PhotoExhib

Photographic Exhibition Software

New for 2020/21: Remote Judging

When it became apparent that normal judging would not be possible with COVID-related social restrictions, an online judging addition was developed, which allows three Judges and a Controller to carry out the selection process in the same way as usual, but with the four parties operating from the comfort of their own homes. This is a fully-fledged judging system which is both intuitive and easy to use. Being entirely browser-based, the new system requires no special hardware or software, and the judges will see images exactly how the entrants uploaded them. There's no video compression or resizing that one might get with cobbled-together video-conferencing solutions.

The new system has been used very successfully for several exhibitions, with many more in the pipeline. Remote judging has been very well received, with organisers being enthusiastic and delighted with the features and performance: it can easily run as fast as the selectors can judge. Some exhibitions are actively considering using it in future years because of the advantages it offers over the usual selection arrangements.

As well as the Judge and Controller interfaces, there is an Observer interface: this functions in the same way as the Judge interface, but without the scoring and voting functionality. The Observer screen can be shared over Zoom or similar so that an audience can observe the selection process, without seeing individual judges' scores.

PhotoExhib software has been used as the backbone for a great many exhibitions over the last decade, including these BPE exhibitions:

  • Basingstoke
  • Clay Cross
  • Dingwall
  • Frome Wessex
  • GDPU
  • Neath & District
  • Robin Hood
  • Rushden

The PhotoExhib system can handle all of the usual features of an exhibition:

  • Pre-registering past entrants
  • Send call for entries emails and reminders
  • Online entry for entrants
  • Automated entry summary emails with thumbnails
  • Provide interface to your PayPal account, sending out payment acknowledgements
  • Daily stats reports for the organisers
  • Access to uploaded images and entry details at any time
  • Judging control system for either a traditional selection event, or entirely online
  • Generation of a results website - hosted for a whole year
  • Scorecard results emails with thumbnails, scores and awards
  • Large numbers of images handled with ease
  • Results spreadsheets and a set of 'friendly-named' image files for use in catalogues etc
  • Bespoke results formats available if required
  • Exhibitions can be Digital or Print, or both
  • Print labels can be generated for affixing by either the entrant or the receiver
  • Fully hosted and supported - no in-house web-hosting expertise required

The PhotoExhib software suite is made up of a number of modules, not all of which are required for an exhibition. However, some modules are dependent on others. The system has been developed to take as much workload as possible off the organisers whilst giving them full control.

PhotoExhib Online:

A modern and stylish web-based online entry system for photographic exhibitions. It allows people to register, giving their name and address etc, then upload images for all of the digital classes of the exhibition. The entrants are given the option of paying by PayPal, with automated payment acknowledgement. It provides feedback to the entrants by means of emails, and is very easy to use and administer.

Upon finalising their entry, an entrant is sent a full summary email, including thumbnails of the images they've entered.

When integrated with the PhotoExhib Judge module, customised results 'scorecard' emails can be sent, including scores and thumbnails with a visual representation of the results.

PhotoExhib Downloader:

A standalone Windows application that interfaces with the PhotoExhib database and allows to you to keep a local copy of all images uploaded by entrants. Each run will download only those changes and additions since the last run. The Downloader also provides control files to be loaded into the PhotoExhib Judge application along with the images. It also provides reports and images once the selection is complete, to assist with downstream Exhibition activities such as catalogue production.

PhotoExhib Standalone Judge:

A versatile and easy to use Windows application that facilitates the judging of photographic exhibitions with three selectors. It integrates with bespoke scoring handsets, recording scores directly into a database. When in auto mode, it runs as fast as the judges can score, requiring no intervention (at all) from the exhibition controller. Speeds of almost 900 images an hour have been achieved in live running. For print classes, the next image to be scored can be chosen using a barcode reader.

No more manually transcribing judge's scores into another spreadsheet or scoring system. No convoluted file naming system or mind-boggling folder structures required either!

PhotoExhib Reports:

A suite of web pages which present exhibition results, in the form of text lists, slideshows and galleries.

PhotoExhib AV:

Available as an extra when PhotoExhib Judge is used, it generates slides for an AV show of accepted images. Each slide is fully captioned with image title, entrant and club names and awards received.

Further info

Please contact us for further details and to discussing your needs.