WHAT IS A SALON AND WHO SHOULD ENTER?

by Evelyn Gibson, FPSSA, ARPS, AFIAP, EPSSA.

With the influx of the number of Salons taking place especially nationally a request was made to me for an update on Salons in view of the fact that I had written the last article on Salons. Since the last article, I have learned a lot about Salons and fortunately or unfortunately, whatever way one wants to look at it, I have been involved in a lot of Salon Judging. Yes it has been a lot of work and still is for me for the next six months, but it is a tremendous learning process. It is also a great privilege to view the entries coming in from all over South Africa.

I love to encourage club members to enter salons, both nationally and internationally. It is expensive to enter international salons, well some are but many of them are reasonable ranging from 6 euros to 12 euros per section. It is of course your choice and also your budget so you must decide. International salons you get 2 points in the Club for acceptances towards your log, whereas National Salons you get 1 point per acceptance. Obviously COMs and Medals get more points.

I would also say that in International Salons images that are accepted will not always be successful here with the National Salons (isn’t that what judging is all about, it is the same the world over). Wildlife of course internationally usually does very well.

During judging at a salon no comments are made only points are given. The judges do not know who the authors of the images presented are nor do they know his or her star rating. An image is judged on its merit according to set standards.

Why would I want to take part in a salon?

The fact that you belong to a club shows that you are serious about your photography and you want to improve. It gives you an idea of how much you have improved in your photography. Salon judging on a national level is far wider than club judging and if you have exposed your images to national judging then you have another measure as to how much progress or otherwise you have made.

What is judged?

The same things that are judged at the club – the image must :

• Be nice and sharp
• Good lighting
• Correctly cropped
• Good composition
• Must be “clean” with no distracting background or other distracting area.
• Must have good impact (people must almost say “wow” when they see the image)
• Must preferably have a narrow frame as it stands out better againsta dark background (digital)
• If it is a digital image it must be correctly processed not over sharpened nor over saturated, any white or black on the photo must still have detail – this is very important as it immediately catches the eye of the judge.

How do I know that my images are up to salon standard?

Nobody is ever 100% sure, but if you concentrate on the images that have mainly received Golds at the club that will already be a good indication. Personally I look at the abovementioned standards and form my own opinion. If I believe that I have a good image, which received Silver at the club, I do not let myself be put off and will enter it in a salon as long as it fits the abovementioned criteria. That is the advantage of a salon – your image gets a chance to be judged again.

How does one get salon points?

Salon competitions often attract 3000 or more entries from photographers throughout the country whose images will be judged. The judges’ scores for images are put in order of preference and then about 20% of the highest scores get acceptances. If your image gets an Acceptance in a salon as mentioned you get 1 point. From the acceptances about 10% of the images are chosen and they receive a Certificate of Merit (COM) that is 2 salon points. If a image is chosen as the winning image in a specific salon the image will get a Medal that is 3 salon points. Sometimes there are two winners and then two people will get medals.

How many pictures may I enter in a salon?

Each salon can have up to six categories – the rules of the salon explain each category. It is now preferred that no more than 4 images per category are allowed and this seems now to be the norm in the salons.

At how many salons may I enter the same photo?

Until the image has had 3 acceptances. After the same image has been accepted more than three times the points do not count for your log at your Club (albeit some Clubs have different rules in this regard) and also for Diamond Rating if and when you apply for it with PSSA.

With the new Monochrome Salons now in full swing in South Africa, it is very important that you do not use the same image in a Colour Salon and then use it in the Mono Salon. We all know that there is a lot of different processing takes place when converting to Black and White but it is still the same image that came off your camera in the first place. When selecting your images for Salons decide if the image looks better in colour or in black and white and make a concerted decision to place it in the appropriate Salon Mono Folder or Colour Salon Folder.

What now?

1. Read the rules in the brochures – choose your best images.
2. Make sure that your images are 1024 pixels on the horizontal axis and 768 pixels on the vertical – that is a landscape. A portrait must be 768 pixels in height thus the horizontal side will be shorter. This as we know with technology developing so quickly could change soon in South Africa. Photovault, which seems to be the most popular in South Africa for Salon entries is working on the technology for this change to happen.
3. When saving the final image it must not be more than 500Kbs.
4. Convert profile to sRGB
5. Make sure to name your images according to the salon rules, also not so applicable now with Photovault being used mainly for the Salons in SA only the title is required as you then place your entry into the appropriate category. Other Salon Entry Programmes are different so it is important to read the Rules in the Brochure.
6. International Salons, their sizing varies from Salon to Salon so read the rules very carefully, they do have specifics for naming your entries.

