AWARDS

SSP Merit, CM & JC All E-Certificates will be send via email in pdf format

The exhibition will not post out copies of these e-certificates

SPECIAL AWARDS: Best Author (FIAP Blue Pin)

   Best Club SSP Gold Medal (Min 10 Entrant)

Total Awards 51

CATALOG

PDF Downloadable from Website – https://sspfoto.lk

EXHIBITION REQUIREMENTS

IMAGE AND ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: This exhibition is open to anyone; however, an entry may be rejected when the Sponsor or the Exhibition Organizers, in their reasonable discretion, believes the entry does not conform to exhibition rules and these ES-COE. Membership in any photographic organization is not required.

Image Creation: Entries must originate as photographs (image-captures of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally.

Certification: By virtue of submitting an image, the entrant certifies the work as his or her own. Images may not incorporate elements produced by anyone else (for example: clip art, images or art by others downloaded from the Internet).

Reproduction: The entrant permits the sponsors to reproduce all or part of the entered material free of charge for publication and/or display in media related to the exhibition. This may include low resolution posting on a website. The terms of that permission will be mutually agreed between the entrant and  except in the circumstances where the entered image is found to breach the  Ethics Policy. In those circumstances the image may be reproduced by , without the entrant’s further permission, for educational purposes to illustrate serious exhibition rule violations. For those reproductions, the entrant’s name will be withheld. Entries will not be accepted from entrants who indicate that their images may not be reproduced in materials related to the exhibition. The exhibition assumes no liability of any misuse of copyright.

Alteration and Computer Generation: Subject to Divisional restrictions (particularly Nature, Photo Travel, and Photojournalism) images may be altered, either electronically or otherwise, by the entrant; adjustments to enhance images or creatively modify images are allowed providing the underlying photograph is retained in a way that is obvious to the viewer. Images may not be constructed entirely with a computer, and must be the sole work of the entrant.

Re-use of accepted images: Any image that has been accepted in this exhibition, past or present, may not be entered again in the same Division Star Ratings Class in any future instances of this exhibition. It may, of course, be entered in any other  recognised exhibitions but must always have the same title. Re-titling in another language is not allowed.

Entry: An Entry consists of, up to and including, four (4) images entered by a single entrant into the same Section. An entrant may only enter a specific Section once. Entrants may not enter identical or similar images into the same section or different sections of the same exhibition. Similar is defined as almost identical in subject, composition, props, lighting or technique so that a reasonable person viewing the entries together would decide the entrant has duplicated the previous image except for minor changes.

Titles: Each image must have a unique title that relates to the content of the image. That unique title must be used for entry of that image or of an identical Image into any and all  – Recognized exhibitions. Titles must be 35 characters or fewer. No titles may be visible to the judges, and nothing in the image may identify the entrant. Titles may not include file extensions such as .jpg or .jpeg (or any other camera capture file names such as IMG 471). Titles may not consist of personal identifiers possibly augmented by a number; or include words such as “untitled” or “no title”. Titles may not consist solely of numbers unless those numbers are prominently contained within the image, such as a contestant number in a race.

Color and Monochrome:

Color and Monochrome images from the same capture that share substantial pictorial content in common will be considered the same image and must be given the same title.

Entry Details:

1. Photos must be submitted in JPEG file format following instructions at https://sspfoto.lk

Title of each image cannot exceed 35 characters. Titles do not need to be translated to English but must be given in English characters.

1. Maximum Horizontal length is 1920 pix. Maximum Vertical length is 1080 pix. In
2. 300 dpi. Compression 7-12, maximum 2Mb.

1. The exhibition software shall not resize images.

The Exhibition will be conducted in accordance with the rules of the FIAP.

An entrant’s images will not be presented to the judges consecutively. An entrant’s four images will be distributed throughout four rounds of judging in that section. Distribution of images will be in the same round order as submitted by the entrant. At no stage will a judge be able to view all the entrant’s images together.

