Illusion is international contest of art photography, organized by EPS Art Group from Skopje, North Macedonia.

The contest is divided into following sections:
A. OPEN [color digital - PSA PIDC]
B. PORTRAIT [color digital - PSA PIDC]
C. PEOPLE [color digital - PSA PIDC]
D. OPEN [monochrome digital - PSA PIDM]
E. NATURE [color/Greyscale Monochrome digital - PSA ND]
F. PHOTOJOURNALISM [color/Greyscale Monochrome digital - PSA PJD]

Closing date: 07 July 2024
All judging completed by: 17 July 2024
Score Reports sent by: 24 July 2024
Awards mailed by: 15 September 2024
On-line gallery publish date: 15 September 2024
Catalog publication date: 15 September 2024

Depending of the number of sections participant enters, the entry fee cost as follow:
• 15 € for any 3 sections;
• 20 € for any 6 sections;

Discount for groups:
• 5-10 participants = 10%;
• 11-20 participants = 20%;
• 21-30 participants = 30%.

Payment of entry fee can be made in the following ways:
- Through our web site: https://photogroup8.com/illusion/

Images from participants who did not pay entry fee will not be taken into consideration.

IMAGE AND ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: This exhibition is open to anyone; however, an entry may be rejected when the Sponsor or the Exhibition Organizers, in their reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not conform to exhibition rules and these ES-COE. Membership in any photographic organization is not required.
Entries will not be accepted from any entrant who is on the PSA Penalties List for Ethics Violation. Entry fees are not refundable in these circumstances.
Image creation and ownership
In all sections of the exhibition, images must originate as photographs made by the entrant. They may not incorporate identifiable images produced by anyone else (for example: clip art, replacement skies, or stock images). Images created in whole or in part by image creation software (frequently called ‘AI’ images) are not allowed. Editing or alteration of images is permitted within the limits specified in the relevant section definitions that are available here https://psa-photo.org/page/division-definitions
Any person submitting or attempting to submit a totally AI generated image that does not begin with a light capture from the maker, from any Photographic Society of America exhibition, social media, event, or publication, other than for editorial purposes, shall be prohibited from PSA for a period of from 3 years to life.

PSA Star Ratings: To receive proper Star ratings credit from PSA, entrants must provide their names and country exactly the same way in each exhibition. Aliases are not permitted. Please contact PSA in the event of name changes or relocating to another country. Using one’s name differently in different exhibition exposes the entrant to the risk that many of their acceptances may not be recognized by PSA Star Ratings.
Reproduction: The entrant permits the sponsors to reproduce all or part of the entered material free of charge for publication and/or display in media related to the exhibition. This may include low resolution posting on a website. The Photographic Society of America (PSA) may request specific permission from entrants to reproduce entered images in its educational materials. The terms of that permission will be mutually agreed between the entrant and PSA except in the circumstances where the entered image is found to breach the PSA Ethics Policy. In those circumstances the image may be reproduced by PSA, without the entrant’s further permission, for educational purposes to illustrate serious exhibition rule violations. For those reproductions, the entrant’s name will be withheld.
Entries will not be accepted from entrants who indicate that their images may not be reproduced in materials related to the exhibition. The exhibition assumes no liability of any misuse of copyright
Re-use of accepted images: Any image that has been accepted in this exhibition, past or present, may not be entered again in the same Division Star Ratings Class in any future instances of this exhibition. It may, of course, be entered in any other PSA recognised exhibitions but must always have the same title. Re-titling in another language is not allowed.
Entry: An Entry consists of, up to and including, four (4) images entered by a single entrant into the same Section. An entrant may only enter a specific Section once. Entrants may not enter identical or similar images into the same section or different sections of the same exhibition. Similar is defined as almost identical in subject, composition, props, lighting, or technique so that a reasonable person viewing the entries together would decide the entrant has duplicated the previous image except for minor changes.
Titles: Each image must have a unique title that relates to the content of the image. That unique title must be used for entry of that image or of an identical Image into any and all PSA-Recognized exhibitions. Titles must be 35 characters or fewer. No titles may be visible to the judges, and nothing in the image may identify the entrant. Titles may not include file extensions such as .jpg or .jpeg (or any other camera capture filenames such as IMG 471). Titles may not consist of personal identifiers possibly augmented by a number; or include words such as “untitled” or “no title”. Titles may not consist solely of numbers unless those numbers are prominently contained within the image, such as a contestant number in a race.
Color and Monochrome:
Color and Monochrome images from the same capture that share substantial pictorial content in common will be considered the same image and must be given the same title.
The Exhibition will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the PSA
An entrant’s images will not be presented to the judges consecutively. An entrant’s four images will be distributed throughout four rounds of judging in that section. Distribution of images will be in the same round order as submitted by the entrant. At no stage will a judge be able to view all the entrant’s images together.

