Club Rules

The Durban Camera Club’s main objective is the promotion of interest in and the advancement of the knowledge and skills of digital still photography. It is open to all people with a passion for photography, beginners and experienced alike, to share and interact with others with the same passion.
N0te: These rules and definitions may be modified from time to time by the Committee.
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Meetings

  • Regular meetings are held every month on second Thursday of the month, from November to October at 6.30 PM at the Milldene Retirement Village in Prospect Hall Road, Durban North (directly behind the PnP Hyper by the Sea). Note: meeting times may change from time to time to fit in with ‘load-shedding” schedules.
  • These meetings are for the purpose of assessment and judging of images submitted in the previous month.  Each Member may submit up to 6 images per month according to the rules set out and these images are judged, critiqued and points are awarded which get tallied up and accumulated towards a Members grading. Members are graded from a 1 Star through to a 5 star then Honours.
  • Technical meetings are held every month starting in November through to October at 6:30 PM at the Milldene Retirement Village in Prospect Hall Road, Durban North (directly behind the PnP Hyper by the Sea). Note: meeting times may change from time to time to fit in with ‘load-shedding” schedules.
  • These meetings normally take the form of workshops or presentations by Club Members or invited guests who are specialists in a specific area of photography. Subjects are varied and range from basic or advanced photography, lighting, post processing techniques, or any other photography related topic.
  • Meeting reminders and topics of Technical Meetings will be published via email, WhatsApp, Club website and FaceBook.

Photo Vault Online (PVO)

All Members of Durban Camera Club must register with Photo Vault Online (www.photovaultonline.com) to become active Members of the club. Photo Vault is a third party online program  used by PSSA (Photographic Society of South Africa) Clubs. The program also maintains all club records pertaining to competitions, member’s particulars, awards, points, member’s advancements, etc.

Club Outings

Outings are one of the important functions of the Club and are arranged at regular intervals with at least one outing per month. These Outings are the ideal times to learn from other Members and share with other Members in real-time. Outings are arranged by the Outings Coordinator and will be published published at Club meetings, via email and WhatsApp.
Note: for security reasons club outings are not published on the Website and Facebook in advance.

Monthly Promotional Competitions

  • Eleven monthly Club Competitions open to all paid up Members, will be held from November to October each year.
  • Only paid up Club Members are eligible for this competition.
  • Each Member may submit four (4) images per month. However, if a Member submits a Set Subject (SS) image and an Outings (OU) image then that Member may submit up to six (6) images.
  • Images will be assessed and judged by the nominated competition Judge(s) prior to the monthly Club meeting and the Judge may attend and comment on his awards at the meeting.
  • Awards will be converted to points which in turn will be tallied to determine the “Yearly Top of the Log”
  • Awards will be as follows: [J] Not Judged – can be re-entered, [B] Bronze, [S] Silver, [G] Gold and [M] Merit.
  • Only digital images will be accepted for Club Competitions. Images in other formats must be converted to digital format prior to entry.
  • Images entered by Members must be submitted via Photo Vault Online (www.photovaultonline.com).
  • No image or similar image may be entered more than once in a Monthly Competitions.
  • All entries submitted in a competition must have been photographed by the Club Member.
  • Duplicates and near duplicates (similar) of an image will be considered as one and the same picture. The Competition Steward, whose decision is final, may reject any entry that does not conform to these rules.
  • Image size and file type. (i) Images must be submitted in JPEG (.jpg) format with an appropriate compression ratio to ensure that the image file size is no greater than 2 mb (megabytes). It is recommended to use a resolution of 72dpi. (ii) Competition entries must be sized to a maximum display HD resolution of 1080 for height or 1920 pixels for width. (iii) Whether portrait or landscape the image may not exceed 1080 pixels in height.
View Set Subjects
  • No wording may be added to an image with photo editing software. There will be occasional exceptions when wording is required for example, if the set subject is an advertisement.
  • Frames or borders may be added to images using photo-editing software. The image will be judged as a whole so the frame or border should be carefully chosen not to detract from the subject matter.
  • Naming / titles of images must be done as per the Photo Vault naming protocol, ie. only the title of the image is required with no dashes or special characters.

Manipulation

Manipulation shall constitute any or all of the following modifications to the original image: 
  • Adding an element to the image that was not contained in the original capture;
  • Removing an element from the image that was contained in the original capture;
  • Moving or repositioning an element of the image that was contained in the original capture.
In the categories Nature and Photojournalism, manipulation is not allowed. In Open there is no restriction whatsoever in the way authors choose to post process an image.
The following actions are allowed and not seen as manipulation:
  • Cropping
  • Correction of lens distortion, chromatic aberrations, purple fringing, lens vignette and vertical/horizontal perspective adjustments;
  • Removal of dust spots or scratch marks from sensor or scanned images;
  • The blending of different exposures of the same scene to broaden the dynamic range e.g. High Dynamic Range (HDR);
  • Photo stacking to overcome the limitations of the digital sensor heat artefacts in long exposures
  • Focus stacking to widen the depth of field especially in Macro photography. In the case of Nature and Wildlife, HDR and focus stacking will not be considered as manipulation and may be used provided that the end result is a faithful representation of the original scene.
Please note: HDR and Focus stacking are not allowed in Photojournalism and Street Photography. Study the rules for each event, as they will be unique.