Judging Method:

1. Judging will be on site.
2. Distribution of images shall be in the same round order as submitted by the entrant, but they shall not appear to the judges’ consecutively. Judging will be on site and all judges shall use Color calibrated equipment capable of displaying submitted images at 100% of their resolution.
3. FIAP does not allow acceptance rates higher than 30%

DATA PROTECTION

By entering this exhibition, you are explicitly consenting to the personal details you have supplied, including physical addresses, email addresses, being held, processed and used by the exhibition organizers for purposes associated with this exhibition. You also explicitly consent to such information being sent to organizations that have accorded official recognition, patronage or accreditation to this exhibition. You acknowledge, agree and accept that by entering this exhibition, your participation status which includes your first and last name, name of the country used during registration at the exhibition, number of sections entered and number of photos entered in those sections will be made public in a published status list and that the results of your entry shall be made public in exhibition gallery, exhibition catalog. You also agree and accept the policy regarding non- compliance to the rules of .

SUBJECT MATTER AND SECTION DEFINITIONS

Statement on Subject Matter – applicable to all sections

The fundamental rule that must be observed at all times and applies to all sections offered in exhibitions with  recognition is that the welfare of living creatures is more important than any photograph. This means that practices such as baiting of subjects with a living creature and removal of birds from nests, for the purpose of obtaining a photograph, are highly unethical, and such photographs are not allowed in any exhibition with  recognition. Under no circumstances may a living creature be placed in a situation where it will be killed, injured or stressed for the purpose of obtaining a photograph. Images that show live creatures being fed to captive animals, birds or reptiles are not permitted under any circumstances.

There are also concerns about the use of aerial photography, drones, helicopters, low flying aircraft. These should not cause any interference with other individuals or animals which causes a disturbance in their normal activity or disrupt the way any individuals or animals interact with their environment. Entrants in  recognized exhibitions should comply with all relevant laws and regulations, associated with aerial photography, in the country in which the image was taken.

Entry into  recognized exhibitions is conditional on accepting these policies. The content of images must comply with the General Conditions and with the Division and Section definitions listed in these conditions. Images that – in the sole opinion of the judges- do not comply, will be disqualified so the entrant may be aware of the problem when considering entry into other exhibitions with  recognition.

DEFINITIONS

FIAP Monochrome Definition

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; such a work can be reproduced in black and white in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage. On the other hand a black and white work modified by a partial toning or by the addition of one colour becomes a colour work (polychrome) to stand in the colour category; such a work requires colour reproduction in the catalogue of a salon under FIAP Patronage.

FIAP Colour Definition
Entries must originate as photographs (image captured of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired digitally. Pictures on any subject including creative or experimental images can be submitted. Use of Computer generated graphics is totally restricted except in Creative thematic section. All element of the image must have been shot by the author. No part of the image should have been taken from Net or other person’s image. Use of some filters available on net is permissible. Same images either colour or mono in two different section of the same Salon will result in disqualification for both the images.

FIAP Nature Definition

Content Guidelines

Nature photography records all branches of natural history except anthropology and archaeology. This includes all aspects of the physical world, both over water and underwater.

Nature images must convey the truth of the scene. A well-informed person should be able to identify the subject of the image and be satisfied that it has been presented honestly and that no unethical practices have been used to control the subject or capture the image. Images that directly or indirectly show any human activity threatening a living organism’s life or welfare are not allowed.

The most important part of a Nature image is the nature story it tells. High technical standards are expected and the image must look natural.

• Objects created by humans, and evidence of human activity, are allowed in Nature images only when they are a necessary part of the Nature story.

• Photographs of human-created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domesticated animals, human-created hybrid animals, and mounted or preserved zoological specimens are not allowed.

• Photographs made where the scene is natural and the animal is unharmed in a carefully managed environment, such as Zoo, rescue centers, and ethically managed natural environment farms are permitted.