Photographs must be in JPEG format, with dimensions horizontal 1920 x vertical 1080 pixels at 300 DPI, JPEG compression (if Photoshop used for export): 7-12, file size maximum 4 Mb. No file naming is needed. Digital images cannot be altered, including resizing in either direction, by the exhibition or by the exhibition’s equipment before or during judging.
The photographs of authors with the application are submitted in these ways:
- uploading thought our web site: https://photogroup8.com/illusion/

JUDGING METHOD AND TARGET RANGE
The judging will be done by remote online judging. All judges will be using equipment capable of displaying images at 100% of the image resolution. Judges will be using color calibrated equipment.
Target Range for Acceptances is 26% - 30%.

- Gabriele Meyerhoefer (Sections: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H & I) (AFIAP, PPSA, DVF; Germany)
- Eva Lambropoulou (Sections: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H & I) (EFIAP/G, EPSA, GPU CR4; Greece)
- Ana Joveva (Sections: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H & I) (QPSA, KMF NPU; North Macedonia)

At the international exhibition Illusion the following awards will be presented:
6x PSA Gold medals [1 per section];
6x IAAP Silver Medals [1 per section];
18x IAAP Ribbons [2 per section];
6x NFU Bronze Medals [1 per section];
27x NFU Diploma [3 per section];
The organizer reserves the right to award the most successful authors of Illusion depend on the total number of the entrants.

Statement on Subject Matter - applicable to all sections
The fundamental rule that must be observed at all times and applies to all sections offered in exhibitions with PSA recognition is that the welfare of living creatures is more important than any photograph. This means that practices such as baiting of subjects with a living creature and removal of birds from nests, for the purpose of obtaining a photograph, are highly unethical, and such photographs are not allowed in any exhibition with PSA recognition. Under no circumstances may a living creature be placed in a situation where it will be killed, injured or stressed for the purpose of obtaining a photograph. Images that show live creatures being fed to captive animals, birds or reptiles are not permitted under any circumstances.
There are also concerns about the use of aerial photography, drones, helicopters, low flying aircraft. These should not cause any interference with other individuals or animals which causes a disturbance in their normal activity or disrupt the way any individuals or animals interact with their environment. Entrants in PSA recognized exhibitions should comply with all relevant laws and regulations, associated with aerial photography, in the country in which the image was taken.
Entry into PSA recognized exhibitions is conditional on accepting these policies. The content of images must comply with the General Conditions and with the Division and Section definitions listed in these conditions. Images that - in the sole opinion of the judges- do not comply, will be disqualified so the entrant may be aware of the problem when considering entry into other exhibitions with PSA recognition.
PSA Monochrome Definition
An image is considered to be Monochrome only if it gives the impression of having no color (i.e. contains only shades of grey which can include pure black and pure white) OR it gives the impression of being a greyscale image that has been toned in one color across the entire image. (For example by Sepia, red, gold, etc.) A greyscale or multi-colored image modified or giving the impression of having been modified by partial toning, multi-toning or by the inclusion of spot coloring does not meet the definition of monochrome and shall be classified as a Color Work.
Greyscale Monochrome images may be entered for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel but toned images are not permitted for these sections.
Monochrome images may not be entered in color sections of PPD or PID.
Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel
These sections require images to be truthful records, so there are limits on the amount of manipulation allowed.
PSA statement of subject matter applies to all sections.
Editing Guidelines
Processing or editing must be limited to making the image look as close to the original scene as possible, except that conversion to grayscale monochrome is allowed.
Allowed editing techniques:
● Cropping, straightening and perspective correction.
● Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens distortion.
● Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene.
● Complete conversion of color images to grayscale monochrome.
● Blending of multiple images of the same subject and combining them in camera or with software (exposure blend-ing or focus stacking);
● Image stitching – combining multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively (panora-mas);

