Lens producer Tokina has pulled the whole winner of its 2025 per thirty days photograph contest after a “violation of the competition regulations.”

It comes after a Reddit publish ultimate week titled “Lens maker Tokina falls for AI symbol in photograph pageant,” which referred to as out the successful symbol and admonished Tokina for now not knowing the photograph is allegedly a faux.

“Whether or not it is a utterly false photograph or closely upscaled, that is simply unacceptable and shameful for a digicam lens corporate to award,” reads the publish that used to be shared to r/cameras.

Tokina apparently reacted to the Reddit publish and changed the successful symbol with a photograph by means of Lee Nuttall. Each month there’s a selected winner, however this award acknowledges the most productive shot from all 12 winners from 2025. It’s selected by means of “all staff who’re occupied with growing production, logistics, and promoting Tokina lenses.”

“Prior to now introduced general winner’s paintings used to be disqualified because of the violation of the photograph contest regulations,” Tokina writes on its web page. “Our apologies for this taking place [sic]. We can rethink the choice procedure by means of organising further checkpoints earlier than making ultimate judgments.”

PetaPixel has reached out to Tokina to elucidate what precisely the violation used to be.

Is it In point of fact an AI Symbol?

The picture has an invisible SynthID watermark, which means that it used to be both completely AI-generated by means of Google Gemini’s Nano Banana Professional, or it used to be considerably altered by means of one in every of Google’s photograph enhancing equipment like Magic Editor.

Lots of the commenters at the Reddit publish, who’re possibly photographers, agree that the picture is AI-generated. The Phoblographer additionally condemned the judges for now not requesting the RAW information. However now not everybody is sure it’s fabricated.

One Redditor issues out that the SynthID watermark may just point out that the photographer changed the clouds, got rid of an object, or upscaled it, quite customary edits that photographers make to their pictures on apps like Lightroom and Photoshop, the adaptation is if the photographer did use one in every of Google’s photograph enhancing equipment, it routinely provides the SynthID to turn that AI used to be used.

That very same Redditor additionally shared a video from the photographer’s YouTube web page, which seems to be the similar scene because the photograph.

The photographer, Abu Elias, is from Oman and often stocks shocking nature images that glance authentic. Consistent with his social media, he has received different pictures awards. PetaPixel has reached out to Elias for explanation.

If the above video used to be taken round the similar time because the photograph that first of all received the Tokina contest, then it kind of feels believable that the photographer changed the sky, because the video used to be taken all over daylight hours hours when the Solar used to be close to meridian, whilst the photograph displays the Solar environment.

This article is going to be up to date if and when PetaPixel hears again from the related events.