Wildlife photography comes with its own rules, style and approach for photographic competitions and what we are looking for here are natural images; not collaged, not assembled in any way, not stylised or with artistic effects, rather, an image that shows the animal, plant or fungus in its natural setting: “A true representation of nature”. Therefore no pets, no domestic creatures, no animals in a zoo or in captivity, no house plants: we’re looking for authentic photographs of nature, showing nature how it really is, there should be no deception nor misrepresentation. If you find yourself wondering if your pictures are really ‘wildlife’, keep it simple and think of the common sense understanding.
These categories are used nationally and are examples of all the various suitable subjects, so any pictures that fit these categories are very welcome !
- Animals in their environment
- Animal portraits
- Behaviour: Amphibians and reptiles
- Behaviour: Birds
- Behaviour: Invertebrates
- Behaviour: Mammals
- Plants and fungi
- Under water
- Urban wildlife
- Natural artistry
- Oceans – the bigger picture
- Wetlands- the bigger picture
Allowed
Digital adjustments including tone and contrast, burning, dodging, cropping, sharpening, noise reduction, minor cleaning work (e.g. removal of sensor dust or scratches on transparencies/scans, removal of chromatic aberration), HDR, stitched panoramas, focus stacking are permitted providing that they comply with the Competition’s principles of authenticity – a true representation of nature – so that they do not deceive the viewer or misrepresent the reality of nature, or what was originally captured by the camera.
Not Allowed
The following digital adjustments – but not limited to these – are NOT allowed: adding, moving or removing objects, animals or parts of animals, plants, people etc; the removal of dirt, highlights, backscatter, bubbles, debris and similar; composites, painting the foreground / painting out the background.
Why do we use these rules?
We use these rules for our wildlife competitions to conform with other regional competitions, so that we can take pictures from our own competitions and use them in inter-club competitions: these reflect the rules used in the national Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.