Preparing Images for PDI Competitions
Derek Smith • 18 August 2021
Preparing Images for PDI Competitions
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m looking forward to meeting up together as a club again and participating in the club, and inter-club competitions. Today I’m going to write about my thoughts on preparing for competitions.
Intentional photography: what are you going to photograph today? Look at the club programme and think about the images that would be needed for each competition category. I spent a few days in the Peak District recently with the full intention of capturing images for the “Trains”, and “Buildings in a Landscape” categories, I’m not sure that I achieved my goals, but the most important thing about our hobby is the pure pleasure, and enjoyment of taking pictures. Don’t get hung up if you haven’t come away with a “great” photo, it is far more important that you have been out, and experienced the sights, sounds, and people around you.
Editing photos: my advice here is to find a photo editing suite that you are familiar with, and comfortable in using. YouTube has a great many tutorials to assist with learning the software, Nigel Danson is a landscape photographer producing regular YouTube videos with tips on composition, as well as editing techniques. Gary McIntyre is another favourite of mine on YouTube, talking you through the editing process easily.
Preparing an image for competitions: once the image has been edited, I would suggest saving the edited image at full size, for example a 6000-pixel x 4000-pixel image. Resize this image to one of the maximum dimensions, either 1200-pixel, or 1920-pixel to suit the required size for the projector, possibly saving the resized image to a temporary folder.
For the next stage an image editor that allows for working in layers is required, Adobe produce software for layering of images, as does Serif Affinity Photo, there are also free photo editors available Gimp, which is cross-platform, and Paint.Net for Windows. Open the image editor with a blank tab and create a 1920-pixel x 1200-pixel blank background image with a white, or possibly a black background, open the edited image of your choice, then copy this image, and paste onto the background, then centre the edited image onto the background. There may well be space to either side of the image, or to the top, and bottom of the image, but this is immaterial as the composite image is now optimised for viewing on a projector screen. Save the complete composite image into a memorable folder, I have a temporary folder on my drive called simply “Upload”, the composite image will now be devoid of any EXIF data, but the author's name, and title of the image can now be added, detailed instructions for doing this can be found on our website.
Sending competition entries: the edited images for submission to the competition should be sent to the Competition Secretary. The majority of us send the images via “WeTransfer”, this free to use internet software is easy to use, and notifies when the images have been sent, and when the images have been downloaded.
This portrait of Chloe has been optimised for the projector as described and is on a black background as I thought that it looked better.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m looking forward to meeting up together as a club again and participating in the club, and inter-club competitions. Today I’m going to write about my thoughts on preparing for competitions.
Intentional photography: what are you going to photograph today? Look at the club programme and think about the images that would be needed for each competition category. I spent a few days in the Peak District recently with the full intention of capturing images for the “Trains”, and “Buildings in a Landscape” categories, I’m not sure that I achieved my goals, but the most important thing about our hobby is the pure pleasure, and enjoyment of taking pictures. Don’t get hung up if you haven’t come away with a “great” photo, it is far more important that you have been out, and experienced the sights, sounds, and people around you.
Editing photos: my advice here is to find a photo editing suite that you are familiar with, and comfortable in using. YouTube has a great many tutorials to assist with learning the software, Nigel Danson is a landscape photographer producing regular YouTube videos with tips on composition, as well as editing techniques. Gary McIntyre is another favourite of mine on YouTube, talking you through the editing process easily.
Preparing an image for competitions: once the image has been edited, I would suggest saving the edited image at full size, for example a 6000-pixel x 4000-pixel image. Resize this image to one of the maximum dimensions, either 1200-pixel, or 1920-pixel to suit the required size for the projector, possibly saving the resized image to a temporary folder.
For the next stage an image editor that allows for working in layers is required, Adobe produce software for layering of images, as does Serif Affinity Photo, there are also free photo editors available Gimp, which is cross-platform, and Paint.Net for Windows. Open the image editor with a blank tab and create a 1920-pixel x 1200-pixel blank background image with a white, or possibly a black background, open the edited image of your choice, then copy this image, and paste onto the background, then centre the edited image onto the background. There may well be space to either side of the image, or to the top, and bottom of the image, but this is immaterial as the composite image is now optimised for viewing on a projector screen. Save the complete composite image into a memorable folder, I have a temporary folder on my drive called simply “Upload”, the composite image will now be devoid of any EXIF data, but the author's name, and title of the image can now be added, detailed instructions for doing this can be found on our website.
Sending competition entries: the edited images for submission to the competition should be sent to the Competition Secretary. The majority of us send the images via “WeTransfer”, this free to use internet software is easy to use, and notifies when the images have been sent, and when the images have been downloaded.
This portrait of Chloe has been optimised for the projector as described and is on a black background as I thought that it looked better.
