Editing Rules for the Documentary Group
DOCUMENTARY Group includes the categories of Photojournalism and Nature
Photojournalism
Editing Rules for Photojournalism Category:
Restricted Editing - Photojournalism
Permitted:
Techniques that enhance the presentation of the image without changing the story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene are permitted.
Enhancements, distortion correction, straightening horizons, both local and global adjustment of contrast, brightness, colour balance and saturation, cropping, sharpening, noise reduction.
Minor cleaning up (e.g. removal of sensor dust or scratches from images or transparencies/scans, removal of chromatic aberration).
Dodging and burning is permitted on the submitted image.
Images may be converted to monochrome.
Physical lens filters (such as polarizing filters, ND filters etc – any filter that can be attached to a lens) are permitted.
All allowed adjustments must appear natural.
Not Permitted
Softening or blurring and/or vignetting of the background of an image in post processing is not permitted.
Panoramic stitching is also not permitted.
Techniques that add, relocate, clone, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are not permitted.
Infrared images are not permitted.
Flipping the image is not permitted.
Non-photographic components, that identify the maker i.e. signatures, watermarks, etc are not permitted.
Edge effects, discrete borders or frames are not permitted.
HDR, focus stacking and in-camera multiple exposure taken at the same location at the same time (as a continuous sequence – seconds or minutes apart) is not permitted. HDR may not be applied during post processing.
Third party pre-sets, applications, brushes and actions are not permitted.
Digital Creative Filters either on camera or in post processing are not permitted.
The image cannot be solely created by a computer application.
Nature
Editing Rules for Nature
Restricted Editing – Nature
Permitted:
Techniques that enhance the presentation of the image without changing the story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene are permitted.
HDR and focus stacking.
Physical lens filters (such as polarizing filters, ND filters etc – any filter that can be attached to a lens) are permitted.
Enhancements, distortion correction, straightening horizons, both local and global adjustment of contrast, brightness, colour balance and saturation, cropping, sharpening, noise reduction.
Minor cleaning up (e.g. removal of sensor dust or scratches from images or transparencies/scans, removal of chromatic aberration).
Flipping the image.
Dodging and burning is permitted on the submitted image.
Images may be converted to monochrome.
All allowed adjustments must appear natural.
Not Permitted
Softening or blurring and/or vignetting of the background of an image in post processing is not permitted.
Panoramic stitching is also not permitted.
In-camera multiple exposure taken at the same location at the same time (as a continuous sequence – seconds or minutes apart).
Techniques that add, relocate, clone, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are not permitted
Infrared images are not permitted.
Non-photographic components, that identify the maker i.e. signatures, watermarks, etc are not permitted.
Edge effects, discrete borders or frames are not permitted.
Third party pre-sets, applications, brushes and actions are not permitted.
Digital Creative Filters either on camera or in post processing are not permitted.
The image cannot be solely created by a computer application.
Long exposures of clouds or water that doesn’t look realistic are not permitted.
Star trails in long exposures are not permitted.
APAC Nature Ethics adopted from CAPA:
To promote responsible photographing of species, entrants:
Must not do anything to injure or distress any animals or destroy their habitat in an attempt to secure an image.
Must maintain an appropriate distance from an active nest, and in most cases, avoid them entirely.
Must not bait of wildlife to avoid possible long-term impacts.
Must not stress out wildlife by getting too close.
Should learn about the species’ behaviour and the ecology of the area.
Should use appropriate lenses and techniques that minimize stress on wildlife. You should be a naturalist as well as a nature photographer and you should be especially careful and respectful when photographing ‘species-at-risk’ and threatened species.
Should consider avoiding the photography of ‘species-at-risk’ altogether. For more information consult the The Canadian Federal Species At Risk Act – Schedule 1 for a complete listing.