This being only the second year of digital competition for NVPS I thought that it would be worthwhile to provide an update to the guidelines for uploading your images to the website.  Last year we had at least one error in every month's upload.  Most months I was able to reach the person who had experienced the problems before Tuesday morning when I left for work, but sometimes it just didn't happen, leaving someone out of the competition or displaying an image that was not optimally configured.

First and foremost, upload early.  Images need to be uploaded to the website at http://nvps.org/dc-upload/ That way if you have issues with the upload there is plenty of time to get in touch with Phillip Moore (pdm@nospam!#*&^#)type address - don't copy spam protection(*@.@nospampobox.com) or myself (mgs@nospam!#*&^#)type address - don't copy spam protection(*@.@nospamloreleistudios.com) so that we can work out the problem.  If you run into a problem, even on the Sunday before competition, please email myself or Phillip right away so that we can feel comfortable in accepting a late entry.

Also, be sure to check your email on Monday, the day before the competition if at all possible.  I cannot review the files until Sunday night at earliest.  If I notice something that I believe is wrong with your image, I will send an email to the address used during the upload process.  This process saved several participants from displaying a thumbnail-sized image during competition last year.  I will accept an email image if it is the same one that was uploaded erroneously, but again, I generally don't get access to my email after 0700 on Tuesdays before meetings.  Also, I don't always get the opportunity to check the mail on Tuesday mornings, although I try to do so on competition Tuesdays, especially if I am waiting on a response.

If you get an error that your image is over 1024x768, and when you check it doesn't seem to exceed these dimensions, remember that image sizes are always stated as width x height.  So 1024x768 is not the same as 768x1024.  I believe that most cameras produce an image that is nominally 1.5x1, so a 1024x768 image requires some cropping.  If you do not crop the image and scale it down for competition it will probably produce an image that is 1024x683.  If you have a portrait image (meaning that the long side is on the vertical) your properly scaled image will be about 512x768.

You are welcome to produce odd-size images for the digital competition if you like.  We didn't see many square crops last year, but there is nothing stopping you from doing so.

Also remember that digital manipulation beyond what can be accomplished in a dark room is allowed for the digital competition images.  Only your imagination should set the boundaries for the manipulations that you choose.

Mandatory parameters for upload:
Maximum width:    1024
Maximum height:    768
Maximum size:    1MB

The resolution setting is irrelevant, only affecting the printed image.

Recommendations:

• Use the sRGB color space.  PowerPoint should be able to manage an image in another color space with an embedded ICC profile, but sRGB is the Windows default color space..
• Save the image with the maximum quality rating possible without exceeding the 1MB file size.  In Photoshop this is generally a quality rating between 8 and 12.
• Scale your image to either maximum height or width to get the largest image possible.

Good luck to all of you.  I look forward to another season of interesting images.

Matthew G. Schmidt