NATURE

PSA Statement on Subject Matter

There is one hard and fast rule, whose spirit must be observed at all times and applies to all sections offered in PSA recognised exhibitions. 

The welfare of the subject is more important than the photograph.

This means that practices such as baiting of subjects with a living creature and removal of birds from nests, for the purpose of obtaining a photograph, are highly unethical, and such photographs are not allowed in any PSA exhibitions.

There is also a PSA policy on the use of aerial photography – aircraft, helicopters and drones.  This policy can be found at https://psa-photo.org/index.php?psa-policies#drone.

The purpose of this policy is to prevent any interference with other individuals or animals which will or may cause a disturbance in their normal activity or disrupt the way any individuals or animals interact with their environment. Entry in this exhibition requires exhibitors to agree to this and other PSA policies

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 human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement.
  • 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.
  • Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise, and film scratches, are allowed.
  • Stitched images are not permitted.
  • All allowed adjustments must appear natural.
  • Colour images can be converted to grey-scale monochrome.
  • Infrared images, either direct-captures or derivations, are not allowed.

WILDLIFE

Images entered in Wildlife sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above are further defined as:

  • One or more extant zoological or botanical organisms free and unrestrained in a natural or adopted habitat.
  • Landscapes, geologic formations, photographs of zoo or game farm animals, or of any extant zoological or botanical species taken under controlled conditions are not eligible in Wildlife sections.
  • Wildlife is not limited to animals, birds and insects. Marine subjects and botanical subjects (including fungi and algae) taken in the wild are suitable wildlife subjects, as are carcasses of extant species.

Wildlife images may be entered in Nature sections of Exhibitions.