First of all, thanks for such an overwhelming response to the call out for photo submissions in the newsletter we sent yesterday. With over 250 EOI's already, how on earth will we ever be able select just 13 photos is beyond me. But one thing is for certain - we're going to get a lot of enjoyment looking through the photos and I cannot wait! Obviously, this means the competition will be very high, hence I thought I'd give you some more tips to be sure you know exactly what we're looking for.
Firstly - the creative interpretation of the ExplorOz theme is open – so in terms of subject matter this covers everything including dirt tracks, highways, vehicles, perfect
camp scenes, animals, landscapes, structures, even people … HOWEVER it's of no use if there's no WOW factor. Anything too subtle will miss the mark. To get WOW factor, you need good technical skill and composition to make the scene/subject really pop! We want to see photos that have captured something that not many people have seen before but when they see it, it compels them to seek out that experience themselves. So what we're saying is the photos we'll select will have all 3 elements - subject, composition & technical skill = WOW.
So that brings us to my second point - the photos we're looking for have to be print quality at A4 and in landscape orientation. The best resolution for print is usually 300 dpi so for suitability at A4 size the image size would need to be 3508 x 2480 pixels but the bigger the better. And with some cameras now taking images at up to 50MB each that should be no problem. Please note, if the dimensions of your image aren't precise to the A4 spec we can make those adjustments during final production however this might mean some areas of your photo are cropped. If this means nothing to you, then you probably don't have the level of technical requirement to be participating in this photography project. I would expect that photos submitted to this project were originally shot in RAW on a DSLR or 4K Drone, and then lightly edited or maybe just cropped using Lightroom or Photoshop to make further adjustments & improvements. For photographers, they will know how to output an image to A4 landscape in hi-res which is all that we've asked for.
We will select 13-15 images so I will be looking for great variety in the theme, colour, season, style, perspective and subject matter of each one rather than repetition of much the same thing.
And if you don't follow the instructions, I will ignore your submission. Specifically do not send photos via email. Only photos uploaded to your personalised upload link will be considered. And sorry due to such high volumes, I cannot respond individually to any additional queries at this early stage. If you've been successful in having your photo selected you will be advised but as we've documented, the submission period is open until 6th June.