To enter the 16th annual Oregon Outdoors Wild Bird Photo Contest, fill out a registration form and upload your photos.

Entries must be received by 5 p.m., Friday, Dec. 4, 2015. Online voting continues until 5 p.m., Monday, Dec. 7, 2015.

Mail Tribune judges will pick the five photos they like best and publish them in the Friday, Dec. 11, issue of Oregon Outdoors. A Readers' Choice photo, decided by the most votes from registered site users, will also be published. Viewers can vote once per day on the site.

Direct questions to Oregon Outdoors editor Dave Smigelski at dsmigelski@mailtribune.com.

OFFICIAL RULES

1) Only photographs of wild birds are eligible.

2) Birds must be photographed in the wild (no zoo photos or pictures of tethered birds, caged birds or dead birds mounted by taxidermy).

3) Either the birds or the photographer must be from Oregon. (We are Oregon Outdoors, after all.) No out-of-state birds shot by out-of-state photographers, but out-of-state residents who shot photos here are welcome to submit. And Oregon residents who traveled on birding trips are welcome to submit.

4) The contest is open to everyone who meets the criteria above, except for employees of Southern Oregon Media Group.

5) You can enter up to five photos.

6) The entrant of the photos must be the photographer who shot the photos.

7) Only digital (jpeg) photos are eligible, submitted in RGB mode. If you shoot film, the photo must be scanned and submitted in digital format on the website.

8) Please include the species name of the bird(s) if you know it, the location where the photo was taken, the type of camera and lens used and, if possible, the shutter speed and lens opening.

9) Digital photos may be enhanced using tools such as exposure control, cropping and sharpening. Other major or obvious enhancements may render the photo ineligible. This will be a decision of the judges and all decisions are final.

10) Entrants agree to allow Southern Oregon Media Group to publish their photos in print and online.

JUDGING CRITERIA

The judges will use the following criteria for grading all photos entered:

1) Composition

2) Technical quality (sharpness, depth of field, exposure, etc.)

3) How well the photo captures the essence of the bird