Nature Division
Clarifications and Checklist

• The following explanations of the Nature definition have been modified - and slightly augmented - from an article by Dan Charbonnet, PSA VP of Exhibition Services, that appeared in the September, 2014 issue of the PSA Journal. It can be used as a checklist for those entering PSA-recognized nature exhibitions.

  With regard to the definition of Nature Photography:
  (scroll down for specific comments on digital processing)
  

  • The definition prohibits human elements that are not an integral part of the nature story. Human elements are not limited to people or parts of people in the image. Human elements that can cause images to be disqualified, or at best scored low, include but are not limited to:
    
  • Roads, paths, vehicle tracks, or trails
  • Fences and fence posts
  • Signs
  • Power Poles
  • Wires
  • Buildings (or parts of buildings)
  • Walls or parts of walls
  • Mowing and plowing patterns in fields
  • Cut tree stumps, cut off limbs, branches or stems
  • Jesses and thongs on legs of raptors and other birds (these are not scientific banding)
    
  • The definition does include some examples of human elements that are integral parts of the nature story. Other examples of allowable human elements include:
    
  • Birds nesting or feeding young on or in man-made objects.
  • Insects depositing eggs or egg sacs in man-made objects.
  • Animals eating fresh kills on fence posts, pilings, in roadways, etc.
  • A flood with raging water with a house or other human element floating in the flood.
  • A tornado ripping apart buildings or throwing around human elements. Such “natural force” examples show nature stories where the natural forces are out of control.
    
  • The keys are whether the judge considers the human element integral to the story, the habitat to be adopted, and the nature story to be strong.
    
    
  • The definition specifically lists domestic animals, including those that have gone feral, as not being allowed. Domestic animals are animals, such as horses, cats, dogs, poultry, cattle and sheep, that have been tamed and kept by humans as work animals, food sources, or pets, especially members of those species that have become notably different from their wild ancestors through selective breeding.
    
    
  • This particular restriction does eliminate just about all the “wild” horses in the world since those in the Americas, Europe and Western Asia are feral domestic horses, not true wild horses. The only true eligible horse is the rare Przewalski’s Horse also known as the Mongolian Wild Horse. Zebras, kiangs and onagers (wild asses) are also valid eligible members of the horse family.
    
    
  • It also reinforces the exclusion of any Llamas and Alpacas because those have always been domestic animals and have no ancestors that were never domesticated.
    
    
  • All Koi and goldfish are hybrids and are not allowed.
    
    
  • Cultivated plants are those that are grown specifically in decorative gardens and for food. Wildflowers (that are not hybrids) planted in botanical gardens are allowed subjects in Nature Open in the same manner that wild animals in zoos are allowed subjects.
    
    
  • Hybrid flora – including wildflowers - in general are hard to distinguish from native varieties and vice-versa, so it is often very difficult for most entrants and judges alike to determine whether flora are indeed hybrids. Entrants are advised that one or more judges may DQ an image containing flora believing in good faith that it is hybrid when in fact it is not. Entrants are therefore cautioned of the risk taken when entering any image containing flora into a Nature competition, and are advised to check carefully before entering such an image.
    
    
  • Most roses, for example, are hybrids. Native roses do not have multiple swirls of petals and come in simple shades of light red through white.
    
    
  • "Slow" water (longer exposures) is allowed.
    
    
  • Star trail images created through the superimposition of multiple images (such as circumpolars) are not allowed, regardless of whether any human-created lighting is present.
    

  With regard to digital processing in Nature Photography:

  • The definition does not allow replacing the background of the image, adding additional content from another image, or cloning out content from your original image. This restriction of cloning out content includes what may appear inconsequential, such as a blade of grass in front of an animal’s face. Also cloning elements already in the image and making additional copies of those elements is the same as adding elements and is not allowed.
    
    
  • Adding pictorial elements to the image or removing pictorial elements from the image is not permitted.
    
    
  • Adjustments are allowed that enhance the image without changing the content, including: exposure (globally and selectively), color balance, contrast, sharpening (globally and selectively), noise reduction, conversion to greyscale monochrome (with no color added), straightening, resizing, and cropping.
    
  • Deliberately blurring the background is not allowed.
    
    
  • Adding a vignette not originally produced by the camera is not allowed.
    
    
  • The overriding requirement for any of the allowed adjustments is that the results must appear natural to the viewer (the maker is not the viewer – the viewer is the judge!)