Lemak Lemang

Camera-phone and PDA can shoot?

Aug 16, 2006 13:25

Can camera-phones and PDAs shoot pictures good enough for photography contests?

Or let me rephrase. When was the last time you saw a masterpiece that was created using a high megapixel camera-phone or PDA?

That was the question I asked a member of the organizing committee that's helming a national photography contest to celebrate Malaysia's 50th anniversary as an independent nationhood next year, sometime in August 2007. And the answer is: No.

The contest, themed "Malaysia @ 50--A day in the life of Malaysia", is obviously tapping the proliferation of digital cameras among the people on the street.

Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Rais Yatim urges Malaysian photography enthusiasts to give their full support to the contest... Pix by Jeff Ooi

The campaign is positioned as a nationwide outing to create a big family photo album for Malaysia, and the driving force is none other than Dr Yatim who is also an avid photographer.


The best pictures and other selected entries will be published in a coffee table book that will form the collection for a nationwide exhibition to commemorate the Merdeka (Independence Day) Celebrations in 2007.

The contest is open to three categories of participants, with a focus on seven subjects: Our Home, At Work, At Play, Our Beliefs, Our Culture, Our Heritage and Our Towns, Villages & Cities.

There is a category for school children and youths (aged 18 and below), the Open Category, and an Open Photo Essay Category, both for those 18 years and above.

No cell phones and PDAs
Entries can be submitted in digital and film format after the shortlisting. However, the bombshell to would-be participants is that pictures captured using camera-phones or PDA will not be accepted.

That aside, the contest has put together a very workable context to promote and uphold the integrity of digital content.

For example, digital manipulation and digital super imposition using excessive post-processing tools and software are not allowed. Similarly, composite photographs, trick photographs, and any other forms of digital imaging or image manipulations will not be accepted.

The contest organizers have said clearly that only minor photo touch-ups such as cropping, adjustment of brightness and color, as well as softening or sharpening of the image are allowed.

It is also stated that digitally captured images that are shortlisted must be submitted on a CD, in JPEG or TIFF format only, and they have to be of a file size of at least 1.5MB, together with a 4 x 6-inch (4R) print which will be used for judging.

Perhaps it's the requirement for a high-resolution picture quality that has invalidated the camera-phone and PDA photographers, at least for now.

But I must tell you that, equipped with 1-megapixel camera-phone, documentary producer Hugh Scott-Symonds has managed to produce images so stunning that I can only admire them in awe.

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