Definitions for Annual Exhibition – Kent County Photographic Association

Please note since Nov 2025 The KCPA has reduced its classes to Colour Pictorial, Monochrome Pictorial and Nature.

Any questions please contact myself via competitions@kcpa.co.uk

Colour
A greyscale or multi-coloured image modified or giving the impression of having been modified by partial toning, multi toning or by the inclusion of one colour to any part of the image does not meet the definition of monochrome and shall be classified as a Colour image.

The Colour class includes any images not classified as Monochrome or Nature. (This could include any genre of photography, including Creative, Portrait and Record).

Monochrome
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 and white work toned entirely in a single colour will remain a monochrome work able to stand in the black and white category. This would include sepia toning. The Monochrome class included any images not classified as Colour or Nature (This may include any genre of photography including Creative, Portrait and Record).

Nature (Changed for 2019 exhibition onwards)
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.
The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality.
Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible. Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement.
Processing of the captured image, by cropping, exposure adjustment, colour correction, noise minimisation, dodging/burning, HDR, focus stacking and sharpening, is allowed.
Cloning of image defects and minor distractions, including overlapping elements, are permitted when these do not distort the truth of the photographic statement.
Images entered as Nature can have landscape, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the 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.

Please note :Wildlife images may be entered in Nature section of Exhibition.

Wildlife, images are further defined as one or more extant zoological or botanical organisms free and unrestrained in a natural or adopted habitat. Landscapes, geologic formations, photographs of zoo or game farm animals, or of any extant zoological or botanical species taken under controlled conditions are not eligible in Wildlife sections. Wildlife is not limited to animals, birds and insects. Marine subjects and botanical subjects (including fungi and algae) taken in the wild are suitable wildlife subjects, as are carcasses of extant species.