When Entering a Club Competitions Please Read the Competition Briefs for the Set Subject.

If entering a club competition in the set subject section it is very important to review the competition briefs. If your image does not meet the brief, it is likely that your entry will receive a no score. Often members enter images that have manmade structures in Australian landscapes. Manmade structures can be part of the image, but they must not be a dominant element of the image. The competition guidelines state “A photograph of Australian natural land or coastal scenery, which may include people, buildings, animals, or other objects (example manmade roads/tracks & fences) provided these elements do not dominate the photograph”.

If your image has a dominant manmade element such as a dominant building or structure, consider entering the image into the open category.

by Robert Clarke, March 14, 2024

Axholme Interclub Competition: Set Subject – Street Photography

Last date to submit entries: Midnight May 19th.

link to enter images: Goto Competition

CHRSLPC has an interclub competition with the Axholme Club in the UK every six months. In May Axholme chooses the competition set subject and in November Castle Hill selects the set subject. Axholme has chosen Street Photography as the competition set subject, we now require images to enter this competition. There is a UK judge and an Australian judge and the club with the best overall scores is the winner. Street photography is a lot of fun, now is the time to practice some street photography and submit some entries.

As a guide most people do not mind if you take their photograph. Avoid children and homeless / distressed people.

Street Photography Definition

Street photography is a genre of photography that records everyday life in a public place. Street photographers capture spontaneous moments of people in a candid state, often without their knowledge. Street photography is not directed or staged, and it communicates the experience of everyday life and the vision of the artist by careful framing and timing.

by Robert Clarke, February 7, 2024

Competition rule changes 2024

Happy new year to all our members and we look forward to some outstanding photography images, training sessions, outings and social events in 2024.

If you haven’t thought about entering the club’s competitions, give it a go as it is a great way to improve your skills as all images are judged and judges usually give suggestions on how to improve images. Even if you don’t enter a competition come along to the competition night to see and hear what the judges say about the entered images.

Due to the introduction of generative fill and advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in photoshop the Australian Photography Society (APS) has developed rules regarding generative fill and AI in competitions. The Castle Hill Competition committee reviewed these rules and has adjusted the club’s competition rules to be in line with the APS. The rules will apply to all competitions commencing in 2024.

The New Competition Rules for CHRSLPC are:

5.6.3 Post-production.

Overview of post-production rules

The simplest way to think of the post-production rules is that you must have captured the pixels in your camera. Software can be used to adjust those pixels in the many options that software such as Photoshop provides. You cannot use any pixels that are generated by software or purchased overlays (for example, fog, dust, light rays etc) as they are not your work.

Post-production rules

Post-production processing that is entirely based on pixels in the original image and does not extend the image beyond its original boundaries is ‘acceptable’. The processing must be under the direct control of the photographer, whether that processing is manual such as cloning, painting, dodging, etc or automated such as using filters or plugins.

‘Content-aware Fill’ or similar modification that is entirely based on pixels in the original image/s and which does not extend the image beyond its original boundaries is ‘acceptable’.

‘Generative Fill’ or the use of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ or other processes that use content generated by software from written / verbal prompts or developed from the work of others is ‘not acceptable’.

by Robert Clarke, January 7, 2024

Competitions are Open for 2024

Members can now enter competitions for 2024. Each month there is a set subject and open competition.

The set subjects for 2024 are:

Month	Set Subject
February	Nature
March	Australian Landscapes / Seascapes
April	Monochrome
May	Creative / Experimental
June	People Portrait
July	Rush Hour
August	Panorama
September	Water in Motion
October	Playing with Artificial Light
November	Panning

There are two ways to access the competition entry page where images can be dragged and dropped in. Note the maximum image size and dimensions. Images that have received a credit or higher in a prior competition cannot be re-entered into a competition.

Method 1: In the calendar click on the date of the competition. A pop-up will be seen with the set subject guidelines. Click on the pop-up to make it full size. At the bottom of the pop-up there is a link that will take you to the competition entry page where the set subject guidelines are also displayed. Close the pop-up to access the competition entry page. Make sure that you nominate the competition entered, set or open, digital or print.

