Competition Categories

Summary: Images created to sell, promote, or market a product, service, or brand.

 Entry Criteria

• Clear commercial purpose.
• Products, services, campaigns, or brand-led imagery.
• Studio or location-based.

Conditions & Restrictions

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard; styling and retouching are expected but must remain credible to the product or brand.
• Compositing is permitted, reflecting standard industry practice, provided all elements are the entrant’s own material (see general rules).
• The image must still read as predominantly photographic. If compositing technique dominates over photographic content, consider entering Digital Creation instead.

Recommendations

• Clear message and audience.
• Professional finish.
• Concept and execution must align.

Summary: Images captured from the air using drones or piloted aircraft.

Entry Criteria

• Images must be captured from an airborne platform.
• Includes drone, helicopter, light aircraft, balloon, or similar.
• Subject matter may include landscape, architecture, industry, events, or abstract aerial views.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard.
• Ground-based images manipulated or simulated to appear aerial are not permitted – this applies regardless of the technique used to create the effect.

Conditions & Restrictions

• Drone operation must comply with applicable aviation laws and regulations.

Recommendations

• Strong spatial awareness and scale.
• Clear purpose beyond novelty.
• Evidence of deliberate composition, not incidental capture.

Summary: Constructed environments photographed for design, function, or atmosphere.

Entry Criteria

• Exterior or interior architectural photography.
• Residential, commercial, public, or industrial spaces.
• May include people if clearly secondary to the architecture.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments apply as standard.
• Perspective control and exposure blending from the entrant’s own bracketed frames of the same scene are permitted.
• Advanced retouching may be used to remove genuinely temporary elements present at the time of capture – e.g. traffic, bins, cabling, passers-by – but not to alter structure, add or remove fixed elements, or otherwise misrepresent the space.
• Sky replacement is permitted only using the entrant’s own skies (captured by the entrant, not stock or third-party).
• Full scene reconstruction or fabricated elements are not permitted.

Recommendations

• Accurate verticals and colour fidelity.
• Lighting that enhances form without misrepresentation.
• Respect the architect’s design intent.

Summary: Photographic images where digital manipulation is central to the final result.

Entry Criteria

• Composite, constructed, or heavily manipulated imagery.
• Multiple photographic elements may be combined.

Editing & Compositing

• This category exists specifically for entries built around heavy compositing – see general rules for the standard compositing restriction, which is lifted here.
• All source material must be captured by the entrant (general rule). Judges may request layered files to confirm authorship of each element.

Recommendations

• Technical excellence is expected.
• Manipulation should serve concept, not dominate it.

Summary: Style-led imagery showcasing clothing, accessories, hair, makeup or related products.

Entry Criteria

• Fashion editorials, lookbooks, campaigns, or beauty imagery.
• Emphasis on styling, design, and aesthetic direction.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard; skin retouching is permitted but must not distort anatomy or exceed industry-normal body reshaping.
• Composite backgrounds are permitted where built entirely from the entrant’s own photographic material (see general rules).

Recommendations

• Strong collaboration with styling and makeup.
• Consistent visual language.
• Contemporary relevance.

Summary: Concept-driven images expressing ideas, narratives, or artistic intent.

 Entry Criteria

• Images led by concept rather than documentation.
• May be staged, symbolic, or interpretive.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard.
• Compositing is permitted but limited to the entrant’s own source material (general rule) and must remain photographically rooted rather than synthetic.
• Where compositing technique is the primary driver of the image rather than photographic content or concept, consider entering Digital Creation instead.

Recommendations

• Clear intent and coherence.
• Emotional or intellectual engagement.
• Originality over technique for its own sake.

Summary: Natural and urban environments captured with intent and purpose.

 Entry Criteria

• Rural, coastal, urban, or suburban environments.
• Human presence permitted but not dominant.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard.
• Focus stacking, panorama stitching, and multiple exposures captured at the same time and place are permitted.
• Sky replacement is permitted only using the entrant’s own skies (captured by the entrant, not stock or third-party).
• Genuinely temporary elements (e.g. litter, passing vehicles or people) may be removed.
• Fabricated or reconstructed landscapes are not permitted.
• Where wildlife is a significant subject, Natural World’s rules apply to that content. 

Recommendations

• Strong sense of place.
• Consideration of light and timing.
• Avoid over-processing.

Summary: Compelling story-telling in a small series of images presented as individual frames – e.g diptychs, triptychs, and grids.

