PSA Guidelines and Information for Photojournalism Images

Photojournalism entries are images with informative content and emotional impact, reflecting the human presence in our world.

  • The journalistic (story-telling) value of the image should receive priority over pictorial quality. 
  • Images that misrepresent the truth, such as those from events or activities arranged specifically for photography, or of subjects directed or hired for photography, are not eligible.
  • When Human Interest is specified, those images depict a person or persons in an interactive, emotional or unusual situation, excluding sports action.
  • Attention is drawn to the PSA Statement on Subject Matter which applies to all sections and to the Editing Guidelines for Nature, Photojournalism and Photo Travel

    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 correction. 
  • Removal or correction of elements added by the camera or lens, such as dust spots, noise, chromatic aberration and lens distortion.
  • Global and selective adjustments such as brightness, hue, saturation and contrast to restore the appearance of the original scene.
  • Complete conversion of color images to grayscale monochrome.
  • 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 straightening.
  • Adding a vignette during processing. 
  • Blurring parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
  • Darkening parts of the image during processing to hide elements in the original scene.
  • All conversions other than to complete grayscale monochrome. 
  • Conversion of parts of an image to monochrome, or partial toning, desaturation or over-saturation of color
  • Click here for PSA Photojournalism Detailed Guidelines



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