The Competition at the 2002 Digital Shootout - Bonaire.

Underwater digital still photography is new to everyone. The workshops and experts assembled at this event will whisk you along the learning curve. By the end of the week you will be shooting well enough to enter our friendly competition. The best images shot digitally during the week will be awarded some really impressive prizes.

Digital video has made editing much easier. Do you find it easier to tell a story with video than stills? Then edit your clips and sequences shot with any video camera that week into a quick 2-min.story. We will have editing seminars, but you will need to bring your own editing gear. Edit on your own laptop; otherwise connect two cameras and edit linearly. Enter your story into the video category and be eligible to win prizes.

Adobe Elements and Photoshop are powerful tools for digital and slide shooters. Attend Adobeís highly praised and informative seminars, and use your newly acquired skills to enter the Photoshop category. Bring your own laptop, or use ours* with trial versions of Adobe software. E-6 processing and critiques will be available for film shooters, but there will be no film competition at this event.

*availability limited)

This year the competition categories are:

Digital Still Categories

• MACRO (any underwater image of a 7x5 inch or smaller picture area)
• WIDE ANGLE (underwater images larger than a 7x5 inch picture area)
• PHOTOSHOP (u/w images may be enhanced, manipulated, altered, etc. in this category)
• ABOVE WATER (explore the creative limits of digital outside the housing)

The Digital Still Categories are open to all skill levels.  Only images shot during the week of the Shootout with a digital still camera may compete. Video cameras in ìphotoî mode qualify as long as the resolution is greater than 1 megapixel.

Video Category

• 2 Minute Story (any camera, any tape format, any editing system, any audio or background music). You supply your own editing system.

Video entrants may be of any skill level. Bring your own music but video clips need to be shot during the week of the Shootout. At least 75% should be underwater. Your camera skills as well as editing creativity will be judged. Show off your editing system and methods.

CONSERVATION RULES ‚ Applicable to all entrants and entries.

We are adopting the Conservation Rules established by EPIC®. Marine life should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Entries exhibiting the following behavior will be disqualified.

1.       Divers visibly damaging the environment (e.g. gear dragging or kicking up sand).

2.       Animals with signs of stress (e.g. puffed puffers, inking octopus).

3.       Animals moved to an unnatural environment or risky location.

4.       Animals being fed (especially artificial food from divers).

5.       Marine life being touched (e.g. coral polyps, seahorse tails).

6.       Divers exhibiting poor buoyancy control.

Dive operators at Bonaire have always been conservation-minded. They respect the marine life. Photographers should too. Imagery showing even inadvertent damage gives divers a bad name; as such it should never be shown. Conservation rules will apply and the judgesí decision will be final.

Photographers and videographers retain all copyrights to their images and/or video. Entries will need to be copied to one master CD or videotape for the competition and publicizing the winners.

ÝJUDGING CRITERIA

Stills

ŸOverall Esthetic AppealŸTechnical Image QualityŸCompositionŸ Degree of Difficulty

Video

ŸCamera Handling & TechniqueŸCompositionŸLighting‚Natural/ArtificialŸDegree of Difficulty

PRIZES

First, second and third place will be awarded in each category.