Nature inFocus Photography Contest 2021

1. Submissions are open from Monday, March 8, 2021, till Monday, May 31, 2021.
2. The contest will close at 11:59 PM (India Time – UTC + 05:30) on Monday, May 31, 2021.
3. Submissions can be made only via the contest website: festival.natureinfocus.in
4. Write to us at [email protected] for any queries or issues. Before you write to us, please refer to our FAQ section. We are sure you will find quick answers to some common queries.
5. There are 5 categories for adult participants (above 17 years)  –
• Animal Portraits
• Animal Behaviour
• Wildscape & Animals in Habitat
• Conservation Issues
• Creative Nature Photography
6. A non-refundable registration fee of ₹1400 + 18% GST is applicable for adults for 5 categories. One can upload up to 15 photographs with not more than 3 photographs in each category.
7. For the Young Photographer category, solely for participants who are 17 and under, a non-refundable registration fee of ₹700 + 18% GST is applicable. The participant can upload up to 6 photographs.
8. The non-refundable registration fee will increase in the final week of the contest – ₹1600 + 18% GST for adult participants and ₹800 + 18% GST for young participants.
9. For the final round of judging in the Young Photographers category, the organisers will contact the participants for documents to establish proof of age.
10. The organisers will be allowed to use the winning and shortlisted photographs in the promotion of the contest and the festival. Selected photographs from the submitted entries will also be shared across all social media channels of the organiser. For any other form of usage, the organisers will contact the photographer for permissions.
11. The sponsor for the contest will have the right to use the photographs or any other data shared by the participant for one year and may engage the winning photographer for promotional activities.
12. The winning images and selected images from the final shortlist may be exhibited at the Nature inFocus Festival in Bangalore and possibly at hosted or partnered events in other cities.
13. The prize money is non-transferable and will be awarded to the participant after TDS deduction, if any.
14. To transfer the prize money to international participants, the organisers will follow bank transfer and TDS instructions prescribed by the Indian government. The participants must provide the organisers any identification, paperwork or invoices that may be required to complete the transaction. Transfers may take upto three months.
15. If there is a tie in any of the categories, the cash prize will be divided equally among the winners of said category.
16. Cancellation and withdrawals are not allowed once the registration process is completed.
17. Any disputes are subject to Bangalore jurisdiction only.

1. Photographs that are submitted must have been taken in the last 5 years. The photographs can be shot anywhere in the world.
2. All digital photographs must be in JPEG format, RGB mode, with a maximum of 1920 pixels (on the longer side) at 72dpi.
3. The photograph size should not exceed 2MB.
4. Photographs with borders, frames, watermarks or signatures will not be considered for judging.
5. Participants should not include their name in the caption, filename or on the image itself.
6. Cropping is allowed as long as the original message/content of the photograph is not altered drastically.
7. Stitching of images is allowed only if the resulting image is a panoramic one, and this must be declared in the caption.
8. Basic retouching (brightness, saturation, sharpening, contrast and white balance) of images is acceptable as long as the photograph retains its original form. Any image that appears drastically different from its RAW version will be disqualified.
9. Once shortlisted, participants will be contacted to provide the accompanying RAW file. All information regarding post-processing of the image must be shared on request. If the image was not shot in a RAW format, the original, unprocessed JPEG file will need to be shared.
10. The jury may request the participant to share a series of RAW images – shot immediately before and after the shortlisted image – to establish authenticity. If the participant fails to provide these images upon request, the image will be disqualified.
11. Each photograph will have to be accompanied by a relevant title and a detailed description.

1. Participants must be mindful of the welfare of the animals they are photographing and ensure that no harm, injury or distress is caused to the animal or to the habitat in an attempt to secure the image.
2. Participants are not permitted to submit images of farm animals, family pets or animal models.
3. Images of nesting birds will not be accepted.
4. Images of captive animals will not be accepted unless the said image has been shot with a specific purpose to portray issues regarding the treatment of the species.
5. Images that have been captured using live bait will not be accepted. If any other forms of attraction have been used to secure the photograph, like birdseed, food or scent, details must be declared in the caption.
6. Images, where the photographer’s actions or presence has adversely affected the animal’s behaviour or put the animal in danger, will not be permitted. For example, images depicting aggressive behaviour of species like vine snakes, pit vipers or elephants charging could be disqualified at the jury’s discretion.
7. Participants must not deceive the viewer or attempt to disguise and/or misrepresent the reality of the natural scene.
8. Participants are responsible for ensuring full compliance with any applicable national or international legislation and for securing any relevant permits that may be required in the process of photography.
9. If the organisers suspect that an entry has been achieved through cruel or unethical practices, the entry will be disqualified.
10. Information supplied in the caption must be complete, true and accurate.
11. The organising team, sponsors, and partners are not allowed to participate in the contest.
12. Any breach of the ethical standards listed here will be considered a breach of the rules.

1. The jury, comprising a group of renowned professionals in the fields of photography and conservation, will meet in Bangalore city to select the winning images using the following criteria:
• Creativity
• Originality
• Composition
• Technical and Artistic Considerations
2. During the course of judging, the jury reserves the right to move entries from one category to another, where they consider it appropriate and applicable.
3. Once the contest is closed for submissions, participants will only hear from the organisers if their image/s are shortlisted.
4. The organisers have the right to disqualify participants who approach the jury members in a deliberate attempt to influence or lobby, by discussing judging processes, enquiring details or requesting feedback prior to the announcement of results.
5. The jury reserves the right to declare a tie in any of the prizes or change the number of prizes being awarded.

