Please read the new competition rules carefully before entering your photographs.
New for the 2010-2011 club year is a slight change to the size limit for prints entered into novice competition as color and monochrome (black&white, sepia, etc.) prints. The maximum size for the image area is now 12x18 inches. This applies to the photo area and mat window, not including any mount board. For advanced competition, the maximum size is still 16x20 inches. The maximum size for the mount board remains 22x26 inches for all classes and print categories.
Excepting unusual circumstances such as very poor weather or an unexpected scheduling conflict at the church, all competition will take place on the first Monday of each month, October through May.
Digital entries must be submitted not later than midnight of the Tuesday prior to competition. See “Preparing image files for BCCC Digital Competition” below, for details. All other entries must be logged in before 7:15pm on the night of competition.
Of Special Note
Only dues-paying members may enter competition. Make sure you have paid your annual dues.
Unless otherwise specified, all entries in all categories must conform to the monthly topic.
Master Photographers and Grand Master Photographers may compete in all regular competitions but may not compete for Photographer of the Year in any category.
| October | Open | Any Subject, any time |
| November | Leading Lines | Be they straight, zig-zagged, diagonal, C-curved, or S-curved, leading lines will move your eyes through your image. Leading lines will often run diagonally through an image, crossing from foreground through mid-ground to a subject found in the background or vice versa. Since we read from left to right, we often find it more pleasing to have our eyes led in this left to right direction, so perhaps try flipping your image to accommodate. Often it is best to not "cut" your photo exactly in half with your leading line. Try placing the leading line through a third/two-thirds split of your image (diagonally?!) and thinking in terms of one of the tic-tac-toe power points (where the tic-tac-toe lines intersect) for placement of main subject. |
| December | Back-Lit | At least one light source will be obviously coming from behind the subject and illuminating the subject from behind. Place your light source facing toward the camera, with the subject placed in-between the light source and camera. Back-lighting may result in silhouettes (think of the classic sunset shots with the lone pine silhouetted on the crest of a hill or the beach sunrise scene with palm silhouettes, etc.) Back-lighting might result in a rim-lighting effect (a golden glow to the edges of the subject, ex. to the hair of a person or the fur of an animal, or to the outlines of a plant.) Let the light work its magic! |
| January | By The Sea, By The Sea, By The Beautiful Sea | :and on the sea, over the sea, in the sea, or the sea itself. And yes, this includes briny/tidal tributaries like the Chesapeake Bay or the lower Potomac River but not your Shenandoah waterfall. Some examples might be: Bushel of crabs on the dock; Reflection of a yacht in the water; Waterfowl lifting off over the water or Osprey flying into its nest. |
| February | Travel | The photograph must be taken more than 50 miles from Bowie. A stronger picture would be one that suggests a different culture or geography. The Ernie Nagy Memorial Travel Award will be presented to the entry judged Best in Show. |
| March | Up Close and Personal | Although this may include "macro" shots of flowers or bugs or butterflies, etc. that are magnified to show detail, it can also mean capturing just a small part of the whole scene or subject in order to emphasize the small details that would be overlooked from just a few steps away. Some examples might be: The clasping hands of a baby or senior citizen; A portrait cropped in so that just the face or eyes or lips are emphasized; A shot of life on the forest floor or in the grass taken at ground level; An architectural shot that is close enough to capture textures. |
| April | Nature | All objects must be naturally occurring; no hand of man is allowed; and no domesticated plants/animals. Examples of "hand of man" would be such things as fences, wires, stone paths, vases, etc. The Novice Nature Award will be presented to that judged best of all the Novice entries. |
| May | Open | Any Subject, any time |
| May | End of Year Competition | All 2011-2012 club year award (1st, 2nd, 3rd, HM) winning photos are eligible for this End of Year Competition. Actual submission deadline to be announced. |
For your images to appear as you would expect when they are projected digitally, you must prepare them according to the following criteria. These guidelines conform to the design of the procedures to upload images for competition entry:
A specific file-naming convention is required for your files to be properly identified.
The file size and format specifications must be followed to insure that your images are electronically accepted and will be displayed as you expect.
The color workspace should be applied correctly to ensure the colors in your image appear correctly when displayed.
The projector being used by B-CCC has a native resolution of 1024 pixels horizontal x 768 pixels vertical. The projector and the computer used for competition operate in an sRGB workspace.
Microsoft PowerPoint is the underlying software used for the competition display. The images will be scaled to "fit" the screen. "Fit" means that the entire image will fit within a 1024 pixel horizontal by 768 pixel vertical frame, sometimes filling only a part of the frame if one of the dimensions is shorter than its corresponding limit. This "fit" scaling preserves the original aspect ratio while displaying the image at the maximum available size. Therefore, for a landscape image, you should size your images such that the horizontal size is 1024 pixels and let the vertical size fall where it may as long as it is 768 pixels or less. For a portrait image, set the vertical size to 768 pixels and let the horizontal size fall where it may as long as it is 1024 pixels or less. By default, the background color will be black. If for artistic reasons you wish your image to be presented at a size smaller than full screen, position your picture as desired within a 1024 x 768 black background image. Any scaling will then fit the background and leave your picture proportioned as you intend. In any event the submitted image should be constrained to fit within a box that is 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high.
It is recommended that the background color be black for best viewing of images without distractions. However, for artistic reasons you may choose to place a border around the image in any color.
As you prepare your image for competition, be sure that you are either working in a sRGB workspace or that you convert your image before submission. Failure to have your image defined in the sRGB workspace may result in incorrectly displayed colors when projected.
Images must be saved in a JPEG format for submission. Higher quality settings for the JPEG compression result in less potential degradation. Lower settings result in smaller files sizes for quicker transmission. Typically, quality settings between 8 and 12 (75-100%) yield very good results.
You only need to provide the photo title as the file name for you image, with the JPEG extension: (.jpg). Do not include tildes (~), commas (,) or other special characters in the file name.
Check the button “Novice” or “Advanced” to select the competition class.
The competition class and your name, from the club roster, will be saved with the file and used in arranging the digital competition program and displayed with the images after judging is completed.
Example File Names are:
My Great Picture.jpg
A Sunny Afternoon on the Florida Coast.jpg
Competition image files may be submitted either online via the B-CCC Web site (preferred) or on CD. In either case, your entries must be received no later than 11:59 PM on the Tuesday before the competition. CDs may be hand-delivered or mailed to the Competition VP. Unfortunately, we cannot be responsible for any damage or delays that result in late arrival. Electronic submissions may be made by pointing your browser to the camera club website. and logging in with your club ID and password. Select "Upload Images for Competition", browse to the file(s) on your computer and select "Upload Files" to enter your images into competition.
Seeing your files listed on the "Your Images" page is confirmation that you have made a successful transfer. By default, your images are entered in the next competition as indicated on the upload page. You can reassign your images to a different competition date by clicking on the 
(pencil) icon.
Please use consistent names and titles when entering photos, for both print and digital competition. This makes it easier to keep track of the entries and winning photographs and results in fewer mistakes when tallying the award points for determining long-term standings, ensuring that the points you earned are accounted properly.
When entering photos in print competition, it is important to write your name consistently on each entry form and as written on the back of the print. Preferably use the name as entered in the club roster rather than any other names you may use in different circumstances. This makes it much easier to correctly keep track of the competition results.
While a photo may be entered into competition a second time if it has not already won 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place, it is difficult or impossible for the competition committee to know this unless you use the same title for the same photo each time.