• 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:
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:
"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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• 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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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
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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:
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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:
• All works, in their entirety, must be created or photographed by the entrant. In Tier 1 submissions, please indicate the location of images and briefly how the image was edited.
• Moderate use of corrective/enhancement tools and techniques that maintain the integrity of the subject matter and specific category are allowed. These may include cropping, color and exposure adjustments, sharpening, noise reduction, healing, cloning, removing, liquifying, layer masking, focus stacking, stitched panoramas, HDR/exposure blending, and infrared.
• In the Documentary category, content cannot be altered except for basic cropping and exposure adjustments. The Digital Photographic Art category allows more editing and compositing techniques such as collaged elements; for this category, original source images must be included in Tier 1 digital submissions.
• Photoshop’s Generative Fill/Expand may be used as a minor corrective tool (similar to healing, cloning, and removing) when not significantly altering the primary photographic content. It may not be used with text or image prompts to add substantive generated content.
• Prohibited in all categories are stock art, borrowed imagery, or Generative AI (e.g. Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, or other text-to-image or image-to-image apps.) We reserve the right to request original source files used in submitted work.
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!
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