What is a Salon?

A salon is a national competition presented by one of the many photographic clubs in South Africa. Almost every moth there is a salon presented by one club or another, have a look at the PSSA website for dates and details.

During judging at a salon no comments are made and only points are given. The judges do not know who the author of the images presented is nor do they know his or her star grading. A photo is judged on merit only 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. Criticism is thus important. It gives you an idea of how much you have improved in your photography. Salon judging is on a national level, 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. Also at the club, besides a certain number of golds you need a certain amount of salon points so as to advance to the next level.


What is judged?

The same things are judged at club level - the image must:

• Be nice and sharp
• Good lighting
• Correctly masked (cropping)
• Good composition
• Must be "clean" with no distracting background or other distracting areas
• Must have good impact (people must almost say "wow" when they see the picture_
• If it is a digital photo it must be correctly processed not over sharpened nor over saturated, any black or white 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 photos are up to salon standard?

Nobody is ever 100% sure, but if you concentrate on the images that have mainly received gold at the club that will already be a good indication. Personally I look at the above mentioned standards and form my own opinion. If I believe that I have a good photo, which received silver at a club, I do not let myself be put off and will enter it in a salon as long as it fits the above criteria. That is the advantage of a salon - your photo 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 photos will be judged. The judges' score for the images are put in order of preference and then about 25% of the highest scores get acceptances. If your picture gets an acceptance at a salon, you get 1 point. From acceptances about 10% of the pictures are chosen and they receive Certificates of Merit (COM) that is 2 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 has a few categories - the rules of each salon explain each category. Normally one may enter 4 pictures in each category. If you are a nature photographer and you only have two good nature photos then you may enter them provided there is a nature section. You need not enter dour pictures per category.

At how many salons may I enter the same photo?

Until the picture has had 3 acceptances. After the same picture has been accepted more than three times the points do not count as salon points.

On the PSSA website where you get the info on the salons there is a document attached with the rules in their brochure. Please read this very carefully for the correct sizes, correct definitions of the categories etc.

Please support as many of the salons as possible as it is a good test for your photography.

Please do not be disappointed if you do not get an acceptance, it sometimes takes a few salon entries before you may get one acceptance. It is all part of the learning curve with our photography.

You may get an acceptance in one salon but the next salon it may get thrown out. This is part of judging as we all know.

Hope this helps the understanding of salons with our members, especially our newer members and also those who have not ventured into this avenue yet of salons. Go for it, it adds value to your photography.

Evelyn - 2013