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#Photography-APN

Nature -One Click At A Time!

Group Info

A Group representing the Photography-APN (Animals-Plants-Nature) gallery here on deviant, showcasing some of the very best photographers. We will be including featured interviews, photographs, tips, techniques, tutorials, etc.


Super Group
Until Aug 14, 2012

Founded 2 Years ago
Dec 9, 2009

Location
Global

Group Focus
Art Creation

Media Type
Photographic
-
6,027 Members
5,734 Watchers
115,270 Pageviews

Our Mission Statement & Submission Rules

Photography-Animals-Plants-Nature

:bulletgreen: QUICK REFERENCE

Read the full rules before submitting to avoid rejection.

1 submissions per month;
No big intrusive watermarks;
Nature photos only in any gallery except Travelscapes (Man & Nature);
Photos with notable evidence of humans MUST go into Travelscapes (Man & Nature);
Misclassified photos will be rejected.



:bulletred: WHO WE ARE.
We are serious nature photographers that represent the Photography-Animals-Plants-Nature group on deviantART. Our goal is to showcase some of the best nature photography on dA.
Within our pages you will also find tips, tutorials, thoughts and ideas on issues that nature photographers face.

:bulletred: WHO CAN JOIN THE GROUP?
Anyone can join. Membership approvals are automatic but submissions are not automatic. We want your very best so read the submission rules.

:bulletred: TUTORIALS
Tutorial submissions are welcome into the Tutorial Gallery.
Links to other tutorials which we believe are quite useful can be found in the group blog at [link]
There is also excellent help at many web sites such as at Digital Photography School [link]

:bulletred: CRITIQUES
Declined submissions will not be critiqued.
Very obvious rule violations, wrong categories, obvious poor quality and photos with other plainly visible problems may or may not receive reasons for rejection, depending on the work load at that time.
We try, but do not promise, to give the main reason(s) for declining where the reasons are less obivious.



:bulletred::bulletgreen:SUBMISSION RULES :bulletyellow: READ BEFORE SUBMITTING :bulletgreen::bulletred:


:bulletred: 1 SUBMISSIONS PER MONTH
It takes 5 “YES” votes to be accepted or 5 “NO” votes to be rejected. It can require as many as 9 voting members to decide on a submission and that sometimes takes several days, depending on the number of members that are available.

:bulletred: WATERMARKS & GRAPHICS
Large, intrusive watermarks will be rejected.
Watermarks for the purpose of image protection MAY be accepted. However, they must be discrete, subtle, unobtrusive, opaque marks not advertising posters for your business or web site.


:bulletred: TRAVELSCAPES GALLERY (MAN & NATURE)
Photographs with notable or significant evidence of humans should be submitted to the TRAVELSCAPES (Man & Nature) gallery.
This is also the gallery for domestic animals.
Noticeable human intrusion in photos submitted to other galleries may result in them being declined.
Photographs MUST show mostly nature or they will be declined.

:bulletred: THEMED GALLERIES
These galleries are where most photographs should be submitted.

:bulletred: FEATURED GALLERY SUBMISSIONS
Images are chosen by the Contributors/Mods/Admins from the themed galleries and are shown in the Featured Gallery.

:bulletred: FAVORITES GALLERY SUBMISSIONS
Share your favs with us, from your personal favs collection!
These images will be voted upon the same way as Themed gallery submissions.
The same quality standards apply but there is no limit to the number of favorites
that you can submit and non-members may also submit Favorite suggestions.
DO NOT FAV YOUR OWN PHOTOGRAPHS. They will be rejected.

:bulletred: SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY APPROVED.
Submissions must be voted into the galleries. We decline a LOT of photos in order to avoid flooding message centers with mediocre images.
We also decline a lot of submissions because they are submitted incorrectly.
We try to apply very high standards for approving submissions because we want to show our best work and the best nature photography from across dA.

:bulletred: SUBMIT ONLY SINGLE PHOTOGRAPHS.
HDR, blended exposures & Panoramas are accepted because the finished work is a single photographic image.
Collages, calendars, multi-stychs and other multi-image constructions are not generally acceptable although the Administration may make case-by-case exceptions. Constructed images ARE acceptable as illustrations within a tutorial.

:bulletred: INCLUDE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPH.
You are not required to make comments.
However, information about the photograph (not about your adventures getting it) is often helpful to the voters as they consider accepting your photograph.
If there isn’t EXIF shown, consider including camera settings. Also, consider telling which lens was used; whether a tripod or flash was used; what species or phenomenon is shown; what is the location (not just a local name that’s meaningless to most of the world); these are always interesting.

:bulletred: EXCEPTIONS
Notwithstanding any rule or practice, the Administration may accept a non-conforming photograph if it is felt that the photograph is of really exceptional quality or subject matter or if it portrays some exceptionally rare or unique phenomenon or photographic technique.


:bulletblue: THINGS TO AVOID IN YOUR SUBMISSIONS
PLEASE look through our galleries to see the level of the submissions which we accept. We are picky and make no qualms about it.

Here are some of the common things to avoid in order for your photographs to be accepted.

:bulletblue: Avoid posting very small or very large photos.
Good viewing size is about 1000 to 1200 pixels wide and 700 to 800 pixels tall, not counting any border.

:bulletblue: Avoid heavy, overpowering or otherwise poorly suited borders.
We want to see your photographs, not your talent in other graphic arts.

:bulletblue: Avoid technical problems.
Things like movement blur, central composition, bad exposure, tilted horizon line or poor focus are usually easy to see. These things can have specific artistic use but usually they are just annoying.

