PGCC NEWS INDEX. December Prince s Grant Camera Club Newsletter. What s in this issue. This Months Best Images. From the Chairman s Desk

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1 PGCC NEWS December 2016 Prince s Grant Camera Club Newsletter Best Senior Winner: Peter Heetman star Fresh Food MERIT Best Junior Winner: Karl Horngren 3 star Big G MERIT 1 Page INDEX 1 What s in this issue 1 This Months Best Images 2 From the Chairman s Desk 3 Closing dates for Forthcoming Set Subjects 3 PGCC Annual Awards Competition 201 Rankings Important Dates to Remember Comings & Goings Club Refreshment Roster PSSA Club Best Images Competition Results This Months Set Subject Salon Standings Table Salon Awards Up Coming Competitions 6 The Results of the 2016 PGCC Annual Awards The Independent on Saturday New Resizing Requirements News from the PSSA Your Committee

2 From the Chairman s desk The last club meeting for the year was held on the evening of Thursday, 8th December 2016 in the PG Conference Centre and was attended by six members and three guest. Apologies were received from Tony Hesp, Pasche Bryant, Gary Ruttledge, Dave Miller and Jenny Reid. The set-subject for the month was Bird Photography and a total of 8 images were submitted by 1 members for assessment. The images were judged remotely by Gary Jones from the Westville Camera Club, who was unable to attend the meeting because of business commitments. Gary who awarded a total of 11 Merits and 2 Golds gave written feedback on all the images. The Best Junior Image for the month was awarded to Karl Horngren for his image Big G and the Best Senior Image for the month was awarded to Peter Heetman for his image Fresh Food. Well done. As usual, our club s winning images for December will be entered in the PSSA Best Club Winning Image Competition and all the club results and images, together with comments from the judge, can be viewed on our club website. Karl Horngren last month s PGCC Junior Club Winner was awarded the national overall winner of the Best Junior Club Image of the Month by the PSSA for his image Bird Fight. Our congratulations goes to Karl for this is - a fantastic achievement. See Karl s story on page where he reveals how he managed to capture this amazing action image shot. All the results of the PGCC Annual Awards Competition were announced at the December meeting and details of all the winners and runners up are provided on page 6 of this newsletter. Well done to all the winners and runners up, all the winning images will be posted on our website. For those of you who didn t win in the 2016 year don t despair, remember that there will be awards again in the 201 year, so get those award winning images submitted. The set subjects for the coming month is HDR Photography and, although we will not be holding a meeting in January, please still submit your images and we will have them judged remotely. The results and comments will be made available to you on our website. For those of you who attended the Landscape / HDR outing you should be in a great position to earn those sought after merit awards. The next club meeting will be held on Thursday, 9th February 201. The set subject for 201/18, up to March 2018, were announced at the meeting and can be seen on page 3. The schedule of Club Meetings listing the set-subject and deadlines submission, together with the set subject definitions will be posted on out website shortly. Events will shortly be opened on PhotoVault for all the club categories up to March 2018, so that you may upload your images for judging at future club meetings. This will allow you to plan your photographic year and avoid rushing to submit images at the last moment before the deadline for a particular month closes. Remember that with effect from March 201 all images must be uploaded in the new sizing for HD format see page for more details. Besides our own PGCC Annual Awards Competition 201, we have a number of exciting competitions lined up for the new year. The KZN PSSA Interclub Competition which takes place early in the year will close on 30th April 201 and we await details of this competition from the PSSA. In addition our annual PGCC/DCC Interclub Challenge will take place toward the end of the year and details of the topic for this challenge are already available on page. We will be looking for images from you to feature in our clubs one page presentation in KZN s weekly newspaper the Independent on Saturday, so we have plenty of clicking to do! The details and dates for our club outings, practicals and technical training for 201, which will be aligned to our setsubject, are currently being finalized and will be distributed soon. And finally, as 2016 come to a close, we wish all our members and their families a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 201. Your Club Committee 2