Method 2: Click on Members. When the page opens at the top right click on the 2024 year selector. All the 2024 competitions that are open are displayed with the closing dates. Click on the competition that you want to enter; a pop-up will be displayed with the set subject guidelines. To enter the competition, close the guideline pop-up.

by Robert Clarke, December 20, 2023

Award’s Night Prints

We have just been informed that the judge for the Award’s Night partner has tested positive to Covid. At this time our judge is still negative, but that may change.

We are aware that prints should be judged as prints however if our judge does have a positive covid result then our judge will judge the digital copies of the prints. It is not ideal but is the only option available to us at this late stage.

If you were intending to bring your print on the evening, could you please ensure that that you submit a digital image to the competition coordinator, Rob Clarke via email at “rclarke17@bigpond.com” no later than 7:00pm on Thursday the 7th of December.

In the event that the prints are judged digitally, a print won’t receive an award if the print is not on display at the Award’s Night evening. Please ensure that the print is on display as we are hoping that our judge remains negative and will be able to judge the prints at the Award’s Night.

by Robert Clarke, December 6, 2023

2023 Cumulative Point Scores

A Grade		Total		B Grade		Total
O’Brien	Peter	139		Burton	John	140
Higgins	Geoffrey	129		Anthony	Clarence	124
Kershaw	Andy	124		Springall	Alex	91
Doric	Rosa	123		Lack	Susan	90
Hakami	Hormoz	120		Krajnc	Matej	80
Moore	Ian	120		McHardy	Steve	76
Brear	Maria	117		Harris	Rodney	64
Wajzer	Narelle	115		Lack	Andrew	59
Clarke	Robert	113		Ormond	Barry	58
Lees	Jennifer	108		Dechnik	Robert	47
Gialouris	Dina	107		Rhodes	Jean	45
Van Acquoy	Peter	104		Hodgins	Geoffrey	42
Sheumack	Patricia	103		Roberts	Ian	41
O’Connor	Karen	102		Chung	Eric	37
Robson	Peter	101		Gurnett	Craig	35
Elliott	Gary	98		Hicks	Jillian	32
Abbott	Carol	96		Tomazic	Edward	30
Brear	Robert	95		Marotta	Nic	29
Harris	Lisa	95		Lambert	Jan	24
Lees	Peter	93		Little	Andrew	24
Frost	Barry	91		Lees	Cheryl	21
Jenkins	Terrence	90		Munro	Ian	16
Frost	Linda	88		Wright	Colin	13
Prouzos	Paul	87		Kirshaw	Ward	12
Hicks	Anthony	83		Siddle	Gerard	12
Shenstone	Bain	78		Sath	Kaye	11
Kissun	Peter	55		Candy	Neville	10
Milliken	Paul	55		Szilard	Paul	9
Ricapito	Vito	49		Overland	Timothy	6
Prouzos	Suzanne	48		Chahine	Tony	4
Mellefont	David	39		Clinch	Barry	3
Tavora	Dianne	37
Dromblikovic	Adalbert	35
Stewart	William	31
Kemp	Colin	30
O’Farrell	John	30
Hu	Christina	29
Singh	Paul	29
Mende	Rolf	25
Armour	Bruce	24
Mavi	Manny	21
O’Farrell	Sandra	18
Kishan	Hari	17
Lilley	Terry	16
Fowkes	Alan	15
Mulder	Monica	15
Tibben	John	15
Mahoney	Keith	12
Taylor	Alan	12
King	Roger	10
Nguyen	Trung	10
Brassil	Tom	8
Atkins	Brett	5

by Robert Clarke, November 29, 2023

FCC Interclub Results

The FCC is the federation of all camera clubs in NSW and each year they run an interclub competition where clubs can enter up to 10 images in various sections. In this year’s interclub Castle Hill entered five sections and we placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd in each section we entered. There were 21 clubs competing. What makes this challenging for Castle Hill is that we can only have a maximum of two images by photographer in each section due to our size.

The selection committee reviews the past 12 months images that have been entered into our club’s competitions for selection into each section of the FCC interclub. For members who have had images selected this is a great achievement in itself.

