Originally posted by clackers I think all gloves are off now.
"The Entries presented for judging must be photographic in origin (taken with a camera), but there are no restrictions on post-production except that any post-production must be the work of the entrant. You cannot have someone else edit or work on the image for you. We consider this part of the art of landscape photography."
They're the rules for the International Landscape Photographer of the Year.
The philosophy is clearly, it's digital art, you create whatever you like that wasn't in front of your lens!
https://petapixel.com/2022/02/02/the-winners-of-the-international-landscape-...the-year-2021/ To be fair, when they make unlimited editing fair game and clearly stated in the rules, you should know what's going to come. I can't fault them for playing by the rules.
But on the other hand, holy carp! Maybe if they hold a portrait contest with those rules, I should learn how to do extreme Photoshoping and submit one of a model. Hopefully it wins so people can call it out like those landscape "photos," to which I'll happily show my work. Then it'll be like that College Humor video, and you'll see my original photo was a slice of pizza.
Some of those winning entries do look nice in the right context (perhaps they belong in a fantasy landscape category?), but no way any of those can be called true to life. Even better are those in the comments trying to defend those as photos with only basic editing. Sure, prove it. Pick a location that looks even remotely surreal in real life, then snap some photos and show us your process of basic editing to create those fantasy landscapes. Turning saturation and contrast up to 100 isn't basic.
Actually... That would be an interesting requirement in a contest if the goal is true to life photos. Along with your entry, you also have to submit a video showing your work from raw to finished product.