Scope of Competition

The ‘urban’ landscape sub-theme encompasses ‘cityscapes’ and ‘rural’ human settlements, and can entail street photography, candid depictions of groups of people, architectural shots, buildings, transportation, etc., as well as documentary and social commentary. It can include long exposure.

The ‘natural’ landscape sub-theme encompasses earth, water, air, flora, and fauna, and can entail groups of wild or domestic animals & birds, and/or wild or domesticated trees, plants, or flowers, as well as the hand of man, within the frame. Its subject can be the countryside, a rural scene, varying terrain, seascape, waterscape, the night sky, or an astronomical event, etc. It can include long exposure. Note however that the ‘landscape’ is to be the overall or prime subject of the image.

Both sub-themes focus on the submitter’s interpretation of the Ontario ‘landscape’. Thus, it cannot entail a portraiture photograph such as portrait of a specific person, nor a portrayal of a specific individual animal, bird, fauna, or flora. As such it is to be neither ‘wildlife’ or ‘nature’ photography. Neither can it entail a ‘close-up’, i.e., a tightly cropped shot that shows a single object up close, at significantly more detail than the field of view the human eye usually perceives

Submission Criteria

• The competition is open solely to current, paid-up, CAPA individual members resident in CAPA’s Ontario Zone and Camera Clubs in Ontario Zone.
• Individuals CAPA members must indicate the sub-theme into which they are submitting their image. They may submit only one image in each sub-theme, to an overall maximum total of two submissions.
• Camera clubs can submit a maximum of 6 images and can be dispersed amongst the two sub-themes.
• Eligibility Criteria – All entrants must read, meet, and agree to CAPA’s standard Eligibility Criteria for image submissions. – Read Eligibility Criteria here.
• Image Editing – Any and all in-camera and post-processing techniques can be employed. This includes combining multiple images and elements into a final image. However, the entrant must have taken each and all components used in the final image. Digital frame, pin-line, borders and mats are also permitted in this competition. Colour, monochrome, duo and multi-tone, and infra-red images will be accepted.

Title of Image

When images are uploaded into a competition, you are required to enter the title of your image into the Title Field.  Title can be in either  English or French or both.

Do Not: enter your name, the name of the photographer or the club name in the Title Field (that is for the Title of the image)

Do Not: include punctuation or symbols (such as /, ; : ‘’ “” ! ? & $%*{} [ ] @ # &) or quotation marks in the Title of your image.

The Image Title should be simple, and introduce or set the mood or perspective for your image.  For example:  Sublime Nova Scotia Sunset

A weak image title, such as ‘pretty flower,’ will fail to stimulate the judge’s interest in the image and may result in a lower score than expected.

Image File Name

Do Not: include punctuation marks or symbols such as / , ; : ‘’ “” ! ? & $%*{} [ ] @ # &) or quotation marks in the Image File name. For example, do not use: “NAME OF PHOTOGRAPHER”it_a_red rose”.jpg”

The image file name that you create prior to uploading into this competition should also be simple, and could be the same as the Image Title. For example: John Snow-Sublime Nova Scotia Sunset

Image Size – Dimensions

You must ensure your image is re-sized to meet the following two parameters:

1. Saved as a jpg image with a maximum file size of 1.8 MB.
2. Dimensions: Maximum horizontal size: 1400 pixels and maximum vertical size: 1050 pixels.

Note: Images smaller than the maximum dimensions will ONLY be accepted when one of the image edges has a horizontal size is 1400 pixels or the vertical size is 1050 pixels.  For example: square image – 1050 x 1050 pixels; landscape 1400 x 800 pixels; or portrait 700 x 1050 pixels.

Note: Images will NOT be rotated by the judges and will scored as submitted.

During the uploading process of your image, our online competition system will verify if the image is less than 1.8 MB and meets the two parameters.

If your image fails this verification process, you will receive an error message and it will appear below the upload image box.

Depending on the error message – you will need to either reduce the file size of the image to be 1.8 MB or less or re-size the dimensions of your image.  After doing so, please re-try uploading your image.

Suggestions – Use sRGB colour space for your image.  For colour accuracy: we strongly recommend that you calibrate your monitor to ensure colour accuracy from your monitor to the image projected to the judges.

Judging Criteria

1. Only Certified CAPA Judges will be used to evaluate the images submitted. The organizers will attempt to ensure that at least half of the judges are from outside the Ontario Zone.
2. An Image’s title may be used by the judges in evaluating a submission, so entrants should take care in selecting a title that complements or contributes to the vision or message being presented in the image.
3. Judges will award their scoring primarily based on the ‘Emotional’ components of the image, that is its creative vision and the story telling value (e.g. quality of mood, impact, subject, execution, innovation, creativity, and the ‘wow’ factor) and the degree that the image is within the Scope of a sub-theme. Technical and Organizational factors, such as exposure, sharpness, focus, space, and composition, will be taken into account solely to the degree they do or do not support or reinforce the creative vision and story telling. Images will not be penalized in scoring for so-called technical rule infractions, such as focus, if that is immaterial to the creative vision and story telling.

Likewise, judges take into consideration in their scoring the degree to which the entrant’s use of techniques such as digital frame, pin-line, borders, mats, colour, monochrome, duo and multi-tone, and infra-red, contributes to or supports the creative vision and the story telling value of the image.

Competition Processes

• Closing Date of Competition – January 15, 2023 at midnight Eastern Standard Time.
• How To Enter Competition – check out our How To Upload Images To CAPA Competition here.
• Competition Coordinator – Glenn Bloodworth – ontario@capacanada.ca

Special Note: Questions about the scope of the competition and/or the editing criteria should be directed to the Competition Coordinator prior to the closing day of the competition.