The wildlife and nature photography is the most sensitive area of fake/manipulated pictures!
In other area if the artist does made out the scene is completly acceptable, and actually part of the creations. Like in a pet photography, if the dog was placed in a basket and not walked itsefl into it, is not a problem, that is part of the creations. But in the wildlife and nature photography do the same thing is unethical! So if I force an animal (not luring or baiting but forcing) to do something or get to the place I wanted it, is unethical.
Back in time when there wasn't as sophisticated cameras yet, just the old large format field cameras, photographers usually made out the scene in a studio, and took a picture of "wildlife". Sometime put the insects or amphibiants in a fridigare make them motionless for a while. In that time this things was acceptable, because there was no other way to do the pictures. But as the cameras and lenses got better, all those tricks and fake backgrounds, made out scenes became unethical! So the photography was movewd by the techologie, but still remains as photography.
So in the Nature and wildlife photography let's say that no manipulations of any kind are acceptable. In a photo contest sience the digital came out, some levels and overal color corrections, and saturation and contrast corrections are possible, but nothing acceptable on a portions of the photos. The ruules loose up a little for the digital photographers, make theyr chanse better, because slide photographers can't do any correcttions on the slides, but still no other manipulations are allowed.
And again and again and already for a lot of time I said, there is nothing wrong with manipulations or composit pictutres, if it is disclose to the viewers! If it is, there is no cheating!
If not, and let the viewers to believe the composit or manipulated picture is a captured photo, that is cheating!
And one more thing!
There is a fake photo and there is a fake subject!
If the subject is fake still the photo of it can be not fake! (but can be unethical)
Let me expalne!
If I made out the scane create a fake subject, still I need all the photography skill to capture a diecent photo. So what is on the picture is may be fake, but the photograph itself is not fake, because it was captured by a camera, with all the skills what a photographer have.
If I take a pictures of a real thing, but I have no idea about photography and my shot not came out as good, and I fix it in Photoshop, that is became a manipulated or fake photo. May be the subject on the picture is not fake, it is real but the picture is fake as a photo, because the final result wasn't captured by a camera, was made in Photoshop. In this case I misslead the viewers and faking myself as a photographer. But if I call my manipulated picture as a digital art or what ever but photograph, it is not fake anymore it is not cheating!
It's all about how you call it!
The same thing if called on a wrong name it is cheating becaouse misslead the viewers, but on a right name there is no missleading, so there is no cheating! Simply as that!
Always ask the question? Is it gonna misslead others, is it gonna make others to believe what it is not?
If the answer is YES, that is a cheating, if the answer is NO it is not cheating.
If you use a special filter on your lens wich create a rainbow on a picture that is cheating, because the rainbow wasn't there, but it is believable it was there.
If you use a special color filter which create breath taking, but not natural colors, is not a cheating, because that is obvius the colors are not real, so the picture is not missleading anyone. But it tells to the viewers, you had a talent to prevision the picture, select the right filters, the right exposure, the right composition, etc.
If you add those filters effect to the picture later in photoshop but cal the picture as photograph, it is a cheating, because make the vievwers to believe, you had a talent to prevision the picture, select the right filters, the right exposure, the right composition, etc. but in fact you did all these things later in a computer! So actually you didn't have that talent what the viewers believe you have. So it is misslead the viewers, so it is a cheating unless you disclose that, the picture was made in a photosop.