The FCC appoints a panel of judges and most if not all the judges, judge international competitions. The judges score images from 0 – 15 and to separate the images the judging is harsh, only four images scored the maximum 15 points across all categories from all clubs.

The results shown here are ranked 1st to 10th by section. Thirteen of the images we entered scored 12 or more points that would likely place them in the awarded category in an international competition. We had one image that scored 14 points. We have outstanding photographers in our club and the best way to learn is to come to our meetings and chat with them.

by Robert Clarke, November 22, 2023

Axholme Interclub Competition Results

Castle Hill RSL Photography Club has an interclub competition twice a year with the Axholme club in England. Our club appoints a judge from Australia and Axholme appoints a judge from England. In November CHRSLPC defines the set subject and in May Axholme choose the set subject. Ten images are chosen for the set subject and ten for the open category to make up the competition. Images from CHRSLPC are chosen by the competition committee.

The set subject for this competition was animal portraits.

Castle Hill won the overall points score with Axholme winning the set subject by two points. The scores for the competition by set and open were:

Axholme Set Subject Total	260
Castle Hill Set Subject Total	258
Axholme Open Subject Total	252
Castle Hill Open Subject Total	272
Axholme Grand Total	512
Castle Hill Grand Total	530

A comment from the Australian Judge was “A very difficult judging! The majority of the images were of a really excellent standard, and it was very hard to not give every one of the images a 15! Well done to all the photographers.

There were three CHRSLPC images in the open section that scored Gold:

In the Set Subject we had one silver:

Congratulations to all of our photographers who had images chosen for this interclub competition.

by Robert Clarke, November 19, 2023

Cumulative Points Score Following the Negative Space Competition

A Grade		Total		B Grade		Total
O’Brien	Peter	119		Burton	John	122
Higgins	Geoffrey	117		Anthony	Clarence	109
Kershaw	Andy	116		Lack	Susan	84
Doric	Rosa	112		Springall	Alex	74
Hakami	Hormoz	111		McHardy	Steve	72
Brear	Maria	107		Krajnc	Matej	71
Wajzer	Narelle	107		Lack	Andrew	59
Clarke	Robert	107		Ormond	Barry	58
Moore	Ian	105		Harris	Rodney	55
Van Acquoy	Peter	104		Dechnik	Robert	47
Gialouris	Dina	99		Hodgins	Geoffrey	42
Harris	Lisa	95		Rhodes	Jean	41
Lees	Jennifer	93		Roberts	Ian	41
O’Connor	Karen	92		Gurnett	Craig	35
Sheumack	Patricia	91		Chung	Eric	34
Robson	Peter	90		Hicks	Jillian	32
Brear	Robert	86		Tomazic	Edward	30
Frost	Linda	83		Marotta	Nic	29
Abbott	Carol	82		Lambert	Jan	24
Lees	Peter	81		Munro	Ian	16
Elliott	Gary	80		Wright	Colin	13
Frost	Barry	79		Little	Andrew	12
Hicks	Anthony	76		Siddle	Gerard	12
Prouzos	Paul	73		Candy	Neville	10
Jenkins	Terrence	72		Lees	Cheryl	9
Shenstone	Bain	66		Szilard	Paul	9
Milliken	Paul	55		Overland	Timothy	6
Kissun	Peter	55		Chahine	Tony	4
Ricapito	Vito	49		Clinch	Barry	3
Mellefont	David	39
Prouzos	Suzanne	38
Dromblikovic	Adalbert	35
Kemp	Colin	30
O’Farrell	John	30
Hu	Christina	29
Singh	Paul	29
Stewart	William	28
Tavora	Dianne	26
Mende	Rolf	25
Armour	Bruce	24
Mavi	Manny	21
O’Farrell	Sandra	18
Kishan	Hari	17
Lilley	Terry	16
Fowkes	Alan	15
Tibben	John	15
Mulder	Monica	15
Taylor	Alan	12
Mahoney	Keith	12
King	Roger	10
Brassil	Tom	8
Atkins	Brett	5

by Robert Clarke, November 16, 2023