 Entry Criteria

• Open category.
• Each entry (multiple images) is uploaded as a single image representative of the final print layout.

Conditions & Restrictions

• Images may be drawn from any other competition category; that category’s specific editing and compositing rules apply to each image used.
• Borders to support the image layout and strokes to delineate images from the background are permitted.

Recommendations

• Clean storytelling.
• Present in print layout (single image presented for digital judging).
• Background colour should be considered as part of the presentation (and we would suggest matches the print presentation).
• The digital entry does not need to use the final 5:4 print layout if that entails unnecessary whitespace.
• A subtle stroke may be used to delineate images from the background.

Summary: Live performance, competition, and athletic culture.

 Entry Criteria

• Concerts, gigs, festivals, rehearsals.
• Sporting events, training, or behind-the-scenes.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments apply as standard.
• Compositing and combining of multiple frames (e.g. panorama, multi-exposure) is not permitted – the general default applies.
• Non-event imagery and posed promotional portraits belong in Portrait or Advertising & Commercial.
• Event access must be legitimate.

Recommendations

• Peak moment capture.
• Atmosphere and energy.
• Clean storytelling.

Summary: Wildlife and nature photographed in their native habitat.

Entry Criteria

• Wild animals, plants, or ecosystems.
• Subjects must be free-living and unrestrained.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments apply as standard.
• Focus stacking and multiple exposures captured at the same place and time are permitted.
• Compositing – combining elements from different times, places, or frames – is not permitted.

Conditions & Restrictions

• No captive, zoo, or controlled animals.
• No baiting, distress, or habitat damage.
• Captive animals should be entered in the Pets & Domesticated animals category.

Recommendations

• Ethical fieldcraft.
• Authentic behaviour.
• Natural presentation over drama.

Summary: Professionally created images of newborn babies.

Entry Criteria

• Babies typically up to 28 days old (adjusted age for premature babies).
• Studio or home environments.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard
• Background replacement and compositing are permitted, using only the entrant’s own photographic material (general rule).

Conditions & Restrictions

• Parents & siblings are only permitted in shots as supporting elements – e.g. hands.
• Maternity shots and family groups belong in Portrait.
• Documentary birth imagery belongs in Photojournalism & Street.

Recommendations

• Safe posing practices.
• Clean, gentle styling.
• Parental consent is essential

Summary: Companion and working animals photographed under human care.

 Entry Criteria

• Pets, farm animals, or working animals.
• Controlled, captive or domestic environments.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard.
• Background replacement and compositing are permitted, using only the entrant’s own photographic material (general rule).
• Excessive body modification is not permitted.

Conditions & Restrictions

• Wildlife in the wild belongs in Natural World
• As with Newborn, owners should be present only as a supporting element; if the owner is a significant part of the shot, enter Portrait instead.

Recommendations

• Character and connection.
• Animal welfare first.
• Clean, well-lit imagery.

Summary: Unstaged images documenting real life, events, and society.

 Entry Criteria

• Observational photography.
• News, documentary, or street imagery.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments apply as standard.

Conditions & Restrictions

• No staging or direction of subjects.

Recommendations

• Context and authenticity.
• Ethical awareness.
• Strong storytelling

Summary: Images primarily focused on people.

 Entry Criteria

• Studio or location portraits (individuals, family/group, maternity, boudoir, etc.).
• Includes posed wedding-style portraits not from live events.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard.
• Compositing – including “face-swaps” between frames – is permitted, provided every element used is the entrant’s own work from that session (general rule; no stock or third-party elements).
• Excessive body modification is not permitted.

Conditions & Restrictions

• Newborn rules apply where relevant.

Recommendations

• Expression and connection.
• Appropriate lighting.
• Purpose-driven styling.

Summary: Real wedding events photographed for real clients.

Entry Criteria

• Must be from an actual wedding day.
• Real couple, real event, real timeline.

Editing & Compositing

• Minor adjustments and advanced retouching apply as standard.
• Sky replacement is permitted, using only the entrant’s own skies.
• Compositing – including “face-swaps” between frames – is permitted, provided every element used is the entrant’s own work from that wedding (general rule; no stock or third-party elements).

Conditions & Restrictions

• Styled shoots are not permitted – these should be entered in the Portrait or Advertising & Commercial, depending on intent.
• Workshop images are not permitted (general rule).
• Pre- or post-wedding portraits may be included if part of the same commission and shot as part of the event.

Recommendations

• Storytelling across moments.
• Emotional authenticity.
• Technical reliability under pressure.