How do I prepare my Images for Salons?

We all have our various ways in preparing our images for Salons, some work in Lightroom and then take into Photoshop. Some only work in Photoshop and or Photoshop Elements, it is your choice at the end of the day and if it works for you go for it, there are no right or wrong programmes to use, it is the end result that is important.

The one aspect that is very important is the sharpening, please do not over sharpen, this is the one aspect that is picked up very quickly in Salon entries. Another one is oversaturation and with now the new trend of HDRs which is a wonderful new technology, do not overdue this to the extent it is no longer looking natural.

I still try and get things right in camera having studied photography through the film and slide medium. I watch my viewfinder for things creeping in from the sides etc., I check my histogram to make sure that my whites are not blown out and also the blacks are not clipping, invariably I do not need to do much in Photoshop other than a few tweaks here and there but Photoshop, Camera Raw and Lightroom have great tools to work with and I find that I have become very creative with my images by using all of them at times.

I am a great believer that we all learn from one another, I am still learning so please share your expertise with one another. I am always available to help and assist where I can.

Many members ask what is the Impala Log and what is Diamond Rating.

If you are a member of PSSA and remember you do not need to be a member of PSSA to be a member of a Club, it is your choice at the end of the day but we do try and encourage members to become members of PSSA and the one benefit is the entry into Salons is much cheaper as a member than a non-member and with the influx of Salons now and it wont change you will at the end of the day save money on your entries. Once again some members will say but why do I want to enter Salons but I feel that has been explained already in this article.

The Impala Trophy Log is calculated after every Salon is complete and the log runs from July to June in a calendar year. This is part of the administration handled by the Webmaster, as a member you have no control over it other than if you disagree with it as regards your personal status then you contact the Webmaster of PSSA.

Diamond Rating Status – you have control over this. Diamond Ratings fall into two categories – Pictorial and Nature. Keep a record of your Pictorial and Nature images in a separate log that have been accepted in the various Salons and this also applies to International Salons and when you have the required amount in the specific category you can apply for your Diamond Rating Badge – the number of acceptances applicable to the different levels of Diamond Rating can be found on the PSSA Web site. You need to apply for this, it does not happen automatically like the Impala Log Trophy.

The Mono League Log now is a new League that started this year in January so all your Mono Salon acceptances are being recorded in the Log now as is done with the Impala Trophy. If you wish to apply for your Diamond Rating in Mono, which also includes International Acceptances then you need to apply, bearing in mind you cannot use an acceptance that you used in your Diamond Rating for Colour Pictorial or Nature, these must be new images completely. No separate Pictorial and Nature in this Diamond rating, all together.

Another question why do I want to apply for Diamond Ratings?

Your choice again but if you decide to apply for your Honours with PSSA, you need to be of a certain diamond rating when you start to apply in the various mediums. This was a new rule that came in this year with the Honours and Awards applications and it has worked well as the standard of Panels definitely went up a notch.

These rules and regulations are not only applicable to PSSA, PSA and the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain have very similar and in fact in some case much more stricter rules and regulations.

I hope I have managed to give you some more up to date information that will be helpful in entering Salons or applying for your Diamond Rating or Honours with PSSA, I am always more than willing to assist when and where I can.

I have held the position of PRO of PSSA for the last 8 years as well as serving on the Board. I am in the process of handing over the PR responsibilities to Petro Bosman, who is already doing a great job and I will be standing down from the Board in October this year. It has been a great experience for me with its up and downs but tell me what job hasn’t got that as I would like to apply for it. I have made a lot of friends and new friendships have developed through it which will remain with me for many years to come.

My personal message and thanks to all members of PSSA will be published in the July image but one of my favourite quotes, as I love quotes, and I would like to finish with one is “UBUNTO – you are only a person because of other people, and you can only grow and develop if you help other people grow and develop” Charlene Rolls – a journalist.