Salon Entry Information
You must be a current dues paying SANP member with your dues current as of August 31, 2025
For categories, more details, and the rules, please look at this link.
Generative AI and Generative Fill in Lightroom and Photoshop are not acceptable tools for entries in the Salon this year. Will that change in future years? Maybe, but don’t hold your breath.
Why isn’t Generative AI and Generative Fill allowed when other tools in Lightroom and Photoshop can do something similar, but not as well? Generative AI and Generative Fill add extra pixels to an image that were not part of the original image.
You may say it is hypocritical to allow other tools that can make changes to the image and not allow Generative AI and Generative Fill. You might be right, but most photo competitions do not allow any AI tools to be used on the image. Some photo competitions require you to submit the raw, untouched image from your camera due to the prize money they award.
If you attended the Joe Brady workshop “The Art of the Finished Image,” you may have discovered some tools you can use that are not AI, as long as they comply with the conditions listed below.
Please read the following conditions for this year’s Salon entries. Titles must fit in the required space, as some of you were creating titles that could fill a page in a book. The 30 characters include spaces. Be creative with your titles. Use ChatGPT to see what options it suggests. Yes, we will allow ChatGPT titles that fit within 30 characters. I know you consider that a double standard, but what the heck. We are not perfect. Please come up with a title other than the location that none of us can accurately pronounce. If you are not sure what to call a bird portrait or wildlife image, give them a name that fits the image, such as Smoky Joe or St Louis Red. Be creative with your titles.
The conditions are listed below, but you also need to read the description of the categories online.
All entries must be nature photographs unless otherwise stated in the category description.
The photograph’s main subject cannot be people, architecture, museum exhibits, trains, cars, common pets, domesticated animals, or other subjects that do not inherently occur in nature. These conditions do not apply to Great Smokies Mountain National Park, Night Photography, Travel & Place categories, or People in Nature categories.
For all categories, except Great Smokies National Park, Night Photography, Travel & Place # 1 and #2, or People in Nature, any evidence of man or his creations, when included, should not be the main focal point of the image but an incidental part of it.
An individual cannot enter the same, or nearly identical, images in both the Digital and Print competitions in a given year. Images that have previously won first, second, third, or honorable mention awards in previous SANP Salon competitions are not eligible for entry in the current year’s Salon.
Images submitted may be enhanced or changed using any of the tools available in a post-processing graphics editing program, except one cannot copy or significantly alter the primary subject or primary parts of the image in any way, nor can one import items from another image. High dynamic range (HDR), focus stacking, stitching, and similar techniques are allowed. The intent of the original image must be maintained. Replacing the sky is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
You cannot add additional borders, edgings, or lines around the photograph that were not part of the original image.
Number of Entries: Each SANP member may enter a maximum of ten (10) digital images. The maximum number of photographs that can be entered in any category is one (1).
Titles: To help track entries during the judging, each photograph must have a title that does not include your name. The title cannot exceed 30 characters, including spaces.
Read the rules. Digital Entries go to Ed Stickle. Prints JPG go to Theresa Williams. You can find their email on the website.
We look forward to your entries this year.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Dale Potter
