Projected Image Competitions 2007/08 Season

Slide Workers

Hand in slides just as before. These will be scanned and the digital files used in the competition and the slides then returned to the authors. If requested the scans could be copied to the author’s SCC Pen Drive for future use. A fair proportion of the images digitally projected at the recent Club Exhibition were derived from slides and those who attended will have seen how good the images looked. A small added bonus is that B & W and Colour negatives can also be accepted (if “in date”). Only basic scanning adjustments will be undertaken. Slide workers who prefer to arrange the scanning of slides themselves are of course free to do so and should submit their entries on their SCC Pen Drive as described below.

Digital Workers without access to a computer

Images will be accepted on a CD provided by a Photo Lab or on the memory card used in the camera. Even images taken on a mobile phone could be submitted. Please make it very clear which images are to be used. The images will be resized to the projection requirements – no other modification of the images will be made. The images used can also be copied to the author’s SCC Pen Drive if requested.

Digital Workers with a computer

The majority will probably already have their camera set to take images in sRGB colour space and in .jpg format, in that case only resizing is needed after any creative manipulation/cropping has been done. The native resolution of the projector is 1400 x 1050 Pixels (that is 1400 pxls horizontally and 1050 pxls vertically and it cannot be rotated into portrait format) so images should have at least one of those dimensions. Any smaller and the image suffers, any larger is unnecessary and could begin to slow things down. Almost all settings in a digital camera will provide a file larger than is needed for projection so downsizing has to be done.

Much of what follows will be familiar to members but is added for the sake of completeness.

In Photoshop go to ‘image/image size’, make sure the ‘constrain proportions’ and ‘resample image’ boxes are selected and select ‘Bicubic Sharper’ in the menu box below. Ignore the ‘Document size’ box, it is pixels alone we are concerned with here. In the ‘Pixel Dimensions’ box, if your image is in landscape format set the width to 1400 pxls, if the height shows 1050 pxls you are in luck, it probably will be smaller but don’t worry. If the image is portrait format the height has precedence – set this to 1050 pxls, the width will be smaller than 1400 pxls. Click OK.

The next step is to make sure the image is projected centrally on the screen.

This is done by going to ‘Image/Canvas size’ and setting the width to 1400 pxls and the height to 1050 pxls. Then set the ‘Canvas extension color’ to black and make sure the centre square of the Anchor box is selected (it is the default) and then click OK, this gives equal black borders on the two opposing sides that were less than the 1400 x 1050 pxls requirement as shown below.

The black borders do not show when projected.

At this point those images derived from RAW files converted to .tif should be changed from 16 to 8 bits and then all files should be ‘saved as’ .jpg at maximum quality.

Saving at any other quality results in a degraded image.

Once you are familiar with the process described above, you will find it takes much less time to do than it did to read the account. The procedure can be done equally easily in any image manipulation programme including Elements & PSP and all previous versions of Photoshop.

Those using Photoshop CS will be able to automate the above 2 stages using Martin’s “Actions” but will still have to insert author’s name & image title using the method given below.

Adding Title & Author details & Naming the Files

The last thing to do is to add Title and Author information to the image metadata.

It is best to add the title and your name as meta data on the image file. This can be done using Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Bridge or Lightroom. In Photoshop select the File/File Info menu entry and fill in the Document Title and Author fields.

Please name your files as follows: Code number-Competition number-Image number. For example, my 2 entries (my Code 55) for the 3rd comp of the season would be named 55-3-1.jpg & 55-3-2.jpg. Please note no spaces and that separators are hyphens not underscores. It does not matter which image you call 1 or 2 as the whole pack is randomised before projection. This naming convention greatly simplifies the handling of our large number of PI competition entries.

An alternative method of adding title and author is Windows specific, it will still work but the method outlined above is preferred. In Windows Explorer or My Computer Right click on the file name and then click Properties/Summary to access the form shown below. Enter details in the Title and Author boxes.

Save to your computer & then copy the image files to the relevant competition folder in your SCC Pen Drive.

Please then access the Pen Drive & check that images & metadata are correctly recorded.

Code numbers are already included in the root folder of the Pen Drive (and also on a label on the outside) so do not need to be entered in the image info. Authors’ names will not be revealed until judging is complete, as stipulated in the Club Rules.

The SCC Pen Drives were obtained for the Club thanks to the generosity of the Lottery “Awards for all” Scheme.

Downloads

You can automate part of the above process using these Photoshop droplets and/or the Photoshop Lightroom export template.

• If you aren't using the droplets then download and print the Projected Image Competition checklist. Tick the boxes as you go so you don't forget anything.
• Lightroom export template – this will export selected images at the correct resolution but not size, there is no way to add the black fillers. I suggest you export from Lightroom using this template and then drop the files onto the relevant droplet. Put this file in the Lightroom explort templates folder which can be found by opening the export dialog and there is an entry in the list of export types to open Windows Explorer at the templates folder.
• Landscape Photshop Droplet – put this file on your desktop, you can then drag and drop the landscape format images you want to convert onto it and they will be opened in Photoshop ready to be sharpened to taste and saved.
• Portrait Photshop Droplet – does the same job as the other droplet but for portrait format images.