Now, first of all, I must say that it is photography only.
The theme is black and white, as the shutter closes. This means that you cannot turn your photographs to black and white using any editing software, any filters or any camera settings, or anything else I haven't mentioned. For the photographs to be eligible, the subjects have to be mostly black and/or white, and the only editing allowed on colours is that of darkening the blacks slightly and brightening the whites slightly. Do not touch the 'Contrast' button!!
Now, there are ways to tell if a photograph has been changed to black and white, and it's quite simple. The main thing is that slight undertones of yellows and blues are simply not there, and the whites are usually grey. If anyone submits something that has been edited as such, but has done so in a way that I can't notice, then I'm sure someone else will notice and make me aware of it.
To make it easy for you all to grasp the concept, and what I mean by black and white subjects (in fact they don't even need to be black and white perse, they could be very dark or very light with subtle brown, pink, yellow, blue undertones), think of things similar to the following:
zebras dark skin/white dress light skin/black dress hot chocolate and white mugs
Obviously you can set up models or you can seet up still life - or, if you're lucky enough to live near something such as this, a building that is painted black and white (though I am afraid that if it is going to be a building or landscape like that it will have to be black and white, no browns or pinks).


Rules
No racism, pornography, abusive content etc. Mature content is accepted as long as it is tasteful and relevant. Please be sure to attach a mature content filter.
Turning an image black and white using any of the previously mentioned methods will result in a disqualification.
Any attmepts to sway votes from judges will result in disqualification.
All pieces must be your own and new being made no further back than the 1st November, and the contest must be mentioned somewhere in the description. Don't just recycle old pieces.

Other things
All entries will be featured in a news article.
All contributors (advertisers, prize donators etc) will be given special mention in the news article.
Closing date is the 1st January 2010.
Winners will be announced between the 5th and 15th January 2010.
All prizes are welcome!

Judges:


Prizes:

1st Place
3 month subsription from ~metalbunofice
Journal feature from *blacklavaPRINTS
Feature by =jam-jam-morejam
Feature by *Ruffian2001
Feature by *TheJerk4
Feature by =andanar
Feature by *Oden36
Month Feature by *MusMustMess
Feature by *x-escapevelocity-x

2nd Place
1 month subsription from ~metalbunofice
Journal feature from *blacklavaPRINTS
Feature by *Ruffian2001
Feature by *TheJerk4
Feature by =andanar
Month Feature by *MusMustMess

3rd Place
Journal feature from *blacklavaPRINTS
Feature by *Ruffian2001
Feature by *TheJerk4
Feature by =andanar

Everyone Else
There should be some honourable mentions to those who didn't quite cut it, and every single entry will be featured in a news article.

Donated features/subscriptions/other prizes are very welcome.


All contest entries will be featured in a related news article.

Specifications:
Photography only.
No colour editing
And creativity applies to all of you.
Winners will be announced in my journal on 5th to the 15th January 2010.
No more than 3 submissions per person, each with different subjects.

Note me entries with the subject line "Contest Entry"