Nature provides us with a never-ending supply of inspiration. Technical quality, clarity and composition are all important, but so too is a flair for the ability to capture a picture-perfect moment related with interesting and unusual lighting. Light creates shadow and shadow in return, enhances the appearance of the subject. The interaction of the two is fascinating. Light can make the subject feisty or dull while shadows can make it mysterious or terrifying. The position and strength of the lights and shadows always set the general mood of the image and determine the real creativity of photographers, their vision of the surrounding Nature.

For the past 3 years, our LightInspired Group has joined more than two thousand of the best professional Nature photographers from more than 50 countries, and we look forward to viewing more of their amazing works again via this Photo contest.

The contest will be open from April 30, 2013 until June 30, 2013. Finalists will be announced on July 7, 2013.

Please enter your photographs to any of the contests four categories – “Sky, Weather and Night Photography”, “Landscapes”, “Seascapes and Waterscapes”, and “Macro Photography” to win prizes – the < Topaz Plug-in bundle>, < Akvis Photo Correction Bundle (Business Plug-in + Standalone: Enhancer + Noise Buster + Refocus )>, < Akvis separate 3 Plug-in’s for the category's winners (of their choice)>, <Photomatix Pro Plus' Bundle and Photomatix Essential> and DeviantArt Subscriptions from LightInspired Group Admins.

Nature Photo Contest of LightInspired Group is supported by Topaz Labs, Akvis and HDRSoft – the leading image-editing software company’s.

<Topaz Labs>

The Topaz Labs specializes in distilling the most advanced developments in imaging technology into useful software products for photographers.

The Topaz Plug-in Bundle helps amateur and professional photographers accomplish the most common creative and corrective post processing tasks. With 10 powerful and easy-to-use programs, users can quickly enhance their digital images with flexible adjustments that are easy to apply and customize - and often in just 1-click! For more information, please visit the Company web site - [link]

<AKVIS>

AKVIS specializes in development of image processing software and scientific research. The company was founded in 2004 by IT professionals having considerable experience in programming and software development. Since then the company has released a number of successful programs.

Akvis Photo Correction Bundle (Business License, Plug-in + Standalone) consists of three components: AKVIS Enhancer (which improves dark images, makes exposure correction and reveals details), AKVIS Noise Buster (noise suppression program) and AKVIS Refocus (improves sharpness of out of focus images). For more information, please visit the Company web site - [link]

<HDRSoft>

HDRsoft researches and develops innovative software in the field of High Dynamic Range imaging for photography. The company's founder pioneered HDR photography software with the introduction of Photomatix in February 2003.

Photomatix Pro and Photomatix Essentials are stand-alone programs running on Windows and Mac OS X. Photomatix Essentials focuses on simplicity and ease of use. Photomatix Pro offers more options and includes advanced features such as batch processing and selective deghosting, as well as a Lightroom Plug-in). For more information, please visit the Company web site - [link]

• Photo Contest Rules

Terms:
Photo Contest begins April 30, 2013 and ends June 30, 2013, at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST). By submitting an entry, each contestant agrees to the rules of the contest.

Who may enter:
Only members of the LightInspired Group < [link] > and Photo-Contest Group < [link] > may enter. From the beginning of the Contest until June 30 2013, there will be FREE and unlimited membership to Groups.

What to enter:
Four contest categories are drawn from subjects of special interest to the LightInspired Group and Sponsors

• Sky, Weather and Night Photography — images from expansive clouds to beautiful mountains, climatological, comets, auroras, the Milky Way, etc. For examples, please visit the LightInspired Gallery Folder – Sky - [link]

•  Landscapes — landscapes and plants, waterfalls, geological or similar processes and endeavors. For examples, please visit the LightInspired Gallery Folders:

Landscape - [link] | Plants - [link] | Waterfalls - [link]

• Seascapes and Waterscapes — photos centered on the aim of capturing the movement of water. For examples, please visit the LightInspired Gallery Folder –

 Waterscapes - [link] 

• Macro Photography — casually referred to as “close-up” photography, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than life size – insects, insect eyes, flowers, etc.  For examples, please visit the LightInspired Gallery Folders –

Macro Florals - [link] or Macro Insects - [link]

Photographs must have been shot by the entrant since January 1, 2010.

We do not accept digitally or otherwise enhanced or altered photos such as HDR images and IR-photos with "hard effects" and photo-montages. Minor adjustments, including spotting, dodging and burning, sharpening, contrast and slight color adjustment or digital equivalents, are acceptable for all four categories. Cropped photos are eligible in all categories.

Please do not submit photos that are abusive, deceptive, pornographic, obscene, defamatory, slanderous, offensive, or otherwise inappropriate. Any images that break these rules will be immediately declined.

We define winning as having won a grand prize or 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place overall. Photos that violate or infringe upon another person's rights, including but not limited to copyright, are not eligible.

The whole rules are the same as the rules of submission to the LightInspired Group - [link]

• How to enter:

Please submit photographs and requested information online through web site at Photo-Contest Group and place them into the appropriate subfolder of the Photo-Contest Group Gallery. The members of the  LightInspired Group can submit without registration. We do not accept photographs submitted through the mail. Submit no more than three (3) photographs per category.

High-quality scans of non-digital photographs are acceptable (for example: scans after medium format film cameras). Digital photographs should be taken at the highest resolution possible. Use the online entry form on our website. Photographs must be in a .jpeg (.jpg) format and sRGB colour space. Files submitted may not be larger than 2Mb. Choose only high quality images, and make sure that they are resized so that the full view is more than or equal to 800px wide or 600px height (without frames).

The Admins of Contests may additionally ask artists about the exif data and collect a photographs metadata upon entry.

• Entry deadline:

All entries must be received through the Photo-Contest Group web site at June 30, 2013, at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

• Judging:

Judging of the annual contest will be conducted by the leading deviantArt pro photographers and experts of the Topaz Labs, AKVIS and HDRSoft:

Bernie Medina / Colin H Sillerud

/ Maxime Daviron

Winning photographs will be announced on sponsor’s web sites and in a special section of the Photo-Contest Group gallery in July 15, 2013.

We will notify the winners via the contact information provided at the time of entry. The Admin's may disqualify anyone who fails to respond to the notification within fourteen business days.

We will select three finalists per category. Four category winners will be selected, one for each category. The grand prize winner will be chosen from 12 finalists.

The 12 finalists will be notified of their status by July 7, 2013 and will appear on our web site on July 8, 2013. At that time, the public can vote on our web site for one reader’s choice winner from the 12 finalists. The reader’s choice winner will be revealed online at the end of July 2013.

• Prizes: The Sponsors and LightInspired Group will award 6 prizes, as follows:

• Grand Prize: Topaz Plug-in bundle and Photomatix Pro Plus' Bundle

• Category Winners:

The winners of each of the four categories will receive Akvis separate Plug-in (s) (of their choice) and 3 month DeviantArt subscription from LightInspired

• Readers' Choice:

The winner of the online Readers’ Choice award will receive Akvis Photo Correction Bundle and Photomatix Essentials

Good luck to you all!

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Photo Contest Has Started!!!.... Join & Share & Win!!!