Submitting Images to Competition

All SMCC members may submit images into the club’s monthly competitions during the club’s season.

For Projected Images, the member may submit up to a total of two images between the three categories, Projected Images – Color, Projected Images – Creative, and Projected Images – Monochrome, in the monthly competition.  For example, the member could submit one image to Projected Images – Color and one image to Projected Images – Monochrome.  Members may submit an additional make-up image to a monthly competition, but the member must first talk to the Chair of the Projected Image Competitions.

For Prints, members may submit up to two images in Prints – Color and two images in Prints – Monochrome. If the member chooses, the member may use one of the Color or Monochrome prints and submit a Creative Print in either the Prints – Color Creative or the Prints – Mono Creative competitions.  The total number of prints for the month must not exceed four, except if the member submits a make-up Color Print and a make-up Monochrome Print.  Members submitting Prints must submit Digital Copies of their Prints.

Submission Deadlines

At the beginning of the club season, members can submit their images into the Projected Image Competitions and the Digital Copies of the Prints.  Members will be able to submit entries until Midnight of the Saturday before the competition.  For example, the competition on November 4, 2020, will open Wednesday, September 2, 2020, at 6:30 PM.  The entry deadline for this meeting will be Sunday, November 1, 2020, at 12:00 AM.

Image Specifications

The images submitted to an SMCC competition, should follow these guidelines.

1.      Title – The title assigned to the image must not contain the makers name or other information.  It should be the title of the image.

2.      Image File Type – All images must be in the JPEG format.

3.      Image Size – Images may not exceed 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high.

4.      Color Space – Images should be in the sRGB color space.

5.      Image Quality – Images should be saved using the highest quality possible.

Accessing Competitions

There are two methods to access the monthly competitions.  The member can either use the calendar on the SMCC website or use the Submit Images to a Competition menu item.

Using “Calendar”

To access the competition using the calendar, first log in to the website, click on Resources, and then click on Calendar. The Events Calendar will appear.

Calendar Controls

You can control the calendar view by using the selector on the upper right-hand corner of the Event Calendar.  I recommend using the month view.

You can select the month displayed by using the picker controls on the upper left-hand corner of the calendar.  The left arrow will go to the previous month, and the right arrow will go to the next month.  The down arrow will present you with a picker calendar that you can use to go to the correct month.

When you go to the correct month, you will see that there are several entries on the day of the competition.  By default, the competitions have a red background color.  If you do not see the competition that you want to submit entries to, click on the more… button at the bottom of the day. Double-click on the competition to open the Submit Images to a Competition window.  If it does not open, then the competition is not open for submission.

Using “Submit Images to a Competition”

To access the competition using the Competition Menu, login to the website, click on Competitions, and then click on Submit Images to a Competition.

The Submit Images to a Competition window opens.  You will see a list of competitions that are currently open.  Find the competition that you would like to enter and click on the Select button in front of that competition.   The selected competition will open in the window.

Entering Images into a competition

At this point, you should be ready to enter an image into a competition.  At the bottom of the page, you should see the two buttons for adding images into the competition.  If this is a print competition, you will see three buttons.  You will also see the number of images that you already have in the competition.  We ask that you remember that you must pay attention to the image limits imposed by the competition rules, not the individual competitions.

Entering Images from My Image Library

In some cases, your images may be in your Image Library.  Maybe you put the image in a gallery, or you preloaded it because you were not going to be in town during the competition’s open period.  If you happen to preload it because you will not be around, you need to put the image in a gallery, even if it is a private gallery.  The website does not like to keep images longer than 30 days if the image is not in a gallery or competition. 

1.      Click on Add Images from my Image Library. This will bring up the Select Images to Enter into Competition.  Initially, no images will appear.

2.      By default, the Image Search control should appear.  If it does not, click on the Image Search button.

3.      If you want to bring up all your images, click on the Reset to Defaults button at the top of the Image Search control.  Click on Search for Images to bring up all your images.

4.      The system will show 10 images at a time, by default. Each image has a Select button. If the Select button is checked, the image is submitted into the competition when you finish.  If the image you desire is not on the current page, the controls at the bottom will allow you to go forward and backward between the pages.  You can also change the number of images shown per page by using the page size pick box. 

5.      Click on Finished Marking Desired Images. The image is now in the competition.

Using “Upload Images into the Competition”

If you have images that have not been loaded into your Image Library, it is simpler to upload the images from your system into a competition.  When you upload images into a competition, the system will also place a copy of the image into your Image Library at the same time.

1.      Click on the Upload Images into the Competition button.  The Upload Images Window will appear.

2.      Towards the bottom of the window, find the button labeled Select.  Click on the Select Button.

3.      A file Open window will appear.  Browse to the location of the files for the competition.  Double-click on the image file that for uploading.

4.      The name of the file will appear above the Select button.  If there is no problem with the upload, the button will appear green.

5.      When finished selecting images, click on Save Images and Proceed to Edit Page.

6.      This brings up the Edit New Images page.  On this page, you can give your image its Title.  For example, the file uploaded is SampImage03.  I want to make that a much cleaner title of Sample Image #3.  I simply change the text in the Title box to reflect this.

7.      There is also a box labeled Author’s Image ID.  I recommend putting your image name or number into this field so that you can easily identify where the image is on your system.

8.      When Finished, click on Save any changes and return to the original page.

Entering Digital Copies of Prints into a competition.

With the interclub competitions that we submit to, we want Digital Copies of all prints to submit these images also.  This also allows members to track the Prints used in competition and how they scored.

1.      Click on Catalog a Print into the Competition.  This brings up the Add a New Image window.

2.      Click on the Select button.  This brings up a File Open window.

3.      Browse to the location of the image file.  Double-click on the filename.

4.      If the upload works correctly, a green light will appear next to the filename.

5.      Enter a Title for your image.  There is no special naming needed here.  Just enter the title.

6.      You can enter information into the Author’s Image ID to reference the Image File on your system.

7.      Click on Save.

Labels for Prints

Members who enter prints into a competition are responsible for labeling the prints.  There must be two labels on the back of the Print.  One label that has the Members Name, the Image Title, the member competition level, and the Competition name.  The other label must be generated using the facility within the website to create the labels.

1.      Click on Print Labels for Print Submissions

2.      Make sure that the Output Format is set to 4in x 5in paper tags.

3.      Make sure that the box for Display Author Name is checked

4.      Click on Generate Report.

5.      Click on the Print button.

6.      This will bring up a Save As dialog.  Browse to where you would like to save the working file and then click on Save.

You can now bring up your PDF in a reader, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader and print the labels onto