the trophy.
It's conceivable that the same photographer could be awarded both the shield and the trophy, however, if there's a tie on points and one photographer wins the shield then the trophy would go to the other person.
The Rules
All photographs must accurately reflect the images as they appeared in the viewfinder, nothing should be added to or removed from an image. Normal processing of RAW image files and minor adjustments to colour and contrast are acceptable for the whole image - no selective parts of an image, e.g. brightening the eye of a bird or animal is not permitted.
MINOR digital adjustments including tone, cropping (including straightening or reversing an image), sharpening, noise reduction and general minor cleaning up e.g. dust spots is permitted providing this complies with the competitions principles of authenticity so that it does not deceive the viewer or misrepresent the reality of the nature of the image.
While minor digital adjustments are allowed, adding or removing objects or parts of an image is not permitted.
Information regarding any post-processing to any image may be queried during shortlisting or pre-judging.
Images should be entered in JPEG format no larger than 1.5 Megabytes and should NOT contain any text or borders. *Images slightly over this size won't be rejected however there may be restrictions on email size imposed by your provider.
An image may be REJECTED if, in the opinion of the judge, it appears the image has:
In the category Birds or Animals in their Habitat the subject should be no more than 12% of the entire image.
Original images must be available to the Judges if requested.
The categories are as follows: (Please use these codes only, not e.g. Northants Birds, Mammals)
Entries to be emailed to Dave Thomas at dave@cadar.ltd.uk and MUST follow the codes for the categories below. *An email per category would be acceptable e.g. Bird Club Comp. 1 of 6, with your complete list of entries sent on a word document or in the body of the email.
Up to 4 images can be entered into one category with a maximum number of 24 entries per person across categories C01 - C13, C14 Captioned Photos does not count in the total.
For clarity;
- Entries must be emailed as attachments to the email, not imbedded within the mail.
- The individual entries should be titled to indicate the category they are entered for. Or, a separate text list be included, listing the details of the photo and the intended category.
- Images should be no larger than 1.5mb* and the recommended size in pixels is approx. 2000px along the horizontal in landscape mode. Anyone saving pictures from programs such as Lightroom etc. may or may not take the file size a little over 1.5mb although photos won't be rejected if they are over this size (within reason).
See tips on cropping below.
The Rules
All photographs must accurately reflect the images as they appeared in the viewfinder, nothing should be added to or removed from an image. Normal processing of RAW image files and minor adjustments to colour and contrast are acceptable for the whole image - no selective parts of an image, e.g. brightening the eye of a bird or animal is not permitted.
MINOR digital adjustments including tone, cropping (including straightening or reversing an image), sharpening, noise reduction and general minor cleaning up e.g. dust spots is permitted providing this complies with the competitions principles of authenticity so that it does not deceive the viewer or misrepresent the reality of the nature of the image.
While minor digital adjustments are allowed, adding or removing objects or parts of an image is not permitted.
Information regarding any post-processing to any image may be queried during shortlisting or pre-judging.
Images should be entered in JPEG format no larger than 1.5 Megabytes and should NOT contain any text or borders. *Images slightly over this size won't be rejected however there may be restrictions on email size imposed by your provider.
An image may be REJECTED if, in the opinion of the judge, it appears the image has:
- Been taken in such a way that Wildlife Law or animal welfare requirements may have been breached
- Protected species or habitats have been compromised or the image has been taken in an irresponsible way
- The image is of an animal or plant etc. in captivity, e.g. at a Butterfly farm, Zoo, Wildlife/ safari park/ Kew gardens etc. All images should be of wild creatures and flora in their natural environment. A photo of a mouse inside an apple taken in someone's conservatory may be acceptable to BBC Countryfile but we have standards here and such an image may find you ridiculed from here to kingdom come!
In the category Birds or Animals in their Habitat the subject should be no more than 12% of the entire image.
Original images must be available to the Judges if requested.
The categories are as follows: (Please use these codes only, not e.g. Northants Birds, Mammals)
C01 Northants Birds
C02 Northants Birds in Flight
C03 British Birds (taken away from Northants)
C04 British Birds in Flight (taken away from Northants)
C05 Foreign Birds
C06 Foreign Birds in Flight
C07 Mammals
C08 Other Vertebrates
C09 Butterflies, Moths & Caterpillars
C10 Other Invertebrates
C11 Plants & Fungi
C12 Birds or Animals in their Habitat
C13 Habitats & Landscapes
Photos must be labelled as per the following system:
Category Number - Photographer's Name - Subject Name - Where the photo was taken, for example:
C01 Bob Gill - Kingfisher - Pitsford Res.
C05 Bob Gill - African Finfoot - The Gambia
No other information is required and photos labelled differently might not be entered into the competition.
Judge/s will pick their category winners, 1st, 2nd & 3rd and from those their top 5. The audience will pick the overall winner from those 5 on the night.
The Northants Bird Club reserves the right to publish any entries on its website and or its newsletter.
Closing date for entries - 20th December.
The Northants Bird Club reserves the right to publish any entries on its website and or its newsletter.
Closing date for entries - 20th December.
Notes on Cropping.
Trends on cropping bird photos have varied over the years and whilst a close-up image showing details in a bird's plumage can have impact, if the subject is 'boxed in' with a tight crop the appeal of the photo can be lost. It's far better to have space around the bird, particularly in the direction the bird is looking or flying into.
Consider how your shot will look on the big screen, will they look better cropped 16:9 filling the whole screen or cropped at 3:5 if there are distractions e.g. parts of another bird or vegetation that would be better cropped out?
If it's a plant or giraffe your photo could look more pleasing in portrait mode. Square crops have their place but are not generally appealing for bird photos. That said, there are no rules, it comes down to your own personal choice and what impact your photos have on the judge or judges.
Good luck!
Portrait mode 5:7
Landscape mode 3:5
Landscape mode 16:9
