Photo Explorer is international contest of art photography, organized by Photo club Besa from Elbasan, Albania.

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

Closing date: 05 September 2022
Judging date: 15 September 2022
Notification date: 29 September 2022
Awards mailed by: 30 October 2022
On-line gallery publish date: 30 October 2022
Catalog publication date: 30 October 2022

Depending of the number of sections participant enters, the entry fee cost as follow:
• any 1, 2, or 3 sections = 20 EUR
• any 4, 5, or 6 sections = 25 EUR

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://pcbesa.com/explorer
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 Conditions of Entry. Membership in any photographic organization is not required.
Sanctions: Entries will not be accepted from any entrant who is currently sanctioned by PSA. Entry fees are not refundable in these circumstances
PSA Star Ratings
To receive proper Star ratings credit from PSA, entrants must provide their names and country exactly the same 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.

Image Creation
Entries must originate as photographs (image-captures of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally.

Certification:
By virtue of submitting an image, the entrant certifies the work as his or her own. Images may not incorporate elements produced by anyone else (for example: clip art, images or art by others downloaded from the Internet). Aliases are not allowed.

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. Note: Entrants who indicate that their images may not be reproduced or used “will not be eligible for awards” or inclusion in audio-visuals of the exhibition “and could be subject to disqualification” by the exhibition sponsors. The exhibition assumes no liability of any misuse of copyright
Alteration and Computer Generation
Subject to Divisional restrictions (particularly Nature, Photo Travel, and Photojournalism) images may be altered, either electronically or otherwise, by the maker; adjustments to enhance images or creatively modify images are allowed providing the underlying photograph is retained in a way that is obvious to the viewer. Images may not be constructed entirely with a computer, and must be the sole work of the author.
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 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.

Titles:
Each image must have a unique title that is a description 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 maker. 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 and FIAP
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.
An image may be entered in only one section.

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://pcbesa.com/explorer
NOTICE: When an entrant fills in the Entry Form to submit an entry the entrant will see a feature to affirm, he or she has read these Conditions of Entry when he or she fills out the entry form. If the entrant does not so affirm the entry will not be submitted.

To participate at this contest entrants will apply with black white or color works. Maximum number of photographs per section is 4. No title or identification of the maker shall be written anywhere on the face of an image.
Photographs must be sent in digital form, as a picture file with dimension horizontal 1920 x vertical 1080 pixels at 300 DPI. No file naming is needed. Maximum file size is 4 Mb. The contest is not allowed to resize the pictures sent by the entrants.

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%.

Oliver Vukmirovic (hMoL, QPSA, Bosnia and Herzegovina) (Sections A, B, C, D, E and F)
Stefan Ilievski (President NFU, Macedonia) (Sections A, B, C, D, E and F)
Dao Tien Dat (ESVAPA, EFIAP/Diamond 2, MPSA, Vietnam) (Sections A, B, C, D, E and F)

The judges of the event will give following awards:
FIAP Gold Medal - 1 per section (total of 6);
FIAP Blue Ribbon - 2 per section (total of 12);
PSA Gold Medal - 1 per section (total of 6);
PSA Honorable Mention - 2 per section (total of 12);
IAAP Gold Medal - 1 per section (total of 6);
IAAP Silver Medal - 1 per section (total of 6);
IAAP Bronze Medal - 1 per section (total of 6);
IAAP Ribbon - 3 per section (total of 18);
Total 72 awards. The organizer reserves the right to change the number of awards, depending 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 FIAP patronage or 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 FIAP patronage or 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. This rule applies regardless of whether or not the creature being killed, injured or stressed is visible in the captured image.
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.
Entry in this exhibition is conditional on accepting these policies. The content of images must comply with these General Conditions and with the Division and Section definitions listed in these conditions. Images that - in the sole opinion of the judges or the Exhibition Organizers - do not comply, will be disqualified so the entrant may be aware of the problem when considering entry into other exhibitions with FIAP patronage/PSA recognition.
Further details on the PSA's drone policy may be found at https://psa-photo.org/index.php?psa-policies#drone

[MONOCRHOME]
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.

[PSA/FIAP NATURE DEFINITION]
Nature photography records all branches of natural history except anthropology and archaeology. This includes all aspects 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 recorded. 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 activity 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 necessary 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, an aesthetic or any other method of restricting natural movement is not allowed.
No modification that changes the truth of a Nature image is allowed. Images may be cropped but no other technique that removes, adds or moves any part of the image is allowed.
Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise and lens flare are allowed.
Complete conversion of colour images to greyscale monochrome is allowed. Partial conversion, toning and infrared captures or derivations are not allowed.
Multiple images of the same subject that are combined in camera or with software by focus stacking, exposure blending or stitching (images taken consecutively and combined by overlapping) are allowed
Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections
Vignetting and Borders
Vignettes are not allowed in Nature Images. Any border added must be a single border of white or grey, no greater than 3 -5 pixels in width.

[PHOTOJOURNALISM]
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.
Techniques that add, relocate, replace, remove or change any element in the original scene, except by cropping, are not permitted. The only allowable modifications are removal of dust, scratches or digital noise and restoration of the appearance of the existing scene, or complete conversion to full monochrome. Other derivations, including infrared, are not eligible.
Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections.
For the purpose of this exhibition, toned images are not allowed in Photojournalism sections. Any monochrome image entered must be "greyscale monochrome".
Vignetting and Borders
Vignettes are not allowed in Photojournalism images. Any border added must be a single border of white or grey, no greater than 3 -5 pixels in width.

Notification cards will be sent by email.
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 and loses during shipment.

Chairman:
Bekim Kupi
Rruga 11 Nëntori
3000, Elbasan,
Albania

Web: pcbesa.com
Email: [email protected]