PhotEx - photographic exhibitions made easy

 

Are you looking for an all-in-one solution to run photographic exhibitions? If so, look no further - PhotEx is designed to make organising print and projected digital image exhibitions a breeze from start to finish.

 

Entrants use the World Wide Web to upload their Projected Digital Image entries and to specify their entries for Print classes. Fees are calculated in up to three currencies and can be collected via PayPal. Web entry information is downloaded automatically, and when you unpack print boxes, entry forms and images sent by CD and email can be entered by several people at the same time. The system keeps track of packaging material, assigns entrant and entry numbers and prints labels for Print entries.

Judges use keypads to record their scores. The judging for Projected Digital Images sections can be set to run automatically, so as the last judge enters their score, the system announces the total and shows the next image. This reduces the time taken to judge an exhibition dramatically. The system manages acceptance levels so you can meet your targets, and finds the "best-in-show" entrant.

Projected Digital Images are shown with full colour management and awards can be allocated using a "light box".

The system produces calling lists, banners for accepted entries, catalogue and web material, and sends report cards to entrants by email or in letter form.

 

Step 1 - Invite entries

If you have a list of past members, you can send email invitations to your first PhotEx exhibition. In future years, you can use the last year's entrants list for emailing.

 

Step 2 - Entry processing

You should encourage everyone to enter using the easy-to-use web based form, as it greatly speeds up the process of gathering entries and eliminates transcription errors in names, addresses and image titles. You need do nothing to a PDI-only entry that comes via the web, and you only need to acknowledge that you have received the physical image for Print entries (once you have unpacked the box).

Web entrants can upload their digital image files and can pay on-line via PayPal. They can print out a record of their entry (including a thumbnail of their digital images) and receive an email once their entry has been processed.

Of course, not everyone wants to use the web, so PhotEx accepts entries on paper forms and images on CD or via email. Several people can process entries at the same time (using a local area network), or you can process entries as they arrive over a longer period of time.

PhotEx keeps track of packaging material, including packages that contain entries from several entrants, and prints return labels. It also provides comprehensive search facilities to find details of particular entrants, packages or entries.

You can tailor the web page without any web-development skills (see here for details), but you may need to write a little simple HTML if you want to explain your particular rules in detail.

When all the entries have been gathered and processed, PhotEx will warn about entrants who have not paid, underpaid or overpaid their fees, and web entrants who said they would submit prints or CDs but whose material has not arrived. It will then print score sheets for each class.

 

Step 3 - Acceptance

PhotEx provides several ways to accept entries into the exhibition. A judge or judges may simply say "Yes" or "No", or more commonly, several judges may assign scores. In PhotEx, each judge can give a score or signal Yes/No using a keypad, or verbal scores can be recorded by the organiser.

Judging takes place by class/section, and optionally by round (whereby the first entry by each entrant in a class is seen before the second entries).

Print classes can be pre-judged, and rejects recorded.

The system provides up-to-date statistics of the number of acceptances as the judging progresses, so you can make sure you hit your targets. You can accept entries by score band (e.g. those scoring 12 and above) and adjust this by adding images scoring a top mark from at least one judge (e.g. those scoring 11 with a 5). You can also select a number of lower-scoring, unaccepted entries and ask the judges to mark them as "In" or "Out".

 

Step 4 - Awards

When the judges have chosen their accepted images they can select the entries they wish to consider for awards. Then they can review these images, and for PDI images, assign awards using a "light box" - that is, all their candidate images are projected on the screen at once and the available awards are shown beside them. As an award is allocated, the award and the awarded image are removed from the screen.

You define the awards that are available in each class. Some may be single awards (e.g. "FIAP Gold Medal"), some may be unlimited (e.g. "Commended") and others may have a maximum number (e.g. ribbons).

You can specify up to one variant for each class, so a Nature class could have an "Authentic wildlife" variant. You can then select entries that meet this criterion and assign awards to these. Other criteria are membership of the organisation running the exhibition, and the age of the entrant.

 

Step 5 - Finalising the exhibition

When the judges have allocated the awards, the exhibition can be finalised.

Entries that were not scored because they were rejected in pre-selection can be assigned a score, and the acceptance score can be set so that all acceptances have the same minimum score. Scores for medal winners can also be adjusted.

PhotEx then prints banners for the accepted Print entries and prepares catalogue entries (as a Microdift Word file or in .csv format) for all entries and for the award winners. It also produces results pages and a gallery of imagages for your web site. Winning PDI images can be exported for the catalogue or web site, with or without a copyright watermark.

All entrants with email addresses receive a "report card" by email showing any awards they have gained and the score for each of their images. Letters are printed for those without email addresses. Emails and letters can usually be sent just a few minutes after the judging is complete.

PhotEx will also produce demographic statistics and an analysis of fees received.

 

Step 6 - Returning the prints

When the exhibition is over, PhotEx will print return labels for packaging material and catalogues. Each print has a label indicating the package to which it belongs, so re-assembling the packages is easy.

Optionally you can offer entrants to forward their prints or PDI entries to another exhibition. PDI entries can be resized and renamed automatically to meet the receiving exhibition's requirements.

If your exhibition is run under the patronage of FIAP or PSA, PhotEx will prepare the report required. You can also select the "FIAP blue badge" winner or another "Best in show" award.

 

Features

PhotEx is based on PhotoComp - you can view a full list of PhotoComp's features here.

You can view PhotEx components here

   


Try the Web entry
here

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Please contact us at sales@photocompsoftware.com for details of pricing

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System
Requirements

Microsoft Windows 10, 8, 7
- Internet Explorer v5 or later
- Optional - Microsoft Word and Excel

 

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