MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 ( on CD / DVD's )
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15 , 11.00 PM ( via electronic submission - recommended )

JUDGING ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24 at 6.45PM

So this is the 3rd and final Nature Images competition for the ' regular ' season. Only winners, or images with tied scores with the winners, are eligible for the McGregor Trophy in the Year End Competition. As well, there are awards for high aggregate scores in the three divisions so make sure your entries are in by February 8 ( or Feb 15 - see above ).

There are 3 divisions in this competition - B ( beginners ), A ( Advanced ) & M ( Masters ). If you are unsure about which division you are in, please check the posted list on the message board. Generally, new members should compete in B division, but if you are experienced with camera club competitions, you may compete in the other divisions. Again, please refer to the club rules for more details.

You may enter up to 3 images in total in any combinations, in the 3 categories of Botany, Zoology & General. New this year, only digital entries are allowed. You would have to scan your slides ( if you are still shooting them ) and convert them to digital files before submitting them,

Please make sure that your images are:

1. JPEG's ( of quality 10-12 ) under 1 MB in size
2. sRGB colour space
3. Max dimension of 1024 X 1024 pixels
4. The NEW file name convention for example:

NI3_Z_A_maker_title.jpg

where N ature I mage 3 ( competition #3 )_ Z ( for Zoology or B for Botany or G for General )_A ( for Advanced or B for Beginners or M for Masters )_ Maker ( your name ) - Title.jpg

Please note that the category precedes the division, and to use (_) underscore as separators.

Please put them on a CD/DVD labelled with your name and contact information in the drawer marked ' Nature ' in the desk near the entrance of the club.

Preferably, please send you digital entries as attachments to

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or to me directly at

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You will receive a confirmation from me a few days after your submissions.

Please note the followings:

1) There should be no hand-of-man in your images - that means no houses, roads, lamp posts or lawns and gardens.

2) Botany images of cultivated plants are not allowed - that means no garden flowers or wheat fields for example.

3) Zoology images of zoo or captive animals are only allowed in the B division, and as such, the enclosure or other signs of hand-of-man should not be discernible in the image.

4) Adjustments to colour ( to look realistic - no black & whites ), contrast, exposure, sharpness and cropping are allowed. But in the spirit of our nature competition where entries should be the honest depictions of plants or animals in their natural habitats in Botany & Zoology or just depictions of natural habitats in General, removing or adding elements not originally captured in your images are not allowed. For example, you are allowed to remove dust spots and minor inclusions around the edge of the frame, but you are not allowed to remove branches, add birds or animals or substitute the sky etc.

5) Images that depict a nature story are preferred and pictorial images ( eg abstracts, ) are generally scored lower. Making you images look painterly ( ortons or other artistic filters for example ) are not allowed. Images must look realistic and the the truth of the photographic statement must be maintained.

6) Nature Titles mean that they should identify the subjects by their scientific names, or common names with perhaps a description of the behaviour depicted.

For example: In Botany, ' A Beautiful Flower' is not a good title whereas ' A Yellow Lady's Slipper ' is. Examples in Zoology would be ' Brown Pelican In-flight ' or ' Lion with prey ' as opposed to ' Aerial Display ' or ' Hunger '. Examples in General would be ' Morning Mist Over Smoke Lake In Algonquin ' as opposed to ' Misty Contemplation '.

There are more rules in our nature competitions, so feel free to contact me if you have any questions. And again, I will try to screen all the B entries and I will contact you if there are any contravention of the rules. If time allows, I will return your entries for corrections, so do submit them as early as possible.

Entering your images into competitions in the club is a great way to learn and improve. It is also an exciting and fun way to fully participate in our club's activities.

I look forward to receiving your entries.

Christopher Siou, Nature Chair