The NVPS compeiion rules commiee of Sam Schaen, Sco Musson, Bill Prosser, Fred Chiy, Gerry Abbo and Sandi Croan was formed las summer “o re and mae recommendaions” for change o NVPS compeiion rules, as necessary o beer serve he curren membership. Any changes adoped by membership voe in April or May 2010 will become effecive saring in Sepember 2010.

The re included he daa from las year’s compeiion enries (e.g. # of enries by class/caegory, # of members compeing, ec), survey of oher camera clubs’ rules and he rend of changes, he resuls of he NVPS member survey conduced on Ocober 20h, and commens from members by email, in face o face discussions wih individual commiee members and commens during a shor Q&A during he Ocober 13h meeing.

The able below summarizes he daa from compeiion enries Sepember 2008 hrough May 2009.



Class & Caegory
Average # of members
each monh
Average # of enries
each monh


Monochrome prins – Novice
5.6
6


Monochrome prins – Advanced
5.8
7


Color prins – Novice
15.7
23


Color prins – Advanced
13.9
21


Digial projecion – Novice
14.7
26


Digial projecion – Advanced
13.4
23


Enhanced prins
12.6
14


Slides
3.7
6



T were a oal of 95 members who enered images in compeiion, wih abou half submiing images in 4 or fewer monhs and half submiing images in 5 or more monhs. On average, each monh had 52 members compeing wih an average of 126 images.

The able below summarizes he daa from he member survey of “ha choice associaed wih he classes/caegories you expec o paricipae”. T were 68 members submiing surveys, very close o 50/50, novice & advanced.



Class
Toal
Novice
Advanced
One Class
Maser


Unresriced prins
45
12
14
17
2


Resriced prins
24
12
9
2
n/a


Monochrome prins
27
7
5
15
n/a


Unresriced digial projecion
41
22
17
n/a
2


Resriced digial projecion
19
7
12
n/a
n/a


Slides
8
n/a
n/a
8
n/a



In he member survey, were 27 members ha seleced choice “E” (i.e. no change in curren class/caegories), bu wih 5 of hese advocaing some ype of change in heir commens. T were 41 members ha seleced “A”, “B” or “C” (i.e. for change in class/caegories), wih a fairly even spli beween he 3 choices. (A he meeing, we discovered ha choice D was a duplicae of Choice B and insruced members o ignore Choice D.)

The proposal includes a change o he caegories and classes of compeiion. Under he proposal, will be 5 caegories:

• Unresriced Images Digially Projeced (2)
•  Unresriced Color Prins (2)
•  Monochrome Prins (1)
•  Resriced Images Digially Projeced (1)
•  Resriced Color Prins (1)

Due o he small number of paricipans over he las several years, he commiee proposes ha he slide caegory be dropped. Slides may sill be used as he basis for a prin or a digially projeced image. The commiee also proposes combining he wo classes for Monochrome prins ino a single class due o dwindling paricipaion.

The numbers in parenhesis above indicae he number of classes for he caegory. Monochrome Prins, Resriced Prins, and Resriced Images Digially Projeced will each have a single class. The oher caegories, Unresriced Digially Projeced Images and Unresriced Color Prins will have 2 classes–Novice and Advanced.

The proposal increases he number of required paricipans needed for a Novice Compeiion from wo enrans o hree enrans (maing i he same as for Advanced classes). In addiion, for all Caegories/Classes, mus now be four images submied for a compeiion o ae place. This was done o ensure ha awards are given only when is adequae compeiion.

The proposed Resriced Prins Caegory is inended o provide a slighly more resriced venue han has been used for color prins in he curren rules. The final image muscome from a single exposure and may have only specifically lised manipulaions afer i has been capured. Nohing may be added o an image, and aside from dus spos, nohing may be aen away. Minor adjusmens (global and argeed) o one, color and conras o he Raw or Jpeg file are accepable if needed o more closely represen he original subjec maer. Sharpening, noise reducion and cropping are also permiing in his caegory.

The proposed Unresriced Color Prin Caegory is inended o include manipulaions ha would be unaccepable under he definiion of Resriced Prins. This caegory replaces he enhanced caegory under he curren rules and addiionally reaches “down” a bi furher o include some manipulaions ha were previously allowed for sraigh prins (e.g., removing disracions). The only resricions are ha all elemens of he image mus have been phoographed by he enran.

Monochrome Prins are resriced only in color. They can include various shades of blac on a whie bacground, or shades of a single oher color such as sepia. Aside from color, manipulaion is unresriced. A monochrome prin may be derived from an image originally sho as a color image, e.g., by fully desauraing i.

The Resriced Image Digially Projeced caegory is inended o parallel he Resriced Color Prin caegory. The same inen, namely o limi he permied manipulaions o hose necessary o bring he image closer o he original subjec maer, is he same.

The Unresriced Image Digially Projeced caegory does no resric manipulaions. The single resricion is ha all elemens mus have been capured by he enran.

The language concerning advancemen from Novice o Advanced Class has been clarified. I was no inended o change he process. 15% of he phoographers in each Novice Class will be promoed o he Advanced class for ha caegory.

A second Versaile Phoographer of he Year award is proposed o provide separae awards for Novice and Advanced caegories.