Image preparation

How to prepare your images

Please prepare your images to the following specification for the first stage of the competition.

ENTRY PHASES

Images for the entry phase should be resampled to a resolution of 72ppi, max 2mb and 1600px on the longest side. (Square images, max 1600px).

Advice on how to resize images can be viewed here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/how-to/image-resizing-basics.html

FINAL AWARDS/BOOK PHASE

If your image has been chosen for an award or for the book, you will be required to provide your original high resolution image. This must be supplied as a 300ppi Jpg saved at the highest quality setting in your photo editing program. Full details will be sent if your images have been chosen.

Naming Format

Name your images in the following format:

[surname] [forname initial] [0] [image number]. jpg

Example: If your name is John Smith then your images would be as follows:

smithj01.jpg
smithj02.jpg
.
.
.
smithj015.jpg

Entry stage

Once your images are prepared, go to the entry page, select the number if images you wish to enter and follow the payment process.

ENTER NOW

I made a mistake naming my image file name. Can I rename my images after they have been uploaded?

Yes – the new system allows you to delete and re-upload your images.

Note: Once the competition has closed, you cannot change your images.

Should I describe the location in the filename of my images?

No  We do not require descriptive names for your images for any category. If your images get through to the final stages, you will be asked to upload a HiRes and/or RAW copy of your image and you will be asked to include any technical details and a description about your image at this stage.

I missed the deadline for uploading my high resolution files for the final round, can I have an extension?

NO: For all main categories, we regret to say that we cannot give extensions for any entrant. When the deadline passes, our software is automatically locked, judging begins and marks are awarded. We cannot interrupt this process. This is to ensure fairness and anonymity when judges view the shortlisted images.

EXCEPTION: If you missed the deadline for the main categories, your images will still be eligible for the Sponsor and 4 Seasons categories as these are judged by their respective organisations – e.g. John Muir Trust, Historic Scotland  etc. If you are successful in any of these categories we will request your Hi Res images. Your image, may also be included in the official eBook

Digital images converted for print in the book

If your images are successfully awarded for any category of the competition, they will be printed in the competition book. We use the very best book printers in the industry, and the book is printed on the finest book paper, so we follow the highest standards of printing. However, your image in print is only as good as the file you provide us, so we cannot be held responsible if your image prints too dark, too light, has colour shifts or looks different to how it appears on your computer screen or your inkjet print. It should also be stressed that we will not do any editing or colour adjustments to your images once they have been sent to us.

PLEASE NOTE: Our book is Litho printed using the standard 4 colour CMYK process.  Digital camera images however, are created in the RGB colour space, so this means all image files have to be converted to CMYK (ink colours) for printing.  Some colours in your RGB image however, may be out of the range of the CMYK colour gamut and cannot be reproduced exactly using CMYK inks, so there may be colour shifts in print. Excessive editing, colour temperature or white balance changes can result in colour shifts in print for example, so if your image does look different in the book to what you see on your screen, we remind you that we do not edit any images, so we do not accept that any colour shifts are a printing fault. To reiterate – the book is only as good as the file you supply us with and we do not accept any responsibilty or criticism should your file look different to that of your computer screen.

Monitor Calibration Devices, colour spaces: Consumer grade monitor calibration devices are flooding the market, and these are fast becoming the number 1 cause of printing problems in the printing industry, so unless you are expert in this area, we recommend you do not use such a device. (You can’t calibrate your eyes) Monitor calibration is typically used for inkjet printing on coated papers, and this means printers that use 12-16 inks. This should not be compared to the book printing, because the book is produced using the 4 colour CMYK process which uses 4 inks. If you send us a file that has been calibrated with a profile embedded for inkjet printing, we have no way to know this and when we convert it to CMYK your image may appear different in the book. Your image may also appear different if you send it to us in the SRGB colour space when converted for printing.

Common problems with digital images prepared on a home computer for print are either images appearing dark or that of digital artifacts.

Dark prints – in almost all cases, if your images look dark when printed, it is most likely that your computer screen is too bright or you have used monitor calibration for digital printing. Digital displays are backlit and commonly give a false impression of how the image appears. You should adjust your brightness accordingly or adjust the brightness settings of your final image to ensure it does not print too dark. You can also look at your histogram

Digital artifacts – artifacts occur if you have over-sharpened your image or your image has been resized or upscaled (interpolation). These can affect the quality of your printed image. If you “upscale” your image, quality can be lost so bear this in mind.

Please note that we cannot be held responsible for any faults with your image once it has been sent to print.