With respect to touch ups and blending and AI, I think anything is fine as long as you're honest about what you've done and where you got it (in the wild, at a zoo or aviary, etc). Contests and publications can, of course, set rules on what is acceptable. The real ethically problematic part is disturbing a wild subject just for the shot, e.g., by approaching too close or baiting. Those should be strongly discouraged, but sadly as far as photo contests go it's usually impossible to know whether a given photo was taken in an unethical manner.
Suan > On May 8, 2024, at 3:14 PM, Carl Steckler <c...@cornell.edu> wrote: > > I am going to really stick my neck out here, please don't chop it off. > I was recently asked by a new birder and photographer about "when is a > wildlife photo not a wildlife photo?" > She asked if a photo taken at a zoo of a bird was really a wildlife photo? > She also asked about post production. How much editing was too much > This reminded me of a photo that I submitted to the CBC annual photo night. I > was a photo of three woodpeckers > a Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied at a log feeder that I had set up. I tried for > hours to get a photo of all three together. > I finally gave up and created a photo of all three in Photoshop. I did > confess to this the evening of the program so I > wasn't trying to fool anybody, just show a photo of all three. > Now all three woodpeckers were wild birds and I did take the photos, but > would this be considered "wildlife photography? > I have recently seen some wonderful "photos" created by AI, but again are > they wildlife photos?So I am asking for your > opinion as to what is and what isn't a "real" wildlife photo? Where does it > begin and end? > you can PM me at c...@cornell.edu but I think this discussion should be on > the list. > thanks > Carl > > -- > > (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") > > Cayugabirds-L List Info: > NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm > NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm > NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm > > ARCHIVES: > 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html > 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds > 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ > > Please submit your observations to eBird: > ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ > > -- -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