1. Andy Rouse
2. Bahar Dutt
3. Dhritiman Mukherjee
4. Kalyan Varma – Jury Curator
5. Navaneeth Unnikrishnan
6. Rathika Ramasamy

1. Animal Portraits: Images that showcase an animal's portrait of its characteristics, physical or otherwise
2. Animal Behaviour: Images that showcase an animal's behavioural traits and add to our understanding of the species
3. Wildscape & Animals in Habitat: Images that showcase the landscape that an animal inhabits and its natural environment
4. Conservation Issues: Images that highlight manmade changes and destructive trends to natural environments or wildlife
5. Creative Nature Photography: Images that showcase nature as an art form using a photographer's creative perspective
6. Young Photographer: Images of nature and wildlife shot by photographers of and under the age of 17
7. Nature inFocus Photograph of the Year Award: The title-winning image will be chosen from the various category winners

Each category has a total of 8 prizes:

• Winner – 1
• Runner Up – 1
• Second Runner Up – 1
• Special Mention – 5

The cash prize for each of the categories will be:

• Winner – ₹50,000
• Runner Up – ₹25,000
• Second Runner Up – ₹10,000
• Special Mention – NA
• Nature inFocus Photograph of the Year – ₹50,000 

Here is a quick reference for some of the questions you might have. But do read the Terms & Conditions of the contest for the nitty-gritty. In fact, we insist you do so before submitting your images.

 

If I face trouble with the submission process, whom should I contact for help?

You should be able to find the answers to most of your queries here. Please read through the FAQs before you contact us at [email protected].

I did not get a confirmation email after signing up. Why?

Please check your spam folder, sometimes we get grouped with the dirty bunch. Blasphemous, right!

Unable to log in, the password is not working. What do I do?

You need to go to the login page and generate a new password using your registered email ID. Again, make sure to check your spam folder, if you can’t find the email with the new password in your inbox.

Can I log in with last year’s login details?

We are new and improved this year. Of course, you have to sign up anew to be able to log in and participate.

Can I use the login details of the film contest to log in to the photography contest and vice versa?

The film and photography contests are independent of each other. We are delighted that you want to participate for both, but you will need to sign up separately for both.

I can’t find a submit button. Have my entries gone through?

Your submissions get saved in our database as and when you upload them, so we did away with the submit button. We are cool like that. You have time until the contest closes at 11:59 PM (India Time – UTC + 05:30) on Monday, May 31, 2021, to review, modify and delete your entries. When the contest comes to a close, all the images on your upload page are automatically considered as your final submissions.

Is it mandatory to submit images in all the categories?

Of course, not! You can submit in just one category, if you so wish. However, we urge you to submit all of your best work, across categories.

Can I submit images of captive animals?

Unless you are trying to highlight a wildlife conservation issue, our answer is NO.

My image is very heavy in size and I don’t know how to reduce it to under 2MB.

Have you tried the ‘Save For Web’ option on Photoshop and Lightroom? You will also find tutorials online.

Why do you have a rule about the image being 72dpi?

We recommend 72dpi to restrict the image under 2MB. If you are able to achieve that at a higher dpi value, please feel free to resize accordingly.

Why do you charge entry fees?

The modest participation fee covers the cost of bringing together an expert panel of judges to review and score each image, as well as submission administration costs and exhibition venue hire.

When does the contest close?

The contest will close when the clock strikes 11:59 PM (India Time – UTC + 05:30) on Monday, May 31, 2021.

Will the deadline be extended?

No, it will not be extended. Not even if you send us cake.

Once the contest is closed, can I review my entries?

No. You must finish reviewing your entries before the contest closes, at 11:59 PM (India Time – UTC + 05:30) on Monday, May 31, 2021

Photos after upload seem to lose colour and brightness and the thumbnail preview looks different. Should I be concerned?

The photos you have uploaded are saved in their original form, without any changes or edits, directly in our database. What you see as thumbnails on the site are just low-resolution previews of the same images. The judges will not be looking at these previews, they will only be looking at the files saved in our database.

Is cropping allowed?

Cropping is allowed as long as the original message/content of the photograph is not altered drastically.

How will I know if my image is shortlisted?

While we would love to send Hedwig your way (and we are working on that), for now, we entrust this to our email servers. You will receive an email from us notifying you that your image/s have been shortlisted.

Will I hear from you if my image is not shortlisted?

Due to the large volume of submissions we receive, we are unable to notify participants individually if their images haven’t been shortlisted. 

Will you inform me in advance if I have won a prize?

While you won’t find out exactly what you have won (you are not Sherlock!), you will be informed if you are among the winners.

What should I write in the caption?

The caption should ideally ‘explain’ the photograph to the viewer. A simple trick to write a good caption is to describe the WHO-WHAT-WHY-WHERE-WHEN of the scene you have photographed. We frequently share submissions and winning images on our social media pages. Use #natureinfocusawards2020 to browse through the captions from our contest last year.