3 Closing Dates on PhotoVault for forthcoming Set Subjects HDR Photography 2nd January 201 Rainy Days 30th January 201 Hands & Feet 2th February 201 Low Angle 3rd April 201 Sensational Streetscapes 1st May 201 Glass Bottle/s 29th May 201 Side Lighting 3rd July 201 Wildlife in Action (including Birds) Frame it Country Life 31st July 201 th September 201 2nd October 201 Geometric Shapes Halloween & Scary Subjects Patterns in Nature Square Photo Crop Bokoh 30th October 201 th December 201 1st January th January th February 2018 The PGCC Annual Awards Competition 201 Awards for this competition will be announced at the December 201 Club Meeting for the following: - The Best Overall Image ( Member of the Year ) - The Best Category Image (Best image in each of the club categories) - The most number of Club Points Earned in the year (If you don t submit images you don t earn points) The best Overall and Best Category winners will be selected from all the Merits and Golds awarded during the year (from Dec 2016 to Nov 201) and the Club Points Earned award will be given to the member with the most club points earned for the same period. The result for the Club Points Earned Competition (inclusive of the December 2016 results) is as follows Ranking Member Current Points YTD Ranking Member Current Points YTD 1 Karl Horngren 30 9 Tony Hesp 18 2 Dave Miller 2 Joint 10 Barry Edworthy 1 3 Vee Dench 23 Joint 10 Cheryl Edworthy 1 Maria Horngren 22 Joint 10 Ray Burger 1 Mark Gillie Johan van Niekerk 16 6 Barry Payne 21 1 Peter Heetman 13 Natalie Benet 21 1 Cindy Joubert 8 Candy Chandler The Rest 0 (Rankings: Blue = no change; Green = upward move; Red = downward move) 3

4 Important Dates: National Salons: Edenvale International MIROC Salon Closes 20th December 2016 Sandton Photo Society Salon Closes 1th January 201 Laeveld Fotografieklub Salon Closes 28th January 201 Suikerbosrand Salon Closes 11th February 201 Brochures available on the PSSA website PGCC Training & Club Meeting: The Photoshop training will be published shortly Club Submissions for November: Closing date this month for club submissions for HDR Photography & other categories: Monday, 2nd January 201 (midnight) Next Club Meeting will be held on: Thurs, 9th February 201 Independent on Saturday : Submissions for inclusion in the article on PGCC in this weekly newspaper must be submitted via PhotoVault by : Wednesday, 8th March 201 (see page 6 regarding sizing requirements etc. for this submission) Comings & Goings No new members or resignations since the last meeting Club Refreshment Roster: Volunteers are requested to provide a light snack / soup / anything at our 2016/1 club meetings Please submit your name & preferred month to: Cindyj@vodamail.co.za. 9th February 201 Cindy Joubert 10th August 201 Volunteer required 9th March 201 Jenny Reid 1th September 201 Candy Chandler 13th April 201 Peter Laverick 12th October 201 Volunteer required 11th May 201 Pam Beaty 9th November 201 Volunteer required 8th June 201 Maria Horngren 1th December 201 Barry Edworthy 13th July 201 Vee Dench 8th February 2018 Volunteer required PSSA Club Best Images Competition Results (All the images can be seen on the PSSA Website) PSSA Club Winning Images Competition Results for November 2016 are: PSSA Winners: The Best Junior Winner was awarded to our very own Karl Horngren for his image Bird Fight (38/), this is our first ever overall win for the PGCC in this national competition very well done to Karl, you make us proud. (See below Karl s story on how he captured this amazing image ) The Best Senior Winner went to Vanderbijpark Foto Klub with the image Subway (1/ points). Our PGCC s Best Images: Our best images in the Senior Category, Swan in the Mist by Peter Heetman was awarded 31/ points. Bird Fight by Karl Horngren It was late afternoon one dry and dusty day in the Kalagadi Trans Frontier park, with temperatures sitting at around 38 degrees at a quarter past. After an intense dust storm, my brother and I found ourselves at a busy watering hole where a myriad of Sociable Weavers were gathered in a tree at the waters edge, chattering and haggling away. Desperately thirsty, but anxious for fear of predators, the birds gathered in droves and collectively dive-bombed the pool of water. This shot depicts the surprisingly confrontational mood between two parched members of a species that is known to be mostly social and affable. Equipment used and settings: Camera Nikon D800,Lens 600mm f, ISO Auto with max of 1600, Exposure -0. EV (compensating for the harsh afternoon sunlight), Shutter speed 1/000s ( to capture the high speed action), Aperture f/.6 This Months Set Subject is: HDR Photography High-dynamic-range imaging (HDRI or HDR) is a technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard digital imaging or photographic techniques. Dynamic range is a measure of the range of different light levels from the darkest black to the brightest white that can be recorded or displayed by a device. It defines the amount of contrast you can capture or show without losing detail at the extremes. The dynamic range that can be captured with your SLR is greater than can be displayed on your monitor. HDR enables us to capture a greater range of brightness into an image in a way that a straightforward image can t achieve. A true HDR image is created from several shots of the same scene taken with slightly different exposures. Each exposure captures part of the full tonal range. They are then combined into a single image with software. There are lots of HDR programs available including some free ones. The best known is Photomatix Pro and easyhdr3 but the latest version of Photoshop (CS) has a built-in HDR facility. HDR programs usually have a range of sliders to help you control the tone-mapping effect to your own taste. Essentially, the process is the same as that used for bracketing. The number of shots you need is largely dependent on the actual tonal range of the scene you re shooting. The more contrast, the more shots you need. Three is the usual starting point, but you may need to take as many as nine, each with a one-to-two stop difference. Some SLRs have an AEB (automatic exposure bracketing) function, which will enable you to do this without too much fuss. Creating HDR images involves some effort at the time of shooting and processing but it s relatively straightforward.