Editing techniques that are not allowed:
● Removing, adding to, moving or changing any part of an image, except for cropping and straightening.
● Adding a vignette during processing.
● Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
● Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
● All conversions other than to complete grayscale monochrome.
● Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of color

PSA/FIAP Nature Definition
Content Guidelines
● Nature photography records all branches of natural history except anthropology and archaeology. This includes all as-pects of the physical world, both animate and inanimate, that have not been made or modified by humans.
● Nature images must convey the truth of the scene that was photographed. A well-informed person should be able to identify the subject of the image and be satisfied that it has been presented honestly and that no unethical practices have been used to control the subject or capture the image. Images that directly or indirectly show any human activi-ty that threatens the life or welfare of a living organism are not allowed.
● The most important part of a Nature image is the nature story it tells. High technical standards are expected and the image must look natural.
● Objects created by humans, and evidence of human activity, are allowed in Nature images only when they are a nec-essary part of the Nature story.
● Photographs of human-created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domesticated animals, human-created hybrid animals and mounted or preserved zoological specimens are not allowed.
● Images taken with subjects under controlled conditions, such as zoos, are allowed.
● Controlling live subjects by chilling, anesthetic or any other method of restricting natural movement for the purpose of a photograph is not allowed.

Photojournalism Definition
Photojournalism entries are:
● images with informative content and emotional impact,
● reflecting the human presence in our world.
● The journalistic (story-telling) value of the image should receive priority over pictorial quality.
● Images that misrepresent the truth, such as those from events or activities arranged specifically for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are not eligible.
● When Human Interest is specified, those images depict a person or persons in an interactive, emotional or unusual situation, excluding sports action.
Photo Travel
A Photo Travel image is a portrayal of the real world we live in, as it is found naturally. There are no geographic limitations.
Content guidance:
1. If the image is predominantly or exclusively a land-, sea- or cityscape, these “scapes” must include characteristic, dis-tinctive and recognizable physical features, although it is not necessary that the image identify the exact location;
2. Images that predominantly or exclusively depict people and their activities must illustrate a distinctive culture of a country, region, or continent;
3. Images that predominately or exclusively depict animal populations are allowed, if the animals are in their native environment and are characteristic of that country, region, or continent;
4. Portraits or other close-ups of people or objects, in addition to meeting the above paragraphs as applicable, must include elements depicting some of the surrounding environment to make it obvious that the image was not taken in a studio setting;
5. Images from events or activities arranged for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are NOT allowed.
6. Time exposures are allowed, if they do not dominate the image as a special effect (star trails, for example, are a dominating effect).
7. Highly distorted images such as those produced by fish eye lenses are NOT allowed.

PORTRAIT PSA PIDC. All images in this section must be color.
Portrait photography is about capturing the essence, personality, identity and attitude of a person utilizing backgrounds, lighting and posing.
Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections.
PEOPLE PSA PIDC. All images in this section must be color.
People photography is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality, essence, identity and attitude of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses.
Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections.
LANDSCAPE PSA PIDC. All images in this section must be color.
Landscape photography is the art of capturing the beauty and vastness of the natural world (and sometimes human-made elements within it) through the lens of a camera. It's more than just taking a snapshot of a pretty scene; it's about using composition, lighting, and technical expertise to create an image that evokes emotion, tells a story, and conveys the photographer's unique perspective.
Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections.

NOTIFICATION
Notification cards will be sent by email.

CATALOG
All entrants of the event (participants which submitted works and paid entry fee) will receive on-line PDF catalog of the photo event. The organizer will take all possible care while handling the emails, awards and catalogs, however will assume no liability for damages. It is understood that awards can be lost in shipment to the recipients. Exhibitions are required to ship replacement medals when notified an award has not been received within 120 days after end of judging. Exhibitions are advised to ask the entrant to confirm the correct address. If a second mailing fails, then exhibitions are not under any further obligation to send replacement medals. Replacement PSA medals may be ordered by contacting the appropriate Exhibition Standards Director.

Chairman:
mr Jovan Naumoski
Karposevo Vostanie 3/1-14
1000 Skopje;
North Macedonia

Exhibition e-mail: [email protected]

Software provider: IAAP [[email protected]]

Entry via webpage: https://photogroup8.com/illusion/