Rules clarification?

[Elsinore]

I went shooting this weekend and used some small apertures (I typically shoot pretty wide), and I noticed I’ve got a couple dust spots on my sensor. The wording of the contest rules say:

The following modifications and filters (or their non-Photoshop equivalents), when applied evenly to the entire image, are allowed:
(…)
* Dust & Scratches

Does this mean correction of dust is allowable, even if it’s a spot treatment? I’m guessing it does, but I just want to make sure before I break out the clone tool that’s otherwise not allowed.

Also, what’s the difference between adjustment layers (allowable) and layers blending (not allowable)? I use GIMP, but only just now getting into some layers stuff for editing, and while the concepts are similar, some of the terminology is different, so I want to make sure I don’t inadvertantly do a disqualifying edit.

[CaptainJim]

Does this mean correction of dust is allowable, even if it’s a spot treatment? I’m guessing it does, but I just want to make sure before I break out the clone tool that’s otherwise not allowed.

Anytime that I shoot something with a sky or pure white in the background I get about 20 dust specks. And you know what, I get rid of then with the clone or healing brush. I know that the rules say not to but I hate dust and get rid of it anyway. With the amount of compression required to post in the contest no one would see the dust anyway but it is one of the first things I look for. That way I can just save the large file and not have to worry about it later. I really don’t think it gives any advantage to clean up an eight MB raw file a little before posting a 45 KB compressed JPG to the contest. As far as voting is concerned nobody would be able to notice if dust was in the original or not. If we were exhibiting 16×20 prints it would be different.
I think the rules are in place so we don’t alter the photograph in a more dramatic way. I’m not saying I’m right but that is the way I interpret things.

[Elsinore]

Yeah, I’d think ultimately cleaning up dust specks doesn’t violate the spirit of the rules, but it’s never a bad idea to clarify. Thankfully I’ve only got a couple spots that are noticeable at f/8 or f/11 and above, but the one is pretty dark and obvious in a clear sky even at contest size/scale. At some point I’m going to have to bite the bullet and get a sensor cleaning kit, cause this speck doesn’t respond to the blower…

[Author]

Posts