• Attracting or controlling subjects through the use of food or sound for the purpose of photographing them is not allowed. Maintained situations such as provided supplemental food due to hardship caused by weather conditions or other conditions beyond the animals’ control, where photography is incidental to the feeding of the animal does not fall under this provision.

• Controlling live subjects by chilling, anesthetic, or any other method of restricting natural movement for a photograph is not allowed.

• Human-made elements shall be permitted under the following circumstances:

1. a)  When they are an integral part of the nature story, such as a songbird singing atop a fence post, a manmade object used as nest material, or a weather phenomenon destroying a man-made structure.
2. b)  When they are a small but unavoidable part of the scene, such as an unobtrusive footprint or track in the background.
3. c)  Scientific tags, collars, and bands are specifically allowed.

When photographing at a zoo, sanctuary, or rehabilitation center, it would be construed that the photographer ensured that it’s properly accredited and conforms to best practices.

Editing Guidelines for Nature

These sections require images to be truthful records, so there are limits on the amount of manipulation allowed.

statement of subject matter applies to all sections.

Editing Guidelines

Processing or editing must be limited to making the image look as close to the original scene as possible, except that conversion to grayscale monochrome is allowed.

Allowed editing techniques:

• Cropping, straightening and perspective
• Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens
• Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original
• Complete conversion of color images to grayscale
• Blending of multiple images of the same subject and combining them in camera or with software (exposure blending or focus stacking);
• Image stitching – combining multiple images with overlapping fields of view that are taken consecutively (panoramas);

Editing techniques that are not allowed:

• Removing, adding to, moving or changing any part of an image, except for cropping and
• Adding a vignette during
• Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original
• Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original
• All conversions other than to complete grayscale

Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of color

FIAP Definition for “World in Focus”

Just as with travel and tourism pictures, this section encompasses the full range of photographic genres from architecture, culture, events, food, landscape, portraits, etc. A “WORLD IN FOCUS” image expresses the spirit of an era, the essence of a place or of a culture whether it is shown in an authentic scene or whether it is arranged. Digital manipulation to optimise an image in terms of finetuning of levels and colours is allowed as long as the image looks natural. The same applies for removal of dust or digital noise. Techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove any element of the original image, except by cropping, are not permitted.

FIAP Breaches of rules:

By the sole act of submitting his/her images or files to a salon under FIAP Patronage, the entrant accepts without exception and with no objection the following terms:

• that the submitted images can be investigated by FIAP to establish if these obey to FIAP regulations and definitions even if the entrant is not a member of FIAP,
• that FIAP will use any means at its disposal for this undertaking,
• that any refusal to cooperate with FIAP or any refusal to submit the original files as captured by the camera, or failure to provide sufficient evidence, will be sanctioned by FIAP,
• that in case of sanctions following the non-compliance with FIAP regulations, the name of the entrant will be released in any form useful to inform the breaches of the rules.

As mentioned in II.2 of the FIAP document 048/2025 participants must leave the EXIF data in the submitted files in tact in order to ease eventual investigations. If, at any time, it is determined in the reasonable discretion of the exhibition organizer or the judges before, during, or after the judging of an exhibition that an entrant has submitted entries where one or more images may fail to comply with these Conditions of Entry, including the stated definitions, the exhibition organizers reserve the right to delete the entry from the exhibition and void any or all acceptances or awards in connection with the exhibition. Fees may be forfeited or refunded in these circumstances. The entrant acknowledges that the decision of the exhibition organizers or the judges is final.

FIAP NOTICE: During the entry process all entrants will be required to tick a box to agree to

the following statement.

“I hereby expressly agree to FIAP Document 048/2025 Conditions and regulations for FIAP

Patronage and FIAP document 038/2023 E . Sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the

red list .. I am particularly aware of chapter II. Regulations for International photographic events

under FIAP patronage. of FIAP document 048/2025 dealing under Section II.2 and II.3 with the

FIAP participation rules, the sanctions for breaching FIAP regulations and the red list. Failure to

agree will mean that the application will not proceed.