Louth Photographic Society
Good morning, All, Last week at the club we had our monthly print competition, Trees and Open. There was a very good entry with a high standard of photography on show. Tony Gaskins was first in the Open and I managed a first in the trees, all the results are on our website and there is also a blog on the evening. This week, Wednesday 1st July, we are having an outing to Kirkby Gravel Pits, if we meet at 6.30 at the reserve, though you can arrive earlier as there are usually dragonflies etc around the entrance. If we walk straight ahead first, then anyone who arrives late can find us. I have struggled to find a map, but you can see the location on the Lincolnshire wildlife Trust website. Kirkby Grave Pits is also a good reserve for birds. Tattershall Road 1 mile south of Kirkby-on-Bain Woodhall Spa Nearest postcode LN10 6YN. Please note - postcodes are for the nearest registered address as we are unable to get postcodes for nature reserves.
A print competition was held last night with the categories of "Trees" as the subject, and "Open". Our judge for the evening was Gail Wrigg from Barton who did an expert job. The first category to be judged was the "Open" with the high standard of prints making the choice of top placement difficult, and Gail held back 9 prints for further evaluation. There were some chuckles from members around one of Richard Hildred's prints of wooden electricity poles titled "In my previous life I used to be one of them" an "in" joke from Richard, which totally baffled Gail. After the break Gail judged the "Trees" category, with 7 prints held back this time for awarding of higher marks, the beautiful colours of some trees, especially the autumnal images contrasting with the stunning monochrome infrared prints from Richard Hildred. It was a great evening, with excellent prints on display, and the website Competition page has been updated with the full results.
Good Morning All Last week we visited the nature reserves at Fir Hill quarry and Muckton wood. I have written a blog report on the evening which is on our website. You can always try something a little different like I did using camera movement. This week, Wednesday 24th June, a print competition will be held, with the categories of "Trees" and "Open" and is to be judged by Gail Wrigg. The following week we have an outing to Kirkby Gravel pits. If you want advice on camera settings etc the outings are the perfect opportunity to ask other members while we all have our cameras. Regards Graham
Each year Louth Photographic Society begins a new project, one photo taken each month on a specific subject, that's 12 photos presented on "Project Night" in January. Last year the subject was "Prime Time" one photo each month taken with the same fixed focal length lens. This year the subject is water, the subject sounds easy enough, and I've completed 5 photos already, but I'm struggling a little with a photo for June. I'm currently on holiday in Corfu, an island surrounded by water which should be easy, but I'm yet to find the "definitive" photo for the project. These are my photos so far this month: Best regards Derek
Good Evening All
Summer is here at last, maybe?
Last night a few of our members had an outing to Old Bolingbroke village. Initially visiting the Lincolnshire Wildlife Reserve of Sow Dale, off Spilsby Hill at the village entrance, I was a little hesitant at first at entering the reserve because of the grazing cattle. When the cattle herd moved up the hill we climbed over the stile and entered the reserve, as we began to take some photos around the reserve though, the herd returned, but seemed quite docile. Later in the evening we moved on to Bolingbroke castle, and took several photos of the castle, fauna, and flora. It was a lovely evening, good to get out with cameras, and socialise with others.
Good Morning All Last week I went to the Lincoln cathedral to see Queen by candlelight, a great night of music and some different lighting in the cathedral. Last week at the club we held our 1 st round of the LPA Battles against Grimsby and Scunthorpe. Members from the two other clubs attended making it a very full room with some excellent photography on show. Scunthorpe won on 255 points, Louth 2 nd with 250 points and Grimsby 3 rd with 245 points. This week there is a 2 nd round LPA Battle at Grantham on Tuesday evening, if any member wants to attend, please contact me for more details. We did decide to have an outing on Wednesday 10th June, I had thought of Donna Nook, but Derek has come up with another idea, Sow Dale and if time permits Bolingbroke Castle both out Horncastle way. Derek is going to see if it's worth visiting Sow Dale and will let us know. Don't forget to send your print titles to Dave Turner. Regards Graham
It was the LPA Battles last night, with Louth hosting Scunthorpe, and Grimsby. Diane Seddon was the judge for the evening, and gave excellent critique of all the the prints presented to her from the three clubs. Our club room was packed with our members, and representatives from Scunthorpe, and Grimsby clubs. At the break the points scores appeared fairly evenly matched. However, it was the highest scoring prints that swung the competition in favour of Scunthorpe, their still life prints of "Sunflowers", and "Weights and Measures" scored 20 points each, taking their cumulative score to a winning 255 points. None of Louth's prints achieved 20 points, but ended with a respectable 250 points. Grimsby produced some strong prints, "The Road to Talmont", and "What's Your Name?" received 20 points each, their overall score was 245 points. As Diane Seddon said the submitted print entries were of a very good standard, resulting in a closely matched contest. Congratulations to Scunthorpe for securing the lead in this LPA Battle round contest.
Good Morning All I did go to Chambers wood last week, not too much around but the Marsh Fritillaries are back again in the meadow. We had a good turnout for the meal on Friday, hope you all enjoyed it, thank you to my partner Jane for organising all the food orders. Everything went to plan until the chef dropped the roulade, hopefully your replacement was just as good. This week we have our first round of the LPA Battles against Grimsby and Scunthorpe. The judge for the evening is Diane Seddon. There should be a good turnout for this one with the other two clubs attending. The print competition with the categories of "Trees" and "Open" is to be held on the 24th of June, please email Dave Turner your titles and then bring your prints in on the night. Regards Graham
