Photo Contests & Photoshop....

[Andy Stringer]

It depends what you mean by "edited in photoshop".

For me, it would be acceptable to use photoshop to remove dust spots, change the white balance, crop the image, adjust the contrast, make the horizon level and so on. I would have no problem with a sepia conversion if it suited the subject.

When it comes to manipulation of the image to remove things like telegraph poles or merge elements from more than one image, I think the photographer should be honest and declare that the image has been manipulated, then the judges can decide whether they want to judge the photography or the final image.

Some contests disallow manipulation, others are just looking for a great image and don't care how it was created. Either way, the rules and the categories for judging should be clear up front.