Click Here to see the 2007 entries!

2007 Contest Rules

1. Only 2007 ASC members may submit entries for this contest. The photo must be taken by the submitter.
2. Only photos of banded, American Singer canaries or their chicks may be entered. The birds do not have to be owned or bred by the submitter, but the owner's permission must be given.
3. The band numbers of all birds in the photos must be provided (photos of individual birds recommended.)
4. Chicks less than one week old in a photo may be unbanded as long as the ASC band numbers of both parents are provided.
5. Entries may be submitted by email to the ASC webmaster: gwolnik@yahoo.com
6. The ASC webmaster is the only member not eligible to enter the contest or vote. This is to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest in scanning and arranging the entries on the web.
7. Electronic entries should be in JPEG format and each file less than 5 Mbytes in size.
8. Entries may also be submitted by mail (address is listed in the ASC newsletter).
9. Mailed entries must include a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope if you want the photo returned after it is scanned.
10. Limit 5 entries per member.
11. Limit 100 entries total (in order received.)
12. Photos submitted in past years cannot be resubmitted, even if touched up or re-cropped.
13. The American Singers Club reserves the right to post all entries on this website.
14. The American Singers Club reserves the right to print winning entries in their newsletter and a fund-raiser calendar.
15. Only 2007 American Singer club members may vote, one vote per individual member, two votes for dual membership.
16. Entry deadline is August 1, 2007.
17. Entries will be displayed anonymously on the web linked from this page and identified only by their rank in the order received.
18. Mailed entries will be scanned at high resolution, but posted on the web at lower resolution to save space and allow faster viewing by voters. The higher resolution file will be saved for use in printing in a calendar if choosen as a winner.
19. Electronic entries may also be posted on the web at lower resolution, but the higher resolution filed saved for later printing.
20. Voting begins by August 5, 2007 (will be announced to ASC email list)
21. Voting ends August 20, 2007
22. Votes may be submitted by email or mail, member name must be included.
23. Vote for up to 12 entries. Winners will be ranked by total number of votes received. Ties will be broken by the order submitted to the contest.
24. Winners will be announced on the ASC website, at the National Cage Bird Show in November, and also in the following ASC newsletter.
25. The top 12 photos will be displayed on the web with the name of the submitter and the band numbers of the birds.
26. Calendars will show the top 12 photos and should be available for sale at the NCBS in the Denver area Nov. 15-17, as well as mail-order.

Guidelines for Submitting Photos for Calendar Contest

1. Try to take your picture with the highest resolution you have. The calendar printer recommends pictures have at least a 330 dpi resolution. For an 8 1/2 x 11 calendar, this works out to be a resolution of 3,300 x 2,550 pixels. This is approximately equal to an 8 megapixel camera at highest resolution with file sizes ranging from about 1 - 3.4 megabytes depending on JPG compression setting.
2. Do not submit your photos using an email program such as Picasa with default settings that automatically reduces the size of your photo when sending them. You may be unaware that this is happening. These low-res pictures look poor compared to the other high resolution pictures in the calendar. There may be settings in Picasa and other programs to email your pictures in full resolution.
3. If you do not have a fast Internet connection, consider sending a lower resolution picture to the website. If your picture is chosen for publication, you could send in a CD of your high resolution picture.
4. If possible, take the picture in regular landscape format. It will make it easier to fit your picture on the 8.5" x 11" calendar page. If you rotate the camera 90 degrees, the picture will have to be cropped vertically to fit.
5. John Schwanof prefers to edit the photos himself in Photoshop. Unless you are comfortable what you are doing and have experience in the graphic arts, each successive edit you do can degrade the picture quality. This includes cropping. John will try to make your pictures look the best it can be.

More Information

The American Singers Club official website is not being used for this contest because it is anticipated that a lot of web storage will be needed and we don't want to abuse the generosity of our web host, UpAtSix

Small, active birds like canaries can be a challenge to photograph. Some suggestions for improving your photographs include using a 'studio' cage with a solid background and a hole in the bars for the camera lens. Balanced, indirect lighting will prevent sharp shadows. The whole bird should be in focus and no movement blurred. Winning photos should be judged on how well these challenges have been met, as well as overall aesthetic appeal.

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