[wildsheffield]

Hi, i read somewhere on this forum about Sheffield Wildlife Trust's photo comeptition, but can't find it anywhere. If anyone knows where it is can you please send me the link so i can print it out for our press coverage records.
So, being as i'm promoting the competition i hoped a few more people might want to enter it before the closing date of 29th Dec 2006. All information can be found on the website SWT Photo competition Along with the galleries - why not have a look today

[Steve]

Thanks for the link...I have checked for you but this competition has not previously been posted on Pixalo.

I have just had a look at the competition and can't see the mention of prizes/rewards anywhere. I realise that you are a charity and that may be why so I was just asking for clarification


Also while I was looking around I took a look at the rules. I understand that you would probably be using the shots for your promotions relating to the charity but I noticed that number 7 says...

7. Any photograph submitted to the competition may be reproduced freely in all future Sheffield Wildlife Trust publications and websites. Photographs may also be used for publicity purposes by supporting partners. By entering Sheffield Wildlife Trust's photographic competition 2006 you agree to these rules.

So that basically means that any shots submitted become yours to use however you see fit, in any publications for as long as you want? If that is the case, are the photographers of any pictures used at least given credit for their work. If they get some personal exposure in return it would make it much more attractive and maybe bring you a larger response?

Either way I wish you all the best with your competition

[cotter]

well spotted Steve, am sure most of us would not mind doing some pictures for charity, but it would nice to at least have our name on them.

[wildsheffield]

Hi thanks for your replies. We will use credits where possible, and this means that if we are 100% sure of the owner of the photo, then we will credit their name with the photo.

There are prizes for the competition and these are...
Winning photographs will be displayed inside Supertrams and on tram stops across the city. The winner of each category will receive a double pile jacket from RAB. The winner of category 4 ‘Wildlife Where I Live’ in association with BBC South Yorkshire, will also receive a Fuji A400 and kit (battery charger).
The overall winner will receive a professionally designed website, from Photium.com, worth £185!

Hope this helps & thanks for asking

[Rob Barron]

Originally Posted by wildsheffield

Hi thanks for your replies. We will use credits where possible, and this means that if we are 100% sure of the owner of the photo, then we will credit their name with the photo.

There are prizes for the competition and these are...
Winning photographs will be displayed inside Supertrams and on tram stops across the city. The winner of each category will receive a double pile jacket from RAB. The winner of category 4 ‘Wildlife Where I Live’ in association with BBC South Yorkshire, will also receive a Fuji A400 and kit (battery charger).
The overall winner will receive a professionally designed website, from Photium.com, worth £185!

Hope this helps & thanks for asking

I don't have any real problem with giving a couple of photos away if they are being used by a charity to further their work but I do find some things here a little dubious. There is no mention of copyright retention and although the SWT is saying they will put the photographer's name with it, thgis should include copyright info too.

But the most worrying for me is that the competition says this is an online only competition with photos sized to about 100Kbs and a max of 500 pixels along any side. Fine for the web but in WildSheffield's reply, he/she states that these will be displayed inside trams and at tram stops which i am assuming means printed: but at 300dpi these would all have to be printed at 1.66 inches along the longest side! The resolution would be far too low for printing at good size.

Also it says that any pictures that are deemed to have been 'digitally altered in any way' will be disqualified. Well they have to be digitally altered to size them for a start but does this mean that absolutely any kind of altering makes them invalid? What about sharpening, adjusting contrast, increasing colour saturation, etc? I understand entirely if they only mean you are not allowed to cut out a butterfly and add it to a flower but digital altering covers a huge scope of things.

I am perfectly happy for a picture of mine to appear on their website but would hate to have it reproduced as a print which will then look soft and flat and have my name on it!

Anyway, I still wish them well with their competition and hope it attracts some good entries.

Cheers,
Rob

[wildsheffield]

Thanks for your reply Rob. I understand your concerns. Please remember that this is a basic competition, run to get people out into their local green spaces, and to take more notice of the wildlife around them. It is more of a fun thing to do and enter, rather than being too serious. The last competition was print based, and although this worked well in some respects, it did mean a lot of admin work for the Trust. The decision was made to run the entry system online, to save the admin work, but also to make it more accessible to all. We took on board the feedback received from last year, and lots of entrants said they didn't have facilities to print out their images, and would have preferred to be able to enter online.

The online site has a limit for image size so that the server doesn’t get too full.

When the winners are decided, they will be contacted to obtain the photos at a higher resolution, so that they can be shown in a gallery, and for the trams etc. We also aim to produce a DVD of all photos to be shown in various venues.


'Digitally altered in any way' – means that if butterflies have been cut out of one photo and pasted onto a plant of another photo. This was added in purely because last year we did have a few mocked up photos, some were good, but others were awful, and I think people were having a laugh!
It is fine to vary the contrast, sharpening, etc, but too much and it could have been a completely different photo. Perhaps this should be changed to digitally altered to produce a false photograph?

We are getting in some very good entries - why not have a browse through the galleries? (Link in 1st post of thread)

[Rob Barron]

I have entered 5 shots, you never know :o)