Page 11 - Cape-Camera-Jan-Feb-2022

Cape Camera January/February 2022

Know your Rules, Regulations & Sanctions when entering Salons

(In other Words: What you can & can’t do & what will happen if you break those rules)
by Jill Sneesby (PSSA President & National Director)*

There are probably well over 1000 In order to make it different you would need the whole situa-
salons you could enter each year if tion to change, not just a paw or a tail, a smile or a grimace. The
you count all of them worldwide – change could be in lighting, or action, or composition etc.
so the 28 of ours doesn’t sound so
much. However for each you have
to download the brochure (entry
form) and read it. But how much
do you actually read – probably
just the “important” parts i.e. what
categories, how much does it cost,
when does it close and maybe who
the judges are?
However, the rest of it is just as important and it is obvious from
what is happening on our salons that not all the rules are being
read by everyone.
PSSA takes this seriously and has decided to impose sanctions
on entrants who break the rules (this is already being done by
FIAP and other international societies). We are still deciding on
the sanctions but in the meanwhile just to get everyone on the Manipulation
same page here is some information to help you interpret the
rules correctly. This is not allowed in Nature and Photo Journalism and shall
constitute any or all of the following modifications to the origi-
Naming of images nal image:
• Adding an element to the image that was not contained in
the original scene – many images are being enhanced by
the addition of dust into an image to create mood – what
is that if not adding an element that was not contained in
the original scene?
• Removing an element from the image that was contained
in the original scene; Grass in front of a Lion’s face is often
Each image must have a unique name i.e. the name of the im- considered a distraction and is easy to remove … but it is
age may not be changed at any time as all acceptance records manipulation and therefore not allowed.
are based on the image name. What this means is that even if
you convert the image from colour to mono (see images above), The most important part of a Nature image is the nature story
or from digital to print, it must always have the same title. You it tells. High technical standards are expected, and the image
can’t add anything to that title to indicate that it is version 2, or must look natural. Adding a vignette or blurring the back-
mono or print etc. ground during processing is not allowed. As an example, the
background of the Caracal Portrait here has been modified and
It’s OK when you upload your images to Photovault, there you therefore it is not eligible in the nature section and must be en-
can have the additions to the title to tell yourself which ones tered in the Open or other non-nature section.
they are but you must make sure that when you complete the
entry form that you give it the correct title. This is a worldwide problem and
FIAP and PSA have been work-
Same or similar ing together to update their na-
ture rules. They have published
Similar implies that it is almost the same time, or almost the “A Guide for Nature Photogra-
same place, or almost the same situation – just another frame in phers and Judges” and we quote
an action series or a different crop is not necessarily sufficiently from it with permission from the
different to make it a different image – by being almost the main author, Dr Roy Killen, APSA,
same it is a similar shot. This is true in any genre be it portrait, GMPSA/B, EFIAP, APSEM and PSA:
landscape, creative, nature etc.
The fundamental rule that must be
Any image, which is sufficiently similar to another, such as the observed at all is that the welfare
examples on the right, may be ruled ineligible as being effec- of living creatures is more impor-
tively the same image. tant than any photograph. This

Cape Town Photographic Society 10