I am a member of several photography organisations, one of which is ' The guild of Photographers'. I have been a member for a year now but have never entered the IOM photo competition because the standard is so very high, I've been rather afraid to enter.
I decided this year to put my big girl pants on and enter a few images.
Every month there are over a thousand entries which are judged by some of the UK's most respected photographers.
The judges are looking for technical excellence, impact, lighting, creativity and post production skills amongst other criteria.
Here are the grades information taken from 'The Guild of Photographers' website-
THE SCORING PROCESS
Entries are assessed by very experienced Judges in accordance with national competition judging criteria and graded as follows –
A Platinum Bar .. Images of exceptional or outstanding quality (only awarded to the ultimate of images)
A Gold Bar .. Images of particular distinction (very rare)
A Silver Bar .. Images that are very well crafted (difficult to achieve)
A Bronze Bar .. Images of a strong standard at a national competition level (something to be proud of)
Classified .. Images of a standard worthy of acknowledgement relevant to the genre entered but which are not deemed award winning at national competition level. In many cases it is possible that with one or two small tweaks these images could have scored even higher, so feedback could be of value.
Not scored .. Images that do not reach our 'Classified' level score will not be given a grade. Often images in this position do evidence competition potential, but require some things to be different for the image to score higher in a national competition. In some cases it can be just one thing that prevents a higher score such as dust spots which are clearly visible or the accidental inclusion of a business watermark. Feedback would be of value in these cases so it is well worth considering it.
Well I was absolutely shocked to get a rare Gold on my first ever competition! And of course my 2 bronzes, 'something to be proud of' and I most certainly am still beaming about them. I did also get a classified for a maternity image I entered, not so amazing, but good to know it is still worthy of acknowledgement in the genre and is still better than getting a 'not scored'.
So I think I should start entering more images! Especially flowers!!! :D
