Qualifications for Wedding and Portrait Photographers

Gain meaningful qualifications and distinctions through The Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers

Licentiate Qualification

Images must show be of good saleable work consistent with standard professional practice. Judges are looking for a good use of skill and technique in most applicable elements (see What are the Judges looking for? For a full list of elements) in a minimum of 16 out of the 20 images submitted. For this level of qualification we require a minimum of four different commissions/sessions to be included in each submission, to achieve a good use of skill and technique over a variety of sessions shows the consistency we are looking for to award Licentiate.

Licentiate details here

Associate Qualification

Images must show be of good saleable work consistent with standard professional practice. Judges are looking for above average skill and technique in most applicable elements (see What are the Judges looking for? For a full list of elements) in a minimum of 16 out of the 20 images submitted, with the remaining 4 images reaching the requirements of Licentiate level for the panel to be passed. For this level of qualification we require the images ‘sit together’ as a body of work representative of the photographer’s unique style, creativity and skills.

Associate details here

Fellowship Qualification

Images must show be of excellent saleable work and be above the standard expected with professional practice. Judges are looking for Excellent use of imagination, skill and technique in most applicable elements (see What are the Judges looking for? For a full list of elements) in a minimum of 16 out of the 20 images submitted, with the remaining 4 images reaching the requirements of Associate level for the panel to be passed. For this level of qualification we require the images ‘sit together’ as a body of work representative of the photographer’s unique style, creativity and skills. Fellowship Qualification submissions are usually a personal project shot by the entrant specifically for the purpose of presenting the images for assessment.

Whilst we accept Licentiate and Associate submission’s both digitally and in the form of printed panels, Fellowship panels must be submitted in the form of 20, 20x16 inch mounted prints. Please contact Terrie Jones to enquire as to the next Qualification Assessment Day.

Fellow details here

The guidelines for the submission of SWPP are as follows:

For wedding submissions we are looking for images from a range of commissioned weddings where the entrant was the principle professional photographer. The images must have been taken on the day the register was signed and must show a good representation of the wedding day. For instance, a variety of images such as bridal prep, ceremony, bridal party, bride and groom portraits and evening celebration should be included.
For portrait submissions we are looking for images from a range of portrait sessions where the entrant was the principle professional photographer. Images may be of a variety of different subjects, but generally should be all of the same genre, and can contain both studio and lifestyle type images.

Submission Guidelines

To try and avoid any confusion in submissions for Qualification please follow these guidelines when submitting your images for critique.

The submission must take the form of 20 Images in .jpg format, sequentially numbered 01.jpg to 20.jpg
The images must be of one genre i.e. all Wedding, all Portrait, all Events, all Sport etc.
Each .jpg file should not exceed 2000 pixels on the longest side.
The 20 .jpg files should be placed in a single folder and compressed (zipped) prior to submission.
We require the zipped folder to be named as follows: firstname_surname_qualification_membershipnumber.zip

Once you have prepared your files for submission please fill in the Qualification application form, once completed and the appropriate fee has been paid you will be transferred to our MailBigFile upload facility which will send your images direct to The Society of Photographers Qualification Team for review. submission will then be forwarded for considered by three Fellows in the case of Licentiate and Five in the case of Associate and Fellow.

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Qualification Submission Rules & Guidelines

1. All Qualification panels must be submitted in the form of 20 images of a single genre.
2. Entrant must have solely captured and created the original photographs, this includes all composited elements within an image.
3. All digital manipulation must have been performed by the entrant.
4. Any images that violate copyright, trademark or any other applicable law will be disqualified.
5. The entrant’s name, or any other distinguishing marks, must not appear on the face of the images.
6. Images submitted for Qualification must have been captured within 36 months of the submission date. Exceptions may be made in the case of composite images, where elements of the image were captured by the photographer outside of the 36 month time period.
7. No entry will be eligible that has been made under the supervision of an instructor, in collaboration with another photographer (not including mentoring), or as a class assignment.
8. No exact same image may be entered more than once in the same submission but exact same images may be used for successive submissions, such as resubmissions for the same qualification or a new submission for the next level of qualification.
9. Any images which do not follow the category definition will be automatically disqualified.
10. Any entry which has been reproduced from an existing photograph, portrait, graphic or any other artwork produced by another person is a violation of the rules and will be disqualified, this includes stock images and digital backgrounds.
11. Entrants agree that any photograph entered may be used by The Society and or Professional Imagemaker in any of the publications, printed materials, or electronic media. Also the image may be used for promotional use by The Society, unless otherwise agreed.
12. Images entered for SWPP under the genre of wedding must be from commissioned weddings where the entrant was the principle professional photographer and must have been taken on the day the register was signed.
13. Qualifications are a benefit of membership to The Society of Photographers and any successful submissions can only be advertised for as long as the entrant remains in membership.
14. We reserve the right to: change or modify the rules without notice.

Guidelines for printed submissions

The images must adhere to the rules stated above in addition to the following:

1. Each image must be mounted.
2. All entries must be 20×16 inches inclusive of the mount.
3. Within the mount each image must have one side of at least 10 inches (254mm)
4. The print and mount combined must be no thicker than 6mm thick
5. All bookings/qualification submissions are final. Refund Policy – No Refunds

Qualifications available