5 Salon Standings Table as at 8th December 2016 Set out below is the latest Salon Standings Table Please note that, provided you insert our club name when submitting to local salons, we will pick up all local salon awards from the PSSA website on a monthly basis. Rank Name Star Rating Salon Points 1 Mark Gillie Pam Beaty 2 3 Barry Edworthy 20 Peter Heetman 13 Vee Dench 3 3 Dave Miller 3 2 Peter Naylor Barry Payne Jack Gillie 2 1 Should you earn an award in a foreign salon or elsewhere please notify us and provide proof of the award received to Barry at bar.anne&mweb.co.za Salon Awards During the past month only one acceptances was awarded to PGCC members: West Rand CC Salon /11/2016: Mark Gillie: An Apple a Day - Still Life In addition, one salon point was awarded to Karl Horngren in recognition of winning the Best Junior Award in the PSSA Club Best Images Competition for his image Bird Fight The Rules for salon acceptances are : 1. Although an image may be submitted to a Salon as many times as you like, the number of Salon Acceptances / COM s awarded is restricted to five per image. Should an image be awarded an acceptance more than times, salon points will not be granted. 2. Once an image is submitted to a salon it may not be re-submitted to the same salon in subsequent years. 3. Each Salon Acceptance earns 1 point and each Certificate of Merit (COM) earns 2 points. Upcoming Competitions PGCC Club Awards: The 2016 competition is now officially closed and the winners were announced at last nights club meeting. (See next page ).The 201 competition has now commenced and runs from Dec 2016 to Nov 201. The winners will be announced at the Dec 201 club meeting The KZN PSSA Interclub Competition: We are awaiting the official rules from PSSA but from what we have heard the competition will close on 30 th April 201 (so we will need images submitted a few days earlier to allow for judging) The subjects are Nature and Open / Pictorial.so bear this in mind and start photographing. We will open an event on PhotoVaullt as soon as we have the details. The DCC/PGCC Interclub Challenge: We will be holding our th PGCC/DCC Interclub Challenge in 201 and, to allow plenty of time for you to capture those award winning images, we have agreed with DCC to start the competition with immediate effect and include the topics in our set -subjects..which are Wildlife in Action (including birds) (Colour Only) and Frame-it. (Colour or Monochrome) The rules are: No digital manipulation Images must have been taken between 8 th December 2016 and the closing date (1 th September 201) Images must have metadata attached - which include date of capture (so make sure your camera can provide this) Images will be judged 0% on impact & 0% on composition / layout / balance / technical Selections for the club will be done entirely in-house by each club A panel of external judges will assess the images live at the judging night towards the end of the year. Durban Camera Club are already boasting that they are going to give us carrots again this year but that s not going to happen is it? Plenty to keep all our members busy in 201 so lets have plenty of images submitted

