Authentic animal photography is a genre centered on "non-interventional recording." It focuses on wild animals or captive animals not guided by humans, aiming to restore their natural living states—distinct from animal images created through staging, artificial domestication guidance, or post-production compositing.

It requires photographers to capture moments in the animals’ natural state—such as real behaviors like hunting, reproduction, and social interaction, as well as the original connection between animals and their habitats—without disturbing the animals’ behavior or damaging their living environment.

Technically, it mostly relies on telephoto lenses and hidden shooting equipment to minimize human impact. Post-processing is limited to basic light and shadow adjustments, with a strict ban on compositing fake scenes or altering animals’ physical forms. Its value lies in both ecological recording significance and popular science function: it not only provides visual data for animal behavior research but also allows viewers to intuitively understand the real living conditions of animals, conveying the concept of respecting nature.