Photography Assignment Rules/Guidelines

[Martin]

Below are the Rules and Guidelines for the MBP Photography Assignment.

The Assignment galleries can be found in the Assignment Gallery on MBP Galleries.

1. Only ONE image per member. You can physically upload more but all but I will remove the previous shots as I find a later upload. (upload steps)
2. Only NEW images please. Your photograph MUST have been shot during the month of the assignment. The idea of the assignment is to shoot with a purpose. Going through old stock and finding something appropriate will not help you to grow as a photographer. If possible, ensure that your EXIF data is in tact by "Saving As" rather than "Saving for Web".
   NOTE: EXIF data of images is not displayed during the assignment month or the voting period. It will be displayed after the voting finishes.
3. Please DO NOT add your name to the image either in a border or over the image itself. The MBP Community has decided that we do not want to know who made the photograph until after the voting has finished. The name of the photographer will be displayed in the Information panel below the image AFTER voting has finished.
4. At the end of the Assignment month, the album will be locked to prevent further uploads and the voting function will be turned on for one week. Comments and Rating features will remain turned off until the assignment is closed.
5. All MBP Galleries members are able to vote, not just Assignment entrants. (Some checks are performed to ensure you've been active. See here.)
6. Accumulated vote counts will be made public after the third assignment is completed.
7. Post Processing
   Images can be manipulated in Photoshop or other editing software but with the following restrictions:
   
   1. Creative filters that add additional elements to the image, such as water, fog etc. are not allowed.
   2. Filters that add an effect to the entire image, like grain, or make the image look old etc. are OK, but you must state the filter used in the image caption in the interest of full disclosure.
   3. Converting to black and white (including selectively, leaving just a portion of the image in colour) is acceptible unless otherwise stated (as for the Contrasting Colours assignment).
   4. Cloning out of sensor dust or dust marks from scanned images is fine.
   5. Cloning out of small objects like blades of grass, leaves etc. is acceptible but nothing much larger. I.e. don't remove people, cars, telegraph poles or power lines.
   6. Cloning in objects and collages are forbidden on any scale.
   7. Cropping is fine, as long as no more than 50% of the original is removed.
   8. Manipulating curves, saturation, contrast etc. is fine within reason. Don't bump the saturation up so far the image becomes something else.
   9. Merging two or more shots together for the purposes of exposure control, via HDR, layer masks or custom blending modes is fine, but all elements in each exposure must be the same, and exposures should be made in quick succession, not at different times of the day etc. No element shall be cloned in or out or added in or removed due to exposure timing. Note: If you use HDR, please note that it is an HDR image in the title or caption.
   10. Sharpening after resizing is not only OK, it's recommended.

Note: The general guidelines for images to be uploaded to the Members Gallery albums is a maximum size of 950 pixel wide or high, and the file size can be no more than 250KB. Compressing with High Quality or number 10 will get most images less than 800 pixels under 250KB, but it could save you time later to check the approximate image size in the JPEG save dialog when outputting the image.

The results of the Assignment will be displayed on the Assignment Winners page.

NOTE: The scores from each individual assignment will be accumulated for a larger yearly prize, so the more assignments you enter, the more chance you have of winning the Grand Prize, even if you don't win any individual assignments. The accumulated scores will be viewable on the Assignment Winners page after the third Assignment voting closes.

IMPORTANT: By entering the Assignment you give consent for your images to be included in the Martin Bailey Photography Podcast audio files (mp3 and m4a) to announce the winner and up to 4 runners up. You image may also be used on the MBP Blog, in the blog post accompanying the Podcast episode. You also consent to allow Martin to use your image in thumbnail or full-size form, though unchanged in any way, on the MBP Web site in discussion or promotion of the Photography Assignments.