Information for Contributors to the Photo Gallery
Criteria for acceptance of submitted photos: Photos exhibited here range along a spectrum from those that document a rare bird or at least a noteworthy sighting, to those that are just nice shots of common species, with a wide gray area in the middle. Decision whether to accept a submitted photograph is that of the web site editor and is necessarily subjective. Here are some general rules of thumb that I usually follow. At the “rare bird” end of the spectrum are photos that serve to document the occurrence of a bird that is rare, or at least out of season or out of place. These photos need not necessarily be of high photographic quality, as long as field marks that support the identification are discernible. If you have a video of a bird flying through a swamp and displaying field marks of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, I will publish it even if some experts insist it is a Pileated. At the “nice shots” end of the spectrum are photos of birds that are common. In this category, I look for sharp focus, good lighting, interesting composition, good illustration of field marks, etc. It's ok to submit photos of species that are already represented in the gallery, but I may be more choosy about those. You might like to use the taxonomic index to look at what photos may be similar to yours.
The photo must be one that you took yourself, or that you have the photographer's permission to publish, and it should have been taken in the Carolinas. I have occasionally accepted a photo taken just outside the Carolinas, especially if the location is one frequented by Carolina birders, but never from distant locations.
You must include the date and location where the photo was taken.
Where to send: Please email photos to my webeditor address, not to my personal address. I save all emails; please put the species name in the subject line to make it easier for me to find it later, for example if I want to use the photo in The Chat.
Email format: I prefer that you email photos as attachments but I can also work with photos emailed as inline images if that's your only option. Understand that photos sent through an online gallery service such as Picasa, KodakGallery, Adobe, etc., are sent as inline images and not as attachments; also they are often sent at reduced quality, sometimes at such a low quality as to be unusable.
Pick your shots: Please choose a few photos that you think warrant display in the gallery; don't send me a dozen and ask me to choose the ones I want. I spend enough time on this gallery as it is :-).
Count your shots: I make exceptions but generally I prefer not to receive more than a few photos per contributor in one day.
Editing: I nearly always crop and resize submitted photos. Resizing is for consistency of presentation and to provide good download time. To compensate for the smaller format, I usually crop to make the bird itself fill most of the image. Generally I prefer that you submit the original photo and let me edit it. However if you are very particular you may do the editing yourself. Adjust the photo size so that the maximum dimension is no more than 640 pixels and preferably with the smaller dimension 480 pixels. For consistency I almost always crop with a 3x4 aspect ratio, but other proportions are acceptable if the photo's composition demands it. I prefer photos that do not have a copyright notice. If you have a copyright notice in the corner, I won't crop it off, which means that your photo will be displayed with a smaller bird image than if I cropped it.
The Chat: Sometimes I select contributed photos for publication in The Chat. Photos that have been submitted full-size are preferable for this.
Copyright: You retain copyright on the photograph, but by submitting it you give the Carolina Bird Club the right to reproduce it on this web site, and you are also giving the Carolina Bird Club the right to publish the photo in The Chat if selected by the Editor.
Acknowledgement: I try to acknowledge receipt of each contribution, but occasionally I may get sidetracