i reckon it should be a "everyone" event not in children/adults etc.
thats a good idea with the photoshop thing being split up. Personally i don't mind when its held. Though me and Jordan will be taking snap shops for sure.

rhino,

we are definately steering clear of any photos people take while on scuba or hookah, this is aimed as a photography for victorian freedivers.

photoshopped and unphotoshopped sections are very hard to keep tabs on, so i believe that it would be most effective if we followed a similar format to some of the larger, well established comps, which allow 'basic' photoshop (light, gamma, contrast). i believe brett also mentioned that he didnt agree with photoshop, while others thought it was okay....

photos with and without spearos is a great idea, do you have some ideas on how to incoporate it into the format?

last season the idea was to have the comp open to club members only, in an attempt to encourage people who dont particularly enjoy spearing but prefer photography to join the southern freedivers, it didnt pan out so well, so this year we want to try to open it up more to the general public and drop flyers and dive shops etc, hopefully resulting in higher numbers.

how do other people feel about extending the comp? oct-mar, or nov-march??

a comp day is also a great idea that needs to be considered, perhaps we could get a show of interest before we launch a day???

thanks for your comment ryan, and i'll yell out if we need a hand.

kurt,

the comp will be a 'open' format that allows any age to compete, last season jake torelli submitted awesome photos and he was a junior.

the photoshop issue is going to have to be considered...

looking forward to seeing some snaps from yourself and jordan.. [/quote]

Having the general public involved in the comp is good for numbers but it would be good to have some incentive to get them to join up. Maybe if there were two sections to the comp, general and members and have the members prizes better than the general publics so they will want to join to get the better ones?

Having comp days regularly could work out good too as it would give the photography junkies that aren't interested in spearing a reason to join.

I'd say the spearo and non spearo pics would just have to be in sections. Any pic with a diver or part of a diver in one section and any pic without in the other.

Have you thought about having a Vic Challenge type comp with points for certain species etc? Give people a reason to try new spots and seek out species they may not have encountered yet?

_________________
Like a farken underwater ninja!

The fish were blinded by overexposure to his pure awesomeness!

yeah its tricky, last season we were hoping that people might join because the club offered a non-killing option, unfortunately it didnt really pan out well as the numbers werent justifiable for major prizes, i hear what your saying and getting people involved in the comp and then perhaps joining the club is ideal, just need to find a balance thats suits the participates,

the member and non member section might work, but, it may cause some- you against them- atmosphere (which may work or could backfire), have to check what people think.

having comp days might really get people motivated and build their own photo collection, if people are interested then we can work something out.

the vic challenge format was the original idea, after much consideration it would have given experienced divers a huge advantage. we are also trying to encourage the novices divers to participate, and asking people to get a photo of a...stargazer or rockling or bronze whaler would leave a select few to take those shoots. also we are attempting to make the comp as fun and friendly as possible, so the freedom is there to take photos of whatever you want, though the judges may score an average photo of a rockling higher than a average photo of a leather jacket.

some great ideas rhino, thanks heaps for the input, keep it coming...

just playing around with some ideas for the major prize/s, what do you guys reckon of a framed picture as a prize?

we would make it shmick, nice frame, a background with "victorian freediving photography competition....etc" lettered in gold or silver or something and the photo of the year or tally winner blown up to a nice size, behind glass.

here are a couple of examples just to get an idea of what it may look like

here's one i chucked together quickly in photoshop

nice work! geez and you just chucked that together

i try

Top idea badger! As long as it's done properly I reckon most would probably prefer that. I would!

_________________
Like a farken underwater ninja!



The fish were blinded by overexposure to his pure awesomeness!

how do you guys feel about allowing basic photoshop, gamma, contrast and brightness?

yay or nay??

also if we were to fire up the comp in november would that be better than waiting till december?

yay or nay

otherwise ill make some assumptions and hope it works for people

Nay to photo shop. (drug cheats)
Yay to starting as early as possible. (it doesn't have to be summer to get good piccies)

just make it two sections, un-editted and editted. editted only being contrast gamma etc...
and i'm with brettyy start soon as possible
We can start a post (stickied) with the rules of each section.

For computer retards like me photoshop isn't really an option. Don't even know what gamma is!
And yeah as soon as possible.

_________________
Like a farken underwater ninja!



The fish were blinded by overexposure to his pure awesomeness!

So when we gonna hear more on this? or is gonna be left until the meeting..

sorry guys,

i have flat out this week,

still trying to get things organised....but what i can say is that the comp will start in nov and run to march, giving people an opportunity to submit 10 photos over 5 months.

the comp will be open to anyone and everyone,

there will be a photo of the year category and tally winner (the tally is similar to the vic challenge format)

there will be monthly prizes of dvds to win (sponsored by blue water hunting)

and so far it looks likely that the major prizes (photo of the year and tally winner) may recieve a framed picture, with their photo in it.

still trying to get a wider scope on photo shop, but it looks very likely that it will not be included. so pictures will have to be in there original format (but some people are still saying that basic photo shop is okay)

photo will be emailed to kurt, and he will post them up in the photo comp section, and also pass them on to the judges- rob torelli and hopefully matt koopman (have to ask him still)

kurt will have to recieve the photos before the end of the month to be eligible for that particular month.

i believe this can be alot of fun, so hopefully we have some stronger numbers than last season.

still trying to devise a way to vote for your favorite picture in the photo of the year class, so that we can award the winner on the presentation night with his trophy (the framed photo)....any ideas???????

this should be all worked out in the next week or 2, and then its on like donkey kong.....