CAPA Competitions

 

CAPA (Canadian Association of Photographic Art) runs a number of competitions throughout the year as individual and/or club competitions. Club members can join CAPA and enter their competitions as individuals. Alternatively, members can submit images to be considered for the club’s entry into the CAPA club competitions. The list of current competitions and detailed submission criteria can be found on the CAPA website.  Each competition has themes to break up the entries into groups for judging and these themes change from year to year.

CAPA posts the previous years’ winning shots for both the club and individual competitions.  Reviewing these top images can be instructive.

An updated Judging Criteria came into effect on September 1, 2021:
Judges will award their scoring based on creative vision and the story telling value of an image along with the pictorial quality and technical quality (e.g. quality of execution, innovation, creativity, and ‘wow’ factor) as well as the degree that the image is within the “Scope-of-Theme.”

Our Participation

As a member of CAPA, Highland Glen will be submitting images to five CAPA (Canadian Association of Photographic Art) Competitions as a club this year (2023-2024).  The club can submit a maximum of six images per competition and all images must be from different photographers.

The rules below are the essential rules for the competitions for this year.  See the provided links for more details on each competition.  Winners must be able to provide the submitted image’s original un-retouched (not cropped, or edited) JPEG or camera RAW file.  A DNG or PSD file are not recognized as an original file, except for images captured on specific cameras.
We will participate in the following competitions:

1. The Nature/Wildlife Competition encourages you to submit your best nature and wildlife images from a wide range of topics.  Two (2) of the club’s six (6) images must be entered into different themes.
   NOTE: This competition has restricted subject and editing conditions.  Typically, hand-of-man is not allowed or restricted. Read the detailed rules on the CAPA site!
   Your image must fit into one of the following themes:
   1. Botanical – wild plants photographed in their natural environment
   2. Insects, Reptiles & Amphibians – such as: alligators, ants, bees, beetles, butterflies, crickets, crocodiles, dragonflies, frogs, gecko, hornets, iguana, lizard, mantis, mosquitoes, snakes, turtles, wasps, etc…
   3. Landscape – subjects such as weather phenomena, geological formations, cityscapes, landscapes, seascapes and natural phenomena, planets, stars and astronomical events.
   4. Nature – subjects such as living animals, birds and marine subjects – under the control and feeding of humans if not obvious – such as zoos, game farms, animal preserves, aquarium, etc…
   5. Wildlife – only living and untamed wildlife mammals, birds and marine subjects.
2. The Black and White Competition encourages you to exercise your creative skills with a black and white image.
   Your image must fit into one of the following themes:
   1. Architecture – a human-made structure (mobile, free-standing, or outdoor). Image can be taken from inside or outside the structure. Includes urban and rural settings.
   2. Dilapidated – abandoned aircraft, boats, buildings, ships, structures, trains and vehicles.
      
   3. Landscape – weather phenomena, geological formations, landscapes, seascapes and natural phenomena such as planets, stars and astronomical events.
   4. Person(s) – traditional or casual portraits, and could incorporate the workspace and/or environment.  Treat all subjects with respect and dignity.
3. The Ontario Zone Competition will reflect your interpretation of the Ontario ‘landscape’.  To accommodate the providing of scores and comments, camera clubs are being limited to only uploading a maximum of five (5) images from 5 different club members.
   Note: The definition of ‘landscape’ is quite broad and details should be reviewed on the competition site.
   Your image must fit into one of the following themes:
   1. the Ontario urban landscape
   2. the Ontario natural landscape
4. The Colour Competition encourages you to exercise your creative skills with a colour image.
   Your image must fit into one of the following themes:
   1. Landscape – natural landscape, urban landscape or seascape.
      
   2. Man-made Structures/Objects– any man-made object, buildings, transportation (air, land, sea or space), still life, rural and city landscapes.
      
   3. Nature/Wildlife – subjects such as amphibians, flowers, insects, marine-life, reptiles, wild or domesticated animals or birds, etc.
   4. Person(s) – traditional or casual portraits, and could incorporate the workspace and/or environment.
       
5. The Canada: My Country Competition is looking for images that symbolize our unique Canadian identity and the beauties of our country.  Suggestions for images are provided at the CAPA website.  Image themes are defined by where the picture was taken.
   Your image must fit into one of the five regional themes:
   1. Atlantic Zone (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland & Labrador & Prince Edward Island)
   2. Pacific Zone (British Columbia & Yukon)
   3. Prairie Zone (Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan & Northwest Territory)
   4. Ontario Zone (includes Nunavut Territory)
   5. Quebec Zone

Image Standards

Submitted JPG image must comply with the following:

1. Dimensions:
   Maximum horizontal size: 1400 pixels and
   Maximum vertical size: 1050 pixels
   Note: One of the dimensions must be exactly the maximum allowed size and neither dimension may exceed the maximum pixels for that dimension
2. Colour Space: Should be sRGB
3. Colour Accuracy: Strongly recommend that you calibrate your monitor to ensure colour accuracy from your monitor to the image projected to the judges
4. Maximum file size: 1.8 MB

Filenames

Image filename should be my name–title of  image where:

• the first and last name are separated by a space
• words in the title are separated by a space
• the photographers name and the title are separated by a hyphen and no spaces

  For example:
  Sally Brown-The Wild Rose.jpg
  Oliver South-The Double Rainbow.jpg
  Winston Rogers-Canada Day.jpg
  John Wayne-Sandy Beach.jpg

Do NOT use only numbers (i.e. Sally Brown-123456.jpg)
Do NOT include punctuation marks or symbols such as / –_ , ; : ‘’ “” ! ? & $%*{} [ ] @ # &) or quotation marks in the filename
Do NOT use the same filename for more than one image in a submission, such as “untitled.jpg” or “flower.jpg”

Image Titles

Images must have a title.

NOTE:  In CAPA competitions, the judges are asked consider if the image title compliments or contributes to the vision or message being presented in the image and includes this aspect when assigning a score for the image presented to them.  You may use the scientific or common-name title for the subject of an image submitted to all Nature/Wildlife themes with the exception of Landscape.

Following are some samples of creative and inviting image titles.

Drained Of Emotion
Essence Of Victory
Agony Of Defeat
Flood Season
In A Days Work
Dashed Hopes

Titles may NOT contain the club’s name or the photographer’s name

Do NOT include punctuation or symbols in the title.
Please refrain from using ALL CAPITALS.