Digital & Print Entry FAQ's for the San Diego County Fair Photo Contest

            •  2024 Deadline for Online Digital Entry - Monday, April 15th, 2024 @ 8 PM PST  •

     Welcome to the not-really-unofficial, but kind-of-authorized, Digital Entry FAQ page for the prestigious San Diego County Fair International Exhibition of Photography, one of the oldest & largest photo contests in the country. 

     The purpose of this FAQ is to answer specific subjects, mostly technical, that are NOT already on the Fair Photos' official page.  For more details on deadlines and specifications, see the San Diego County  Fair Photo official homepage.

     Oh, and many, many thanks to Lois Fong-Sakai (current Photo Exhibition co-coordinator), Amethel Parel-Sewell (current Photo Exhibition co-coordinator), the late, great David King, and Brian Wright for all of the help over the years - you folks are awesome!!!

     Cheers,

     John Watts :-)

   • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sdfairphoto/  

   • 2024 SDPUG Judges Roundtable Video: Click here

   • Johns' 2024 Free Seminar Schedule & Appearances:  Click here

   •  Full SD Fair Photo 2024 Event & Workshop Schedule; Click here

   •  For more specific information on the Judging Process, visit my blogpost here  

     This is a "2-tiered" submission process: 

• For the "first round", you submit your entry electronically (Tier 1) by Monday, April 15th, 2024

• If accepted to the "second round" (Tier 2), you will be notified via email by the end of the day, Wednesday, April 24th, 2024.

• You'll then submit your actual physical "hang-ready" print to the Fair on either Tuesday or Wednesday, May 14th or 15th, 2024, from noon - 7 PM, for judging in Tier 2.  

• Please Note:  Advancement of images to Tier 2 does NOT guarantee that a print will hang in the show - images must meet Fair rules and judges' standards for print quality and presentation!

     General Questions: 
        SD County Fair Entry Office  

         858-792-4207 -  entry@sdfair.com

     Tech Questions Only:
         john@wattsdigital.com
        (No phone calls to Watts Digital, please, without contacting me by email first - thx!)

* * * Last updated: April 15th, 2024 - All information is subject to change, and the SD Fair Photo Contest is not responsible for any typos / misinformation on this site * * *

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For John's SDC Fair free Photoshop & Color Management seminars, check this out: 

For more specific information on the Judging Process, visit my blogpost here:  

     Save your image as a JPG, at the highest quality setting, with an approximate size of:

• 1800 x 1200 pixels for a landscape (horizontal) orientation, or
• 800 x 1200 pixels for a portrait (vertical) orientation.

    "Legally", your file can not be more than 6 MB in size.  However, if you use the above as a guide, your file will appropriately represent your image on the judge's computer monitors (see below).  The small file size (2 MB or less) will upload quickly and will look no different on the judges monitors than the same image at a higher resolution, larger pixel dimensions, larger file size, or file format.

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• Your image must be a minimum of 400 pixels on the longest side, but no greater than 7 MB.  However, you will NOT gain anything in quality by making the file much bigger than 1 to 4 MB (or longer than about 2000 pixels) due to the limitations of  most monitors - including the ones the judges will be using to view your images - see below.

•  The acceptable image formats are JPG, .GIF, BMP, PNG, TIF and TIFF  only.  However, to keep things simple, it is STRONGLY suggested that you save your file as a JPG, and, if given the choice, using sRGB as your Color Space.  

• Again, you will NOT gain anything in quality by saving it in a different format (such as TIFF) or color space (such as Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB), due to the limitations of most monitors (including the ones the judges will be using to view your images - see below).  By default, JPG's must be "formatted" correctly in order to save it.  If you attempt to upload TIFF's for Tier 1, for instance, your file must  be flattened, in an RGB color space, and in 8-bit; otherwise, it probably will not upload correctly, and the error message from the upload system will not tell you why. 

• Please note that the resolution of your uploaded image is immaterial, as the way it will be viewed is dependent on the monitors (ALL monitors, not just the judges!) - A file saved  at 4"x6" @ 300ppi is the same as one saved at 16.67x25 @72 ppi - they are both 1200 x 1800 pixels, and will both show up on the monitor as the same size. 

• Oh, and as an aside, if you make it to "Tier 2", do NOT make your print from this Tier 1 uploaded file - File resolution is critical to printing - see more on this below, 'How to Prepare your File for Tier 2 Printing" ...

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  •  If you are using Photoshop, here is a general step-by-step procedure for how you would re-size and save an image for the Fair for Tier 1:

1)  Open your image in Photoshop - At this point, your file must already be Flattened (no Layers) & in 8 bit. 

2)  Open "Image Size" Dialog Box - Go to the "Image" Menu => "Image Size ..."      

