Subject/Equipment:

• The subject is Macros/Close-Ups of various kinds, with the theme chosen by each host.
• Anything that looks small in real life, shot in the normal photographic sense, is accepted.
• The subject does not need to be a true 1:1 magnified picture and need not be taken with a lens capable of 1x magnification, regardless of the camera body.
• Photographs from any kind of microscope are NOT accepted.
• The subject can range from living to non-living, water drops, insects, floral parts, part of the living/non-living, etc.

Entry:

• Photos submitted must be the original work of the photographer.
• Entries are limited to a maximum of 2 photos per Challenge per person.
• Entries are to be uploaded to the gallery for the current Challenge within the DPR Macro Challenges Galleries on PBase, ie to the MCxx gallery.
• Entries should have been taken within about the same season, within approximately 6 months of the starting date of the Challenge.
• Post processing is accepted, provided it doesn’t too much modify the originality of the picture.
• It is very helpful for EXIF data to be included with the photo or separately listed. In Photoshop, use 'Save As' to retain EXIF data. 'Save for Web' loses EXIF data.

• Please resize your photos to 1000 pixels max on the longer side before posting, keep in mind that the PBase 'large' size is 800px on the  longer side and that is the default viewing size, so you need to select 'original' to see images larger than 800px.

• Please also keep file sizes under control by using the maximum compression that still allows for good image quality. That means most files should be 300-350kB or smaller, even if they're 1000px on the longer side.

• Challenges start by Friday each week where possible and run for 7 days.

• The host decides the results and announces them in the dpreview main thread the following Thursday, ready to start the next Challenge on the Friday. The exact times will be decided by the host.

Host:

• The host gives a topic of his/her choice, but he/she is NOT eligible as a participant for his/her Challenge.
• The host chooses the winners and honorable mentions.
• Hosts are specifically asked to choose the winners based on originality, photographic excellence, artistic quality, visual impact and PLEASE avoid biased judgment based on the camera body, lens, forum or personal issues.
• The decision of the host is final.
• The host is to choose 2 winners, giving 1st place and 2nd place, and should normally also choose 3 honorable mentions (a total of 5 place-getters). Note that it is advisable for the host to notify the winner through e-mail and/or notification in the winner's forum if possible to increase the chance of him/her getting early notification of winning.
• The 1st place winner becomes the host for the subsequent challenge.
• The winner/new host should start the next challenge thread in the SLR forum that he/she belongs to.
• The winner/new host should also create a thread in each of the dpreview SLR forums to announce the DPR Macro Challenge, linking back to the main thread. Note that dpreview only allows a use to create 3 new threads every 15 minutes, so it takes about an hour to create a thread in each SLR forum. After that, there is no limit on replying to each thread each day to keep the notification alive in each SLR forum.
• If time and enthusiasm permit, it is also useful to create a thread in each non-SLR camera forum, linking back to the main thread.
• The host can save a lot of time by getting volunteers to post threads in their own forums and related forums and to keep those threads active each day.
• If the 1st place winner does not start the subsequent challenge within a day [24 hours], the 2nd place winner should start the next Challenge.