Monthly Promotion Competition Categories

 Each monthly competition will be divided into Categories as follows:
(OP) OPEN: colour only, manipulation allowed.
  • In this category, the subject matter is totally open, there is no restriction of subject.
  • All elements must be photographic; if graphic elements are included they should enhance the photographic image but not take over from it. Any graphics used should be created by the photographer using his/her own artwork.  
(NA) NATURE: colour only, no manipulation allowed.
  • Nature photography is restricted to the use of the photographic process to depict all branches of natural history, except anthropology and archaeology, in such a fashion that a well‐informed person will be able to identify the subject material and certify its honest presentation. The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality.
  • Human elements shall not be present, except where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as nature subjects like barn owls or storks, adapted to an environment modified by humans, or where those human elements are in situations depicting natural forces like hurricanes or tidal waves. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible.
  • Photographs of artificially created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, obviously set arrangements, mounted specimens including insects or animals doped or killed for macro (or any other type of photography), are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement. Any action which causes harm, no matter how unintentional it may be, is not acceptable.
  • The use of live bait and actions such as chilling, freezing, spinning or light anesthesia of any creature is unethical and therefore not acceptable.
  • No techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are permitted. Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene, are permitted including HDR, focus stacking and dodging/burning. All allowed adjustments must appear natural.
  • Stitched images are not permitted. Infrared images, either direct captures or derivations, are not allowed.
  • Images entered in Nature sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above can have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, non-natural macro setup*, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food.
* A non-natural macro  setup  is  defined  as  a  macro  or  miniature  scene  set  up  artificially  in  a  studio  or  table top arrangement used to create a fake “natural environment” for the subject being photographed.
(CR) CREATIVE: colour, monochrome and manipulation allowed.
  • This category allows the photographer freedom to explore all possibilities of photographic art through manipulation of images and the combination of images in camera or in post processing where the photographic content must be predominant.
  • This category is your opportunity to think completely outside the box and to unshackle yourself from convention.
  • All elements whether photographic or graphic art must be created by the entrant (the inclusion of stock textures and/or stock graphical elements is not permitted).
  • This is your opportunity to have fun, experiment and go crazy! Show us something that we would generally never see in any other category.
(MO) MONOCHROME: mono only, manipulation allowed.
  • Monochrome is a black and white image. A black and white work fitting from the very dark grey (black) to the very clear grey (white) is a monochrome work with the various shades of grey.
  • A black and white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the black and white category.
  • A black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category.
(OU) OUTING: colour only, manipulation allowed.
All images taken on/at the official monthly Club Outing venues may be entered in this Category.
(SS) SET SUBJECT: colour only unless specified, manipulation allowed.
A different theme is set for every month and Members are encouraged to specifically shoot fresh images for this category, rather than to look for pictures in their ‘stock’ pantry. Images therefore must be taken in the club competition year, i.e. from December competition month to the next November completion month.

Members Ratings

Members are rated according to their prowess and achievements.
The ratings will consist of:
  • 1-Star
  • 2-Star
  • 3-Star
  • 4-Star
  • 5-Star
  • Honors
  • Silver Honors
  • Gold Honors
  • Platinum Honors
Images entered into the Monthly Promotional Competition will be judged and an award given, in each category according to the above Member ratings.

Placement / Members Ratings

  1. New Members will be assigned a 1-Star Rating.
  2. If a new Member has some experience, he/she may request to commence in a higher Star rating. In this case the Member will be requested to submit a panel of 6 digital images in at least 3 Club Categories together with a list of Salon Acceptances or  Certificates of Merit or other PSSA awards for appraisal by 3 judges appointed by the Competition Steward, and;
  • The Competition Steward may request further images or documentary proof of photographic ability after consultation with the Committee.
  • The judges may place the Member in the 2-Star or 3-Star Rating.
  • Members holding an Associateship or Fellowship or other recognized photographic qualification will be admitted to 4-Star.
  • Each new Member, no matter what Rating they are placed in will start with a clean slate in that Rating, official proof of all past Salon Acceptances must be provided.

Promotions

The requirements for promotion are as follows:
Substitution for Salon Points for Promotion.
Note: Substitution for Salon points for promotion only count up to 5-Star Rating, to achieve Honors a Member must earn actual Salon acceptances.
If a Member has sufficient Club Gold/Merits but lacks Salon points or awards, the following substitutions may be made up to 5-Star:

  • 3 Gold’s           = 1 Salon point
  • 2 Merits           = 1 Salon point
Any Member who is awarded an APSSA or similar distinction and is not yet in 3 Star, will automatically be promoted to the 3 Star rating. Should such Member have sufficient Salon acceptances as required in the promotion scale he may be placed in the 4 Star rating.

Points and Awards

Judges will rate and assign an award to each photo based on the judging criteria and star rating of the Member. The following awards may be made in each division and the appropriate number of points will be credited to the award winner:

  • MERIT = 5
  • GOLD = 4
  • SILVER = 2
  • BRONZE = 1
  • NOT JUDGED = 0
All Gold or higher awards will be published on the Club website and Facebook pages.
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