3)  (See diagram to the left) ** Please note that your original values will be different than shown... **
       

            A)  The "Constrain Aspect Ratio" link-button should be "On", as shown.  Enter the desired pixel length of your longest side. The value for the shorter side will fill in automatically.  Leave the Resolution alone, whatever it is, as it's immaterial - - see the second-to-last paragraph here as to why.

            B)  "Resample" should be checked, and the method should be "Automatic".

            C)  Press the "OK" button - Your image is now re-sized for Tier 1 ...

4)  Save your File - Go to "File"  Menu => Save as ...",   choose "JPG" from the "Format" drop-down menu, then enter your chosen file name and location.  Press "OK"

5)  Next, the JPG dialog box opens (See diagram to the left) - Make sure that you're saving at the best quality, as shown ("12"), and that your file size is less than 6 MB (it's 2.4 MB in this example).  Leave "Format Options" at "Baseline (Standard)".
   

 6)  Press the "OK" button - 

     •  Your image is now saved and ready for upload!

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For John's SDC Fair free Photoshop & Color Management seminars, check this out: 

   Congratulations!  Only 1 out of 3 images submitted will advance to Tier 2!  Now the fun begins...

     Here's how to optimize your image file(s) for printing from the perspective of one who's been a custom photo printing professional for over 35+ years.  

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     Regardless of the print lab that you use (or if you print at home), these guidelines will give you excellent results:

               •  Save to your desired final print size (i.e. "11x14")  at 300 ppi 

               •  Save using Adobe 1998 RGB as your working space

               •  Save as a flattened RGB TIFF, 8 bits per channel
                                                    OR
                                   as a JPG, Max Quality

     Keep in mind, these are "guides", not "absolutes" - - each print lab or home workflow may be different.

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• If you are a photographer who knows little or nothing about digital post-processing, I'd strongly recommend that you find someone to help you get the most out of your image(s), such as a knowledgeable person at a print lab or in the industry (like yours truly) - or a friend or fellow photographer who truly understands Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. -  It would be a shame to have your image accepted to Tier 2, and not have it properly enhanced & printed for maximum effectiveness.

• If you're starting with a small original file size (1 to 2 MB as a compressed JPG), and want to print it as an 11x14, "up-sizing" your file correctly is critical.  Proper use of the re-sizing capabilities of Photoshop or Lightroom generally gets the job done.

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• A Master File is a multi-purpose, multi-layered, un-cropped and un-sharpened 16-bit TIFF or PSD file of a photographic image.  This is the file that you want to put all of your creative Photoshop "mojo" into. 

• Creating a Master File is NOT for every image: It's for those images that you want to spend time with, doing all that's necessary to make your image "pretty" - Here's where you pour your artistic "blood, sweat, and tears" into your image. 

• Think of it as your "final image",  from which all further uses of this image derive  -  It has been enhanced and prepped so that you can crop, sharpen,  convert to 8-bit, reduce or enlarge in size, save as a JPG for the web, and so on, depending on your needs.

• So, in the case of a Fair entry, and assuming you are accepted to Tier 2,  you'd make 2 files from your Master File:

                  1)  A small JPG for electronic entry (don't print from this JPG!)

                  2)  A larger file for printing, prepped to size and to the specs mentioned above

•  More on Master Files here & here ...

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     Judges will view your images on calibrated and profiled computer monitors, in a room with reduced lighting. Although it is not strictly necessary, you can assure consistency with the judge’s monitors by calibrating and profiling as close to the following values as you can:

                      Color Temperature:  6000° Kelvin
                     Gamma:  2.2
                     Brightness:  110 Lumens (CD/M²)

     The best way to accomplish this is by using a Monitor Profiling package, such as the X-Rite Eye One Display Pro or Colorvision Spyder X Pro – These packages typically cost around $250 and up. If you do not have one, and purchasing one is not an option, here are some suggestions:

• Borrow a Monitor Profiling package temporarily from a fellow photographer.

• Use a friend’s calibrated monitor to “fine tune” your final images.

• As a last resort, use the “By-eye” software calibrators built into your operating system, such as Adobe Gamma Utility for Windows, and “Mac Calibration” for Mac.

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     For more specific information on Monitor Profiling, including VIDEO, visit my blogpost here: 

     For more specific information on the Judging Process, visit my blogpost here: 

Dave King's "must-read" observations on the SDC Fair Photo Contest judging is wisdom for more than just photo contest entrants - - before his untimely passing in 2020, Dave taught Photography at San Diego City College, and eloquently makes the same observations I've had as a Judge in the same contests ... These particular observations are in his blog" Travels with Rocinante" , which contains wonderful stuff, all related to photography and travel!

2012  - Part 1

2012 - Part 2

2013  - Part 1
2013  - Part 2

2013 - Part 3

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