Preparing your Images

Below are the basics you need to know for producing a digital image for competition. It may seem daunting if you are not familiar with using post-editing software on a computer or tablet. But don’t worry, many of our members are happy to help.

Photocraft members now use PhotoEntry to upload entries for club competitions. PhotoEntry takes care of numbering, naming and titling your image files after they are uploaded, so you may name your image files as you wish – it doesn’t matter what the filenames are.

There are four things that you need to consider when submitting an image into a PDI competition or uploading a digital copy for a print competition:

• The images must be JPG format.
• The image dimensions are no larger than 1440 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high for landscape format or 1080 pixels high in a portrait format.
• The colour space is sRGB IEC61966-2.1
• The size of the file is no larger than 10MB

File format – the file format needs to be jpg, this is the format of the image file that comes straight out of the camera. If your camera shoots raw images then the image must be saved in the jpg format after editing.

Image size – the projection software requires images to be sized correctly, maximum dimensions of 1440 pixels wide or 1080 pixels high, the software has been known to display images in a less than desirable way if they are not. (Portrait orientation images maximum 1080 pixels high)

To be absolutely sure that your image is displayed in the best form, you should resize the image and set colour profile before uploading it into the PhotoEntry system.

Below are some instructions for common editing software, these can be found in the Hints & Tips section in the blog area:

Resize your image using Photoshop

Resize your image using Photoshop Elements

Resize your image using Lightroom

If you are not confident about resizing the image yourself, just submit a full-sized image. PhotoEntry will then be able to do a good job of resizing it for you (unless it has already been cropped down below the above thresholds).

Resizing your images in PhotoEntry

Colour space – our projector assumes that images are in the sRGB colour space. PhotoEntry is expecting sRGB IEC61966-2.1 colour profile.

Typically, the colour space straight out of the camera is sRGB unless the camera is set to something else. sRGB will give you the most accurate colour reproduction when the image is projected. Don’t worry if you can’t set the colour space, it won’t be disastrous but let us know and we will find a member to help you. If the image does not contain any colour profile information PhotoEntry assume it is in sRGB IEC61966-2.1.

File size– the PhotoEntry system has a file size limitation of 10MB. The software guides listed previously for resizing your images can be found in the Hints & Tips section of the Blog.