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The Annual Beginners Portfolio Competition is held in November and is open to members & non-members alike, provided that they have not come first, second or third in a national or international competition, such as BSoUP's Open and Beginners Portfolio Competitions, BSoUP or St Abbs Splash-Ins, Image, U/W Photographer of the Year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Marine Conservation Society Antibes festival of underwater images, Dive Magazine’s British Underwater Image Festival etc.

Each photographer must submit a portfolio of six images.

When submitting the portfolio, all six images should be laid out on a black background, 1400 pixels wide by 1050 pixels tall (at a resolution of 72 pixels/inch), organised in two rows of three images, and saved as a jpg file. The overall image must be no taller than 1050 pixels and no wider than 1400 pixels. Larger images will be rejected by the server. See the "Re-sizing Images For Competitions" for more details but please that NOTE individual image sizes given are for guidance only - you may wish to include images of different sizes to those quoted. This is fine provided the entry has two rows of three images.

All portfolios will be judged by the audience present at the meeting.

Many of the past Beginners, Best of British, Open, and Theme Portfolios are reproduced in our Gallery. You might like to browse through them and read the linked pages on how the photographs were taken and/or chosen to gain an insight into what makes a winner. There is also an article on choosing slides for a winning portfolio by Colin Doeg called Six of the best which you might like to read before preparing your portfolio.

The sponsor, DIVER Magazine, reserves the right to publish the winning portfolio.

Winner 2011 © Sean Arrowsmith

RULES

General

Members of the British Society of Underwater Photographers and those who participate in the Society’s competitions are expected to observe the Underwater Photographers Code of Conduct

1. All entries must have been taken underwater.

2. The entrant must be the photographer.

3. Swimming pool and aquarium shots are not eligible, unless specifically allowed in a special competition.

4. Images entered must not have come first, second or third in a national or international competition, such as BSoUP's Open Portfolio or Beginners' Portfolio Competitions, the BSoUP or St Abbs Splash-Ins, BSoUP/ Diver Print Competition, Image, U/W Photographer of the Year, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Marine Conservation Society, Antibes festival of underwater images, Dive Magazine’s British Underwater Image Festival, etc.

5. All entries are judged by the audience present at the relevant BSoUP meeting or event.

6. Image manipulation is allowed, but bear in mind that these are underwater photography competitions, not Photoshop creativity competitions

Competition Image Requirements

1. Entries must be digital and in JPG format. No PowerPoint or other formats will be accepted.

2. As the image will be projected, it is advisable to convert it to sRGB, which is a better profile for projections.

3. File names should include your name (e.g. john_smith01.jpg).

Competition Entries

1. All entries for competitions at the monthly BSoUP meetings must be received by 10pm on the Wednesday a week before the event. Details and any changes are available on the website

2. Digital images must be submitted using the Competitions entry form on the BSoUP website

3. Monthly  competitions are open for entry following the previous month’s BSoUP meeting.

COPYRIGHT

Copyright of all images submitted remains with the photographer. BSoUP reserves the right to use the winning images on its website, in its magazine 'in focus' and in press releases in connection with the 'Focus on'' competition. Any such images will be credited to the photographer.

DIVER Trophy winners