Open (Regular)

 
This category is open to all types of photographic images. This includes the more restricted categories of Nature, Travel, Creative (Altered Reality) and Portrait, as well as images that don’t qualify for any of the more specialized categories.  

 

Common to all images submitted to Simsbury Camera Club competitions is that the major part of each image must have been captured by light sensitivity, either digitally or on film. Slides or negatives may be scanned (by the photographer or commercially) for entry into the competition. Once captured or scanned, photographs may be modified using digital image editing programs. A scanner may also be used as a camera to capture photographs of objects placed on the scanner glass.

 

Entries may display a realistic rendition of the subject(s) or be creative, having been manipulated using in camera techniques before scanning or using a digital image editing program. The judges will be asked to judge the photographs for overall photographic quality and interest, not the amount of manipulation required to achieve the effect.

 

Composite photographs are acceptable in the pictorial category as long as all elements included are the entering photographer’s own work. Commercial clip art, commercially available textures, frames or any part of commercial photographic collections, or the work of another photographer may not be included. Artwork or computer graphics created by the photographer may be incorporated as long as the photographic content predominates.

 

Use of filters, such as those in Photoshop or third-party plug-ins such as those by NIK or TOPAZ to create or modify such elements are allowed and is not considered a violation of this ethics statement. However, when using plug-ins such as Topaz Textures any texture applied by the software must be one taken by the photographer; textures supplied with this plug-in are copyrighted by Topaz or other photographers who supplied them.

 

Artificial Intelligence:
Advances in artificial intelligence have resulted in their incorporation in many post-processing applications that may be employed in image editing legitimately. However, any function that employs elements from anything outside the original image is not allowed. This includes but is not limited to, the use of any “text to image” application, as these likely incorporate elements from an outside source and therefore is not permitted. 

 

We recognize that the line between your own digital art and clip art is a gray one in many cases. A good rule to follow is that anything that changes an element you drew or photographed is allowed, but any action that adds an element other than from of one of your own photographs, drawings, or digital art probably is not. Note that adding a mat or frame using the image editors drawing capabilities will normally be considered digital art by the maker and, thus, is allowed.