L&CPU Nature Rule
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.
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.
Processing of the captured image, by cropping, exposure adjustment, colour correction, noise minimisation, dodging/burning, HDR, focus stacking and sharpening, is allowed. Cloning of image defects and minor distractions, including overlapping elements, are permitted when these do not distort the truth of the photographic statement.
Images entered as Nature can have landscape, 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.
Access to biological subjects may be restricted. By entering an L&CPU event, Photographers warrant that they have followed relevant codes of practices and hold any necessary licenses.
L&CPU Repetition Rule
1 All L&CPU competitions include the principle that an image, once entered into a competition, is not eligible to be entered into the same competition
2 The definitions and boundaries of each competition are stated in the respective rules
3 The L&CPU are building an archive of entries made via its on line system, with validation software which will identify possible eligibility errors. This check is based on a combination of the image title and the photographers name
4 The same title by a different photographer is always a different image
5 Any change between competitions in typing either the title or the photographers name and distinctions may mean that a warning is not given
6 The system may give a false warning where two photographers share the same name or have very similar names
7 Best practice and highly desirable is for the author of an image to give each image a unique title and for that title never to be changed. A different title by the same author will be assumed to be a different image; however, it is the image which matters and a review of image files will reveal an ineligible entry
8 An image, which is sufficiently similar to another previously entered into a competition by the same photographer, will be ruled ineligible as being effectively the same image
9 Colour and monochrome versions from one original image are likely to be considered the same image, unless the artistic treatment is significantly different
10 Similarity may also arise where elements are repeated in different composite images
11 The L&CPU delegates any decisions on eligibility to the discretion of each event organizer
12 Photographers and Club Competition Secretaries should be aware of the similarity issue, even if two entries have been given different titles