:bulletblue: Avoid submitting photos that show dirt spots.

:bulletblue: Avoid posting to the wrong category.
Such miscats are usually rejected without consideration.
If you mistakenly submit to the wrong category, withdraw the miscat and resubmit to the correct gallery. Do not leave the same photo in two categories. Both will likely be rejected.

:bulletblue: Avoid double submissions.
It sometimes takes a few minutes before your receive a correspondence message acknowledging your submission, especially on a slow connection. If a double submission does occur, you should immediately withdraw the extra submission.

:bulletblue: Avoid heavy manipulation or heavy post processing.

:bulletblue: Avoid an unnatural overall appearance.

:bulletblue: Avoid showing animals in unnatural settings or unnatural habitat.
Zoo and domestic animals MAY be accepted but there should be no evidence that the animals are in confinement. Ear tags, collars, fences et cetera are generally unwelcome.

:bulletblue: Avoid having your insects or other small subjects becoming lost in the habitat and overpowered by their surroundings.
The insect, not the leaf it’s sitting on, is the subject.

:bulletblue: Avoid the common, everyday shots of flowers & animals, sunrise & sunset et cetera.
Aim for some special element that stands out from the zillion similar photos.

:bulletblue: Avoid sky shots with only the sky.
Sky photos need to have some drama and visual interest. They need some thing to see other than just pretty colour or a cute cloud formation.

:bulletblue: Avoid carelessly or poorly composed photographs.
There are well accepted “rules” for pleasing composition. Departure from “normal” composition should be for deliberate, thoughtful purpose, not just an excuse for poor work.

:bulletblue: Avoid posting images of generally poor, snapshot quality.

:bulletblue: Avoid submitting similar images (such as monotone & colour versions of the same photo) or a series with the same subject.
Submit only one representative photo from a group or a series.
Provide a link to the rest of the series in the “Comments” section.
If similiar photos are discovered after acceptance, one or more of the similiar photos may be removed from the group gallery.


:bulletblue: Avoid resubmitting a photograph that has been declined.
Resubmissions are acceptable when a photograph has been altered to correct some problem or to get it into the correct gallery.
The reason for the resubmission should be stated in your “Comments” section.

:bulletblue: Avoid submitting photographs obtained by harassing wildlife.
Flushing birds to get flight shots, provoking snakes to strike and spraying water on insects to simulate dew are examples of unethical and stressful practices.

Which one is your favourite category in APN? You can tell why in comments! :D (And argue why your pick is best. :devilish:

28%
95 deviants said Landscapes
20%
66 deviants said Animal Wildlife
17%
57 deviants said Waterscapes
12%
42 deviants said Macro and Close-Up
6%
21 deviants said The Sky
6%
20 deviants said Plants and Florals
4%
13 deviants said Travelscapes - Man and Nature
3%
10 deviants said Featured
2%
8 deviants said Insects
1%
5 deviants said Tutorials
The Camera Store in Calgary, Alberta has released  The Battle At F-Stop Ridge 2 .
[link]
This is the sequel to  Battle at F stop Ridge.
[link]

The videos are about 2 minutes of fun with photography
More Journal Entries

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Comments


:icon:
Add a Comment:
 
:iconmel-xinyi:
Hi there, just wondering, just had another read through the judging criteria etc - great journal btw :)
I understand that you have to deal with a lot of submissions and that critiquing/commenting/giving feedback on work is difficult. Just wondering if there was a particular reason why this one was declined? [link] so sorry again to bother you... I totally understand if you don't have time to comment on it, just let me know :)

--
=NaturPics-club
=SkyAndNatureClub
=MountainShots
Reply
:iconsassybikerchic:
~sassybikerchic Feb 9, 2012  Hobbyist Photographer
Ask a question and immediately get declined. hmmm...
Reply
:iconphotologia:
*photologia Feb 10, 2012  Hobbyist Photographer
Please stop with the conspiracy theories. We are volunteers here, we don't get anything if we accept or decline photo, it is not a satisfaction to decline anybody's work, and we don't favor anyone or punish someone for posting a comment. We have quality guidelines and our own taste and we judge by them, not by comments.
Be reasonable.

Thank you :)

--
:bulletorange: My web page :bulletblue: Facebook :bulletyellow: visit Croatia
Reply
:iconlightrae:
Don't waste your time, Lidija.

We're too slow but we're also too fast.:frustrated:

--
Ralph
[link] {PBase Galleries}

:flagcanada:
Reply
:iconphotologia:
*photologia Feb 11, 2012  Hobbyist Photographer
Reply
:iconsassybikerchic:
~sassybikerchic Feb 10, 2012  Hobbyist Photographer
the timing was just odd
Reply
:iconphotologia:
*photologia Feb 11, 2012  Hobbyist Photographer
The timing was coincidence.

--
:bulletorange: My web page :bulletblue: Facebook :bulletyellow: visit Croatia
Reply
:iconsassybikerchic:
~sassybikerchic Feb 7, 2012  Hobbyist Photographer
how long should we wait before withdrawing?
Reply
:iconlightrae:
You don't need to withdraw. You will receive a message as to the outcome.
That can take up to a maximum of two weeks, depending upon availability of Admins and submission load.

--
Ralph
[link] {PBase Galleries}

:flagcanada:
Reply
:iconsassybikerchic:
~sassybikerchic Feb 9, 2012  Hobbyist Photographer
thank you for the reply!
Reply
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