Jason Edwards on assignment
We have been receiving a lot of questions about preparing your entry for the 2009 Travel Photography Scholarship . Our mentor and on-assignment National Geographic photographer, Jason Edwards has shared some of his thoughts on what he will be looking for and also some guidelines in relation to that grey stormy area of 'digital adjustments'.
We hope you find this useful when preparing your application.
Preparing your entries - digital adjustment guidelines
-Calibration and colour Images must be colour profiled/corrected using a calibrated monitor and utilising Adobe RGB 98 colour space before submission. Allowances will NOT be made for poorly colour managed/corrected images.
-Please ensure your images are not over saturated and faithfully represent the subject matter. The same applies to Contrast Levels, the resultant image should be realistic.
-Sharpening is allowed but use sparingly – many images are ruined by over-sharpening. Likewise for Noise Reduction, only use this function where absolutely necessary, and keep it to a minimum.
-Mild cropping is allowed, but please be mindful that if you are a finalist and the original file is requested for comparison with your submitted image, you may be penalized for excessive cropping. We are interested in your ability to capture the image at the time, not find the perfect composition whilst sitting at the computer.
-Digital adjustments are only acceptable if limited to minor cleaning work (removing dust spots), levels, curves, colour, saturation and contrast work. Setting the Black and White Points, minor adjustments to the Curves and correcting for any colour shifts should be all that is required.
-Compositing and multiple exposures are not allowed. Sandwich shots, double exposures, photographs which consist in any way of more than one separate image and images that have been digitally manipulated are not eligible.
-Adding or removing people, animals, parts of animals, plants, reflections, distractions, architecture, objects etc into/from the image is NOT allowed. Always keep in mind as a finalist you may be required to submit the original file or film for comparison.
The faithful representation of what was captured at the time of the shot
being taken must be maintained.
Some thoughts from Jason..
Today the world is awash in imagery but there are fewer Photographers. Is
the art of photography dying, quite possibly, and the root cause is the
reliance on postproduction software to make poor images better. Our
scholarship provides a unique opportunity to learn the art of making a
beautiful image in the field rather than in front of the computer. I am not interested in your skills with imaging software, in fact quite the
opposite.
We are looking for an individual with potential, and the greatest desire to listen and learn. I am working on this assignment and will need your
assistance; this will take patience and focus. Remember that we analyse
every image in your submission, so read the Judging process and Conditions carefully. If one frame is weak then leave it out, you do not necessarily have to submit five images. In addition, the format of your entry does not matter, film, digital, and 35mm or medium format. However, if you are mixing formats ensure the images work together.
The theme of your story does not have to be wondrous or exotic, just a
place you have visited. Look at your immediate life and be creative.
Good Luck!
Jason Edwards
