Nature Zoology

Defined as photography that depicts subjects found in nature such as wild animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

• The primary objective of this category is to depict an accurate record of the subject in its natural wild environment. The completed image should look “natural” “as our eyes may have seen it”. Domestic animals, birds, reptiles are not allowed.
• Minimal evidence of the hand of man and man’s specialized environment is permitted in Nature Zoology as Natural Adaptation. ‘Hand of man’ is defined as any element in the scene that is evidence of man’s influence in the environment. (e.g., fence post, wires, roads, trails, etc.). 
• Allowance is made for natural adaptation to a man-made environment, but the focus and emphasis is to be on the subject. Hand of man elements should not detract from the main subject.
• Any evidence of Hand of Man in the background such as buildings are not allowed.
• Urban adaptation such as a nest on a building, fox on a lawn or any urban setting is not allowed
• Images of zoology subjects with scientific bands are acceptable.
• Any form of unnatural or altered reality, or unnatural gradients are not allowed
• NOTE: If an image qualifies for Nature Zoology it can only be submitted in Zoology. If it is submitted in any other category the image will be disqualified.

Acceptable examples for Zoology:

A bee or other insect on a cultivated plant is acceptable as long as the focus is on the insect and not the plant. This would fall under Natural Adaptation.  Animals and insects in zoos, reserves, animal parks, aquariums, butterfly conservatory specimens etc. are acceptable.  There should be no sign that the subject is in captivity i.e., tethers, cages, fences, and leashes or any other form of constraint. The subject should appear to be able to leave at will.  The subject must appear to be in their native natural environment.

Domesticated animals such as horses, cows, cats, dogs are not permitted.

Digital Manipulations: General correction is permitted in terms of resizing, cropping,
selective lightening or darkening and restoration of original colour of the scene.  Any form of post-processing manipulation is allowed to Nature entries as long as the final result appears natural and maintains the essence of the subject in a natural setting. This would allow for altering or replacing the backgrounds, removal of distracting elements by cloning along with the usual retouching of dust spot removal. Any elements added to the image must be original to the maker and not sourced from other sources. These manipulations are voluntary and at the maker’s discretion.  Any sharpening must appear natural and not over processed.

HDR: The use of HDR techniques is acceptable for Nature images as this technique falls under the allowed selective lightening and darkening technique; however, the final result must appear natural. Over processed HDR images or artistic HDR images are not acceptable as nature images.

Focus Stacking: The use of focus stacking techniques for macro images will be allowed. The final result must appear natural.

Monochrome Desaturation: Full monochrome images are allowed in the Nature category. This refers to images that contained colour information when taken, but the colour was subsequently removed through desaturation or other similar processes to become a monochrome image. Selective colour in a monochrome image will be deemed as creative and is not allowed.

Story-telling: The inclusion of a story-telling element in Nature images is strongly encouraged.

Respect for wildlife: Good manners and a true respect for nature and all wildlife must be the paramount objective of any photographer. Close-up photography of nests of newly born birds and mammals is to be avoided as the process disturbs the nesting area and usually puts the young animals at risk. Shooting from a distance via a long telephoto lens is recommended for this type of photography.

Discrepancies: If an image is suspect of plagiarism, or is questionable in any manner, the member may be asked to submit the original RAW image. A RAW image can be viewed as a digital negative, the contents of the RAW image cannot be edited or changed (hence the requirement to convert a RAW image to another format in order to edit it).

Honour system: It is understood that all images entered in the Nature category are on an honour system and it is the maker’s responsibility to abide by the morals and principles of the club.

Naming Convention: The name of the Nature image should be appropriate to the subject.  The common name or scientific name of the subject is strongly recommended, but not mandatory. A subject description may also be included (i.e., Heron in Mating Plumage). Refrain from over generalizing your title such as “Bird”, “Bee” or “Flower”. Note: Judges appreciate photos that include the name of the species rather than “cute or flowery descriptions” and often reward proper naming in their scores.