Digital Competition Rules
Rules for Regular Digital Competitions. For entry deadlines and topics see the listing for current year: Topics. To actually upload your images see Upload Links.
RHCC Regular Digital Competitions
There are five regular digital competitions held during the club year (September to May). Any paid-up member may enter.
Categories and levels: There are three categories for each digital competition:
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- Pictorial (photographer’s choice of subject)
- Assigned Topic (a different topic is set for each competition )
- Natural Things
Members may submit up to 4 images for each digital competition with no more than 3 in any one category.
Images submitted for Pictorial and Natural Things categories must have been created within the past 5 years (after September 1, 2019 for the 2024-2025 season).
It is the intent of the rules that you shoot images specifically for the Assigned Topics, rather than use your archived images. The eligibility period is up to two years prior to the current season, i.e. on, or after September 1, 2022 for the assigned topics for the 2024-2025 season. (Note: images for the Creative theme may include composites formed from images taken before the 2-year limit, but the final composite must still be dated within the 2-year limit).
All entries will have an available check box which the entrant will check to verify that the image qualifies as a pure nature subject, which will assist our nature committee in selecting images for external competitions, such as the Glennie Nature, CAPA nature, O3C nature, etc.
An image (print or digital image) entered into any RHCC Competition must be substantially different than any image entered by the same maker in the same or in a previous RHCC Competition, regardless of format (print or digital) or colouring or toning. Members may request the competition team to confirm the eligibility of images prior to the submission deadlines.
Images should not contain any additions, such as watermarks or copyright symbols that could be used to identify the maker. Judges do not know the names of any makers, so it is important that no identification marks are visible on any images.
Pictorial
The subject matter may be anything you like, subject only to the club’s Plagiarism, Acceptable Content and Photography of Children policies, with the exception of nature-type images that are only acceptable for submission to the “Natural Things” category. Composite images are acceptable, however, all content must be created by the maker. Stock images may not be used to create composites. Likewise, backgrounds and textures must be created by the maker and not derived from internet downloads.
Assigned Topic
We provide a description of the various competition categories. Topics suggested may vary from year to year. Please read descriptions carefully to ensure that your submitted entries will be in category – do not rely on your own interpretation of the topic.
If you are unsure whether an image fits the category, you have the option of submitting it and asking one of the Competition Chairs to verify acceptability in the category. The club’s Competition Committee will review entries submitted and reserve the right to reject any image considered to be out of category.
This decision-making process is intended to remove the need for judges to make decisions regarding suitability, and possible downgrading as a result. Whenever possible, the Competition Committee will move an image to its correct category rather than disqualify it.
Each competition has a different assigned topic. Here are the topics for the current year, with descriptions.
Natural Things
The following is the definition of “Natural Things” for our club.
Natural Things covers all natural subject matter, but without the very restrictive rules that apply to the “Nature Trophy Competition.”
The main objective for this is to categorize nature type subjects that are fairly natural looking as images in the natural things category of our digital competitions in order to separate them from pictorial images. Images that clearly belong in either pictorial or natural things will be moved by the competition chair. Images that are borderline will be left in the category in which they were submitted.
Digital manipulation is allowed, but the end result must appear natural and not heavily modified or filtered. The use of composite(s) for an image is not permitted. These include sky replacements, background swapping and/or addition of elements that were not in the original image (e.g. moon in the sky or a flock of birds, etc.).
Images that include moving water should appear natural. A milky or blurred appearance to moving water is not considered natural to the way our eyes see moving water. Mild blurring is acceptable, however non-natural blurring is considered as a pictorial treatment and therefore, such images must be submitted to the Pictorial category.
A strong “orton” effect (softening or blurring effect), pictorial treatments of nature subjects, heavy use of filters, and/or strong HDR effects, must be submitted to the pictorial category.
The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality.
Subjects:
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- domestic and cultivated flora and fauna, including domestic and zoological animals and birds and domesticated flowers
- Un-domesticated birds, reptiles or animals that show signs of captivity are acceptable.
- geographical elements including landscapes, seascapes, geological subjects
- natural phenomena
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Content:
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- The presence of the “hand of man” (i.e. people, parts of people or evidence of human activity ) is allowed as long as it is not a primary or significant aspect of the image and is limited to approximately 15% of the image. In some cases, this percentage may be higher, but only if the human elements are not a dominant aspect of the image.
- Black, solid or manipulated backgrounds are allowed, however full background replacement is not allowed. As noted above, non-natural blurring is considered as a pictorial treatment and therefore, such images must be submitted to the Pictorial category.
- The presence of the “hand of man” (i.e. people, parts of people or evidence of human activity ) is allowed as long as it is not a primary or significant aspect of the image and is limited to approximately 15% of the image. In some cases, this percentage may be higher, but only if the human elements are not a dominant aspect of the image.
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For further help with the competition categories and their rationale, then please see this link
AI-Generated Images
To promote the artistic skill and creativity of photographers, the following rules apply to AI-generated images:
- Images that are generated or by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are not eligible for submission. This includes images created through text prompts or related methods. The scope of this restriction includes whole images as well as portions of images.
- The use of AI for post-processing of images is permitted in our competitions with some restrictions. AI is allowed in the normal editing process, such as content-aware cloning, de-noise, masking, sharpening, subject selection, tone adjustments, and/or up-sizing. AI-assisted sky replacement is allowed if the new sky was captured by the entrant and only for Pictorial and Assigned categories and Print competitions.
- The use of AI for cloning or removing distractions in images is only allowed when the AI process uses portions of the image that pre-exist in the original image. This includes Content-Aware cloning provided by Photoshop or other software. AI-assisted replacements that involve adding externally generated elements to the image, such as done by the Generative Fill in Adobe Photoshop or Generative Expand tools in Adobe Camera Raw are not allowed. Similarly, the use of the Generative Remove option in Lightroom, is not allowed. In general, any software that inserts new content into a maker’s image that comes from external sources is not allowed. This includes even minor insertions.
The intent of these rules is to maintain the focus of the competition on the abilities, vision, and expression of the photographer, rather than relying on computer-generated or AI-assisted images.
Any images that do not meet the specified criteria will be removed from the competition. The competition committee may request to view the original image to verify compliance. If the maker is unable to provide an original image, then the submitted image will be disqualified.
Cell Phone Images
Images taken using cell phone cameras have no special requirements. Such images are considered the same way as images captured using other digital cameras. Images processed by software specific to cell phones must meet the requirements for AI-Generated content. Please ensure that the software you use does not employ Generative AI algorithms that insert content from external sources, not captured by the photographer, into the original image captured on the cell phone.
Image Requirements (all categories)
Images should be saved in sRGB colour space.
They must be a maximum of 3 MB in size, and either:
1920 pixels wide and no more than 1080 pixels high
OR
1080 pixels high and no more than 1920 pixels wide
IMPORTANT: by submitting an image for competitions, you acknowledge that you have read and agreed to the conditions defined in the RHCC Privacy Policy:
Please click here to review the Privacy Policy
For help regarding the process of preparing images (resizing) and uploading them for competitions, please consult “How To Enter.”
If you have any technical issues or questions regarding your submissions, please email