How this works:
1. Each month, locations to photograph are determined by PFSTL administrators, and are posted to the PFSTL private group on Facebook as events. Event descriptions include where we’ll meet beforehand, the parameters for where we’ll shoot, and if applicable, where we’ll meet again afterward. The time and date are also included, as are any special considerations or restrictions.
2. During the shoots, photographers are encouraged to use whatever camera and platform they wish (film and digital are equally welcome, as are any camera type, including smartphones and tablets). Photographers must stay within the confines of the set parameters for the location, but may photograph things outside of the boundaries from within them. All events are scheduled for a set, two hour window. Upon request, photographers may, ON OCCASION, shoot at a different two hour time on the same day as the event. However, this must be approved by the administrators beforehand.
3. After the event, each member will upload their images to the corresponding album, which they can locate by selecting the “More” pull-down tab under main menu options (visible on the group homepage when logged in), selecting “Media”, and then clicking on “Albums”. If we just finished photographing Downtown, the album will be named something like, “Photo Flood XX: Downtown”. Images should be uploaded as JPEGs, can be any size (although the uploader will recompress the images for file management/consistency), and must be free of watermarks. The image galleries are non-public, and only PFSTL members will be able to view these images. Please note, all members are responsible for uploading their own images, which must ONLY be added to the corresponding album. DO NOT upload your full image content to the PFSTL group thread or to any other area of the group forum. From the day of the event, members will have 8 days to process and upload their images before judging begins. Reminders about this may be sent periodically to participating members, or posted via a related forum topic. Note: By uploading your images to the PFSTL Facebook group or any other PFSTL image platform, you (photographer) agree to allow PFSTL to publish your images for use in related articles on the PFSTL website, and/or for publication in promotions of PFSTL or for press related purposes. Full copyright remains with the photographer; this permission represents a non-exclusive license agreement between PFSTL and the photographer.
4. For every event, judging is conducted by an administrator (usually the own that leads the event), and two, guest judges. If you are interested in guest judging, please contact the administrator. Each judge selects their ten favorite images from the album corresponding to the event for which they are judging. The judges have 24 hours to make their selections. All of the images that go into the PFSTL public post are culled from the images selected by these three individuals. The image with the most judges’ votes wins the round; in the event of a tie, “likes” from members on the individual images will determine the winner. The winning image always appears second in the public post. “Likes” are tallied for each of the judges’ picks, and determine which other images are posted. Any image that receives more than one vote from the judges makes it into the post by default, regardless of “likes”. The administrator reserves the right of editorial intervention over the guest judges’ votes (ie. if all of the images selected are abstractions of a single park bench, the administrator may intervene to improve the variety of imagery in the resulting post). For each round, the 20 best images are published.
