IMPORTANT: Click here for checklist and explanations of this definition

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, domestic animals**, feral animals**, or mounted specimens are ineligible.
  * Fungi, such as mushrooms, are not plants or animals and are therefore allowed.
  ** Click here for a list of domestic animals (only the first list is applicable). Feral animals are domestic animals gone into the wild or animals in the wild descended from domestic animals.
  
• Photographs of all flowers and plant blossoms, hybrid or not, in any stage of development are ineligible - unless they are acting as an adopted habitat for eligible living organisms that are the main focus of the image*.
  * Such as a bee in the wild pollinating in a flower, its adopted habitat for the purpose.
  
• Infrared images, either direct-captures or derivations, are not allowed.

Clarification for Nature Open:

• Images entered in Nature Open sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above can have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food.

Modifications:

• Only very limited modifications are permitted in Nature. Click here for important details.

Borders:

• Borders must be limited in size and color. Click here for important details.