19th Finland International Digital Circuit 2027

The exhibition is open to anyone; however, an entry may be rejected when the sponsoring organization or its agent, in its reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not confirm to exhibition rules and conditions.

Entries must originate as photographs (image-captures of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally. By virtue of submitting an entry, the entrant certifies the work as his/her own and permits the sponsors to reproduce all or part of the entered material free of charge for publication and/or display in media related to the exhibition. This may include low resolution posting on a website. The exhibition assumes no liability for any misuse of copyright. Notice the FIAP and PSA definitions below.

All entries must be submitted in digital format. Each entrant may submit a maximum of four entries in each section. Pictures taken on film or slide must be scanned into digital form. The images will be sent in jpeg format only. An entrant’s four images will be distributed throughout four rounds of judging in each section in each stop in the circuit.

The uploading system takes care of naming the files automatically. Naturally, you are also asked to write the names you have given to the individual photos. Just follow the instructions.

FIAP document 048/2025 E art.II.8.F “With the sole act of submitting his/her images or files to a salon under FIAP Patronage, the entrant accepts without exception and with no objection the following terms: – that the submitted images can be investigated by FIAP to establish if these obey to FIAP regulations and definitions even if the entrant is not a member of FIAP, – that FIAP will use any means at its disposal for this undertaking, – that any refusal to cooperate with FIAP or any refusal to submit the original files as captured by the camera, or failure to provide sufficient evidence, will be sanctioned by FIAP, – that in case of sanctions following the non-compliance with FIAP regulations, the name of the entrant will be released in any form useful to inform the breaches of the rules. It is recommended to leave the EXIF data in the submitted files intact in order to ease eventual investigations.

If, at any time, it is determined in the reasonable discretion of the exhibition organizer or the judges before, during, or after the judging of an exhibition that an entrant has submitted entries where one or more images may fail to comply with these Conditions of Entry, including the stated definitions, the exhibition organizers reserve the right to delete the entry from the exhibition and void any or all acceptances or awards in connection with the exhibition. Fees may be forfeited or refunded in these circumstances. The entrant acknowledges that the decision of the exhibition organizers or the judges is final. FIAP NOTICE: In order to have legal authority on those who do not respect the rules of FIAP, the organizer must make sure that all participants of an online event under FIAP Patronage tick a box next to which the following text is stated:

“I hereby expressly agree to FIAP document 048/2025 E « Conditions and regulations for FIAP Patronage » and FIAP document 038/2023 E « Sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the red list ». I am particularly aware of chapter II « Regulations for International photographic events under FIAP patronage » of FIAP document 048/2025 E, dealing under Section II.2 and II.3 with the FIAP participation rules, the sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the red list.”

FIAP documents are linked to previous paragraph, so that participants can consult those.

A black and white work fitting from the very dark grey (black) to the very clear grey (white) is a
monochrome work with the various shades of grey. A black & white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the black& white category; such a work may be reproduced in black & white in the catalogue. On the other hand, a black and white work modified by partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category.

Content Guidelines

Nature photography records all branches of natural history except anthropology and archaeology. This
includes all aspects of the physical world, both over water and underwater.

Nature images must convey the truth of the scene. A well-informed person should be able to identify the subject of the image and be satisfied that it has been presented honestly and that no unethical practices have been used to control the subject or capture the image. Images that directly or indirectly show any human activity threatening a living organism’s life or welfare are not allowed.

The most important part of a Nature image is the nature story it tells. High technical standards are expected, and the image must look natural.

• Objects created by humans, and evidence of human activity, are allowed in Nature images only when they are a necessary part of the Nature story.
  
• Photographs of human-created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domesticated animals, human-created hybrid animals, and mounted or preserved zoological specimens are not allowed.
  
• Photographs made where the scene is natural and the animal is unharmed in a carefully managed environment, such as Zoo, rescue centers, and ethically managed natural environment farms are permitted.
  
• Attracting or controlling subjects through the use of food or sound for the purpose of
  photographing them is not allowed. Maintained situations such as provided supplemental food due to hardship caused by weather conditions or other conditions beyond the animals’ control, where photography is incidental to the feeding of the animal does not fall under this provision.
  
• Controlling live subjects by chilling, anaesthetic, or any other method of restricting natural movement for a photograph is not allowed.
  
• Human-made elements shall be permitted under the following circumstances:
  
  a) When they are an integral part of the nature story, such as a songbird singing atop a fence post a manmade object used as nest material, or a weather phenomenon destroying a man-madestructure.
  
  b) When they are a small but unavoidable part of the scene, such as an unobtrusive footprint or track in the background.
  
  c) Scientific tags, collars, and bands are specifically allowed.
  
  When photographing at a zoo, sanctuary, or rehabilitation centre, it would be construed that the photographer ensured that it’s properly accredited and conforms to best practices.

In addition to the restrictions on nature photography, to be eligible for any Wildlife award and acceptance, images must meet the following conditions:

• Zoological organisms must be living free and unrestrained in a natural or adopted habitat of their own choosing.
• Images of zoological organisms that have been removed from their natural habitat, are in any form of captivity or are being controlled by humans for the purpose of photography are not allowed.
• Botanical organisms may not be removed from their natural environment for the purpose of photography.
• Images that have been staged for the purpose of photography are not allowed.

Processing or editing must be limited to making the image look as close to the original scene as possible, except that conversion to grayscale monochrome is allowed.

Allowed editing techniques:

• Cropping, straightening and perspective correction
• Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens distortion
• Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene
• Complete conversion of colour images to grayscale monochrome
• Blending of multiple images of the same subject and combining them in camera or with software (exposure blending or focus stacking)
• Image stitching – combining multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively (panoramas).

Editing techniques that are not allowed:

• Removing, adding to, moving or changing any part of an image, except for cropping and straightening.
• Adding a vignette during processing
• Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene
• Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene
• All conversions other than to complete grayscale monochrome
• Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of colour