Rules & Regulations of Iris 5^th International Salon 2025

• Any amateur or professional photographer around the world can participate in this Digital Salon on payment of the appropriate Entry Fees. Entries without Entry Fee will not be judged.
• An Image Previously accepted in any salon hosted by Iris Photography Foundation is not eligible for entry in this salon.
• Members of Iris, present and past, and their family members are not allowed to participate in the Salon.
• Entries must originate as photographs (image-captures of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally.
• Each participant may submit a maximum of 4 (four) photographs per section. Maximum 16 (Sixteen) nos. as a whole.
• The Organizers will take utmost care of the submitted works but decline any responsibility in case of deterioration/damage during upload or otherwise.
• All acceptances will count for FIAP Distinctions & FIP Star Rating and “Who's Who”.
• Submission of entries automatically imply acceptance of the Rules and Regulations.
• Participants must own copyright of the submitted images. Also, participants are assumed to have the required permissions regarding Model Release or Property Release, if applicable. Iris accepts no liability, whatsoever, in this regard.
• Salon PDF Catalogue will be published on our website www.irisphotofoundation.com
• Reproduction rights in Catalogue or for Press Publicity without any payment to the author is assumed.
• Results will be published on our website www.irisphotofoundation.com
• The dimension must be of 1920 pixels wide (maximum) for horizontal images and 1080 pixels high (maximum) for vertical images including any borders. The files must be in JPEG format at 300 dpi. The file size should be within 2 mb.
• Please keep the file name exactly the title of the image without any special character. File name will be considered as the image title, please do not use any special character
• Words such as “Untitled” and “No Title” are not acceptable as part or all of an image’s title, nor are camera capture filenames or titles consisting of only numbers.
• No watermark (image with any marking/sign/name as watermark or superscripting on an image will not be considered for judging)
• Please submit your images online as required in the online entry form provided on our website www.irisphotofoundation.com . Entry is allowed by online submission only.
• Decision of the judges will be final, no appeal will be entertained.
• All files must be retained, for monitoring purposes, for a period not exceeding 12 months as per FIAP Rules
• By the sole act of submitting his/her images or files to a salon under FIAP Patronage, the entrant accepts with- out exception and with no objection 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 and that in case of sanctions following the noncompliance with FIAP regulations, the name of the entrant will be re- leased 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

 

Definitions

MONOCHROME (PID M)
An image is considered to be Monochrome only if it gives the impression of having no colour (i.e. contains only shades of grey which can include pure black and pure white) OR it gives the impression of being a greyscale image that has been toned in one colour across the entire image. (For example by Sepia, red, gold, etc.)

COLOUR (PID C)
The subject matter is unrestricted for PID images in separate colour and monochrome section. There may be a theme specified for some PID Salons and the exhibition's definition of the theme should be consulted with the organizer.
Use of major computer generated graphics is totally restricted except in Creative thematic section.
All elements of the image must have been shot by the author. No part of the image should have been taken from Net or other person's image. Use of some filters available on net is permissible.
Same images either colour or mono in two different section of the same Salon will result in disqualification for both the images.

WORLD IN FOCUS (WIF)
Just as with travel and tourism pictures, this section encompasses the full range of photographic genres from architecture, culture, events, food, landscape, portraits, etc. A “WORLD IN FOCUS” image expresses the spirit of an era, the essence of a place or of a culture whether it is shown in an authentic scene or whether it is arranged. Digital manipulation to optimize an image in terms of fine tuning of levels and colours is allowed as long as the image looks natural. The same applies for removal of dust or digital noise. Techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove any element of the original image, except by cropping, are not permitted.

NATURE (ND)
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. (Suggested*: An example will be helpful to the New Jury).

The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality.

1. Human elements must not be present, except where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as nature subjects, like barn owls or storks, adapted to an environment modified by humans, or where those human elements are in situations depicting natural forces, like hurricanes or tidal waves.
2. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible.
3. Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are ineligible.
4. Techniques that add, relocate, replace or remove any element of the original image, except by cropping, are not permitted. Conversion to infrared, either by digital technique or by original technique is not allowed. Stitching of two or more image is not permitted.
5. Complete conversion to grey scale Monochrome is allowed but without partial or complete toning.
6. It is perfectly legal to remove dust, flares or digital noise. Minor global colour / tone correction is OK as long as it is not selective and the final image looks natural but not dramatic. Dodge and Burn tool is for you only but use it judiciously. Selective darkening of background is prohibited. Techniques like panning, slow shutter speed or in-exposure zooming are part of your creativity. Use of filters like Polarizers and NDs are ok.
7. Drone Photography in the National Parks of India is illegal except with prior written permission from the concerned authorities. Drone images of Wild animals will be disqualified.
8. Welfare of the subject is extremely important. Use of live bait is totally prohibited. Relocated nest is a big NO NOand jury members should not award Nest images.

Images entered in Nature section meeting the Nature Photography Definition above can have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with 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.