Photograph Disqualified From Wildlife Competition

'Stuffed anteater' photo disqualified

Interesting to consider the relationship between and the relative merits of serendipidity and creativity in the making of photos in various genres.

Sad

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!

Yeah it makes you wonder though... is that competition about the quality of the photo, or the validity of the subject? Does it really matter if the animal was stuffed and that photo was staged? If a real live animal were photoshopped into that background, would it matter for the competition?

If a real live animal were photoshopped into that background, would it matter for the competition?

Most official Nature photo contests and groups don't allow that kind of photoshopping.

is that competition about the quality of the photo, or the validity of the subject?

Likely both.

Does it really matter if the animal was stuffed and that photo was staged?

In many senses, yes. In some senses, no. If you're taking it purely as a photo out of any context, it might not matter. If you're thinking of it as a traditional sort of nature photo, which has always tended to have a sort of photojournalistic in addition to aesthetic bent, then, yes, it would matter. Just as one wouldn't stage a news or photojournalism photo, for the reason that fidelity to what actually occurred is important, one wouldn't (in most instances) stage a nature photo for want of as most natural an occurrence as possible.

 

Having said that, I would hope there's room for staged nature photos as well, though not in these particular more strict contests, and think that the staging should be declared in those instances to avoid confusion.

Yeah it makes you wonder though... is that competition about the quality of the photo, or the validity of the subject? Does it really matter if the animal was stuffed and that photo was staged? If a real live animal were photoshopped into that background, would it matter for the competition?

 

Apparently, Yes !

 

The title of the thread made me chuckle. But when I looked at the photo and read how the guy supposedly captured it, any credit I might have given him for being creative, he lost for being a liar.

 

It would have been much cooler if he had said, "Yeah, that anteater was stuffed, but you have to admit it's a great picture".

From a technical aspect I take it as the photographer claimed the anteater moved into the shot during the 30 second shutter exposure with the strobe flash firing prevented motion blur? I believe this is called "dragging the shutter"?

 

I don't buy the photographer's claim that it's not the taxidermy anteater because the markings, size and position of head and front paw are way too similar to the stuffed version. But I guess that's obvious to everyone.