6 Prince s Grant Camera Club The Results of the 2016 PGCC Annual Awards 8 th December 2016 Category / Award Image Name Photographer Points Club Points Earned Award Winner N/A Mark Gillie 292 Runner-up N/A Barry Payne 290 Best Image in each Category Altered Reality: Winner Let Go Pam Beaty N/A Runner-up - No Award Monochrome: Winner Racing through the Rapids Mark Gillie N/A Runner-up Challenge Dave Miller N/A Nature: Winner Lady of the Night Karl Horngren N/A Runner-up Bird Fight Karl Horngren N/A Open: Winner Big Digger Mark Gillie N/A Runner-up Fiery Beauty Maria Horngren N/A Set Subject: Winner (Product Photography) Heady Scent Maria Horngren N/A Runner-up (Macro Photography) Ignition Mark Gillie N/A Best Overall Images: Winner (Member if the Year) Big Digger Mark Gillie N/A Runner-up Lady of the Night Karl Horngren N/A Congratulations to Mark Gillie our Member of the Year and all our the Winners and Runners Up If you were not at the December Club Meeting you may collect your certificate from me or if you me your physical address I will post it to you (bar.anne@mweb.co.za). Should you require an electronic copy contact Pam at pamelabeaty@mac.com 6

7 The Independent on Saturday As previously advised, the Independent on Saturday newspaper has offered all the KZN clubs registered with the PSSA an opportunity to showcase their club by submitting a brief profile of their club together with 10 to 1 images taken by their members. The profile and images will be published as a full page feature. The images published will be accredited to the photographer and the copyright will remain with the photographer. The IOS will only reserve the right to re-publish the images in their newspaper. The subject matter has not been defined but all photographs must have been taken in KZN, especially if the subject allows the location to be identified. An event has been opened on Photovault and you are invited to submit your images to me for inclusion in the selection process by no later than midnight on Wednesday, 8th March There is no limit to the number of images that each member may submit but images must be 102 x 68 with a max pixel size of 180. The best 10 to 1 images will be selected and screened at our March 201 meeting. This is a great opportunity to promote our club and we need you support in taking advantage of this opportunity. Images submitted may also be submitted in our club categories for judging. Important Note: New Sizing Requirement effective from March 201 As we now have a High Definition Projector please note that February 201 will be the last time that you will be able to submit images in the 102 x 68 format. With effect from March 201 all images must be submitted via PhotoVault in HD format which is Max width 1920 x Max Height 1020 with a maximum file size of 1.2 mb. News from the PSSA The KZN Regional Congress 201 is to be hosted by Scottburgh Camera Club 9 th to 11 th June 201 The KZN Regional Congress 2018 will be a one day event to be held in June The PSSA are looking for a club to host the event. Subject to agreement with the PGHOA, PGCC is currently considering offering to host this event. The FIAP International Congress is scheduled from 11 th to 1 th August 2018 every KZN club must get involved The PSSA National Congress 2018 is scheduled from 1 th to 19 th August 2018 (after FIAP Congress) The next KZN Monthly meeting will be held on 18th February 201..Your Committee: please feel free to contact us anytime! Barry Edworthy / Chairman: / bar.anne@mweb.co.za Dave Miller / Deputy Chairman: / dmillerconstruct@gmail.com Pam Beaty / Technical & Hon Secretary: / pamelabeaty@mac.com Jenny Reid / Treasurer: / gadgetgirl3@gmail.com Ray Burger / General: : rayburger9@gmail.com Maria Horngren / General: : maria.horngren@gmail.com Cindy Joubert / General: : cindyj@vodamail.co.za