In the wake of the Shot of the Year competition, we decided to make a few changes and overhaul the categories, as well as introduce a third category!

Our new categories will be as follow...

• Portraiture
  This category is fairly straightforward. It includes any photos in which the main emphasis is on People and Portraits. The photos should portray a likeness to the subject, such as through emotion, personality or expression.

• Fauna
  Photos where the main emphasis is on animals; from Avian, Amphibian, Mammals, Reptiles and Insects.

• General
  The main emphasis of this category lies on scenery. This may include photos that feature people and fauna as secondary subjects.
  This is our broadest category, covering everything from Flora to Travel to Landscapes, including; Seascapes, Underwater Photography, Architecture, Street Photography, Transport, Botanicals, Aerial and so forth.

We will also be selecting Wildcard Photos for SOTY...

Wildcard photos have a strong compositional or emotional element and will be selected from the Shot of the Week winners. These are the photos that did not quite make it as Shot of the Month, but we feel deserves a chance at winning the Shot of the Year.

A word on Digital Manipulation and Composites...

Retouching has always been part of photography and we cannot negate the importance of appropriate retouching. We accept that suitable digital retouching is as much part of the photographic process as is the taking of photos. In fact, we assume that all photo submissions are edited to some degree; in order to present your work in a thoughtful and respectable way.

We allow composites and serious digital photographic manipulation as well. However, since we are foremost a Photography Platform, we prioritise good photography, storytelling, and solid photographic technique over digital manipulation.

In case you're submitting composites, and extensively digitally manipulated work, please state and explain your processes; from the shooting stage, through to the digital manipulation processes, you followed. In the case of composites, we might require you to also submit the original source images from which you've made your final image.

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Keep the uploads coming! We are excited to see what everyone will come up with this year!