This section is all yours. Pick your subject, take your best shot. We’re always pleased with the wide variety of images members come up with.

Digital file naming/labeling convention:

Please match formatting of the dashes within your title i.e no spaces on either side of the dashes.

Correct formatting: 400–Image title–Your name–Competition Month.jpg

Incorrect formatting: 400 – Image title – Your name – Competition Month.jpg

Incorrect formatting: 400 – IMAGETITLE – Your name – Competition Month.jpg

‘A’ Grade submissions prefix 400. Examples of correct formatting:

• 400–Boat on river–Joe Blogs–July.jpg
  
• 400–Cat in a hat–Joe Blogs–July.jpg

‘B’ Grade submissions prefix 200. Examples of correct formatting:

• 200–Red post box–Joe Blogs–July.jpg
  
• 200–Cascading water–Joe Blogs–July.jpg

Important note: 

• The competition month is the month when your images are submitted i.e. photos entered for July will be presented back to the group in August. These would be labelled July.

Each month there is a set subject for you to test your skills and creativity against. These subjects are set for the whole year, prior to each years commencement.

Digital file naming/labeling convention:

Please match formatting of the dashes within your title i.e no spaces on either side of the dashes.

Correct formatting: 300–Image title–Your name–Competition Month.jpg

Incorrect formatting: 300 – Image title – Your name – Competition Month.jpg

Incorrect formatting: 300 – IMAGETITLE – Your name – Competition Month.jpg

‘A’ Grade submissions prefix 300. Examples of correct formatting:

• 300–Boat on river–Joe Blogs–July.jpg
  
• 300–Cat in a hat–Joe Blogs–July.jpg

‘B’ Grade submissions prefix 100. Examples of correct formatting:

• 100–Red post box–Joe Blogs–July.jpg
  
• 100–Cascading water–Joe Blogs–July.jpg

Important note: 

• The competition month is the month when your images are submitted i.e. photos entered for July will be presented back to the group in August. These would be labelled July.

What some would refer to as playtime. This is where you get to try those photography techniques that cause others to ask how did they do that? No hard and fast rules but a slight preference for in-camera experimentation and the software usage enhancing rather than turning the image into something else completely.

Defining the “creative” category:

The distinction between “creative” and “open” photography can be a difficult one to make. In its loosest definition, “creativity” refers to the use of imagination, originality, and inventiveness – attributes that we should be seeking to attain in all of our photographic endeavours.

For the “creative” category, we have ask our members to go a step further, and use some technique, either in-camera, or during post-processing, that gives the resulting photo a sense of alteration of reality. These photos may involve a number of different techniques and components that alter the photographic truth. The result may be surreal or abstract, it may be absurd, or it may display a clearly impossible scenario in a way that appears believable and realistic.

In this regard, the use of HDR or a long shutter speed, on its own and without manipulation of reality, is not sufficient. Nor is an unusual perspective on a subject – unless that perspective serves to alter the apparent reality of the subject.

While the above is a pre-requisite for this category, an outstanding “creative” image will go further, and demonstrate originality, inventiveness, and/or provoke an emotive response in the viewer.

Digital file naming/labeling convention:

Please match formatting of the dashes within your title i.e no spaces on either side of the dashes.

Correct formatting: 500–Image title–Your name–Competition Month.jpg

Incorrect formatting: 500 – Image title – Your name – Competition Month.jpg

Incorrect formatting: 500 – IMAGETITLE – Your name – Competition Month.jpg

‘A’ & ‘B” Grade submissions prefix 500. Examples of correct formatting:

• 500–Boat on river–Joe Blogs–July.jpg
  
• 500–Cat in a hat–Joe Blogs–July.jpg

Important note: 

• The competition month is the month when your images are submitted i.e. photos entered for July will be presented back to the group in August. These would be labelled July.

All digital files must comply to the following:

• File format: JPEG or .jpg
• Minimum Pixel Size: 1620 pixels on the longest side is considered a suitable quality for judging. 
• Maximum file size: 4MB per image

Submission options:

• Email images to: competitions@hbps.co.nz – by midnight of the Club Meeting (ie the last Tuesday of the month) that the subject finishes on.

Important note: No extension to the deadline as the committee needs to send all images for external judging.