I have been trying to decipher the Houston entry rules. They are accepting digital images for the jury process for the first time. I thought this would be a good thing, but they are making it really complicated for some reason. Other shows basically say.. 2 images per disc with at least a 4 megapixel camera.. not edited. Pretty easy. Here is the rules for Houston
"Digital images should be submitted on a CD containing two jepg files. Each image should be 1800 pixels wide x1200 pixels in height or 6" X 4" at 300dpi. The images should be RGB (or sRGB, if you have the option). No CMYK images accepted. The image should be saved at the highest resolution baseline" orstandard jpeg" setting (do not save as a progressive jpeg). This size will allow us to view for jurying purposes and have a small print quality version, should we need it.
When naming your images, please only use letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores; do not use spaces; keep the file name under 24 characters and end with a .jpg. Please start with at least a portion of your last name and a portion of the quilt title (depending on length). For example if your name is Sally Smith and your piece is called Yellow Day, please name your images Smith_yellowday_full.jpg and Smith_yellowday_detail.jpg."
Geeze.. can they make it any more difficult? I can't get my images to 1800x1200. I can get it to 1800, but the other side is 1350. I can't get all of the numbers to match up to what they require. Plus, doing this reduces the image size from what it was, so I don't know how they can look at it and get a sharp image to jury.
I don't know what to do about this.. should I just get slides made, or skip the entry all together?
3 comments:
hi Teri,
basically you need to take the photos on the highest, largest setting on the camera, then use the photo-editing program that your camera came with to 'crop' the image--you want to reduce the 1350 to 1200 but to leave the 1800 alone. 'Crop' is what Photoshop calls it, but most programs should have a similar function. This cuts off the extra photo to make the dimension fit as a 4x6 rather than a 4.5x6. You do not want to be squashing the image (distorting the picture of your quilt), you want to cut off the extra. Your program probably has a way to do both cropping and squashing/stretching.
If your image is 1200 x 1800 pixels, it will be correct and perfectly viewable for them and can be printed at 4x6 inches without a problem.
Don't worry about the RGB/CMYK thing. The camera most likely takes the image in RGB and you would have to manually change it to CMYK in your photo editing program (most home/non-professional programs don't even give you the option to convert to CMYK anyway). Also, your camera most likely saves your photo as a jpeg/jpg anyway. If not you should have the option to save it as a jpeg, that's a pretty standard file format.
When you're saving the resized image in the photo-editing program, that's when you would need to rename it, and do use the underscores as they recommend. This makes it possible for any computer (PC or Mac) to open the files.
I hope this helps and doesn't confuse you further. Good luck with your entry.
Teri,
I forgot to mention that you should not increase the pixels to reach 1200x1800. You should only be decreasing it down to 1200x1800. If you do not have that many pixels in your original digital photo, you need to use a higher-quality setting on the camera or find a better camera.
P.S. I would love to see a picture of your quilt if you are willing to post one before the show in Houston.
Gee Teri, I felt the same way when I read the instructions. I figured I'd go to my professional photographer & let him figure out what they meant if I had anything to enter (which I don't this year).
I'd like to make a copy of what Diva has explained. It's nice to know there is someone out there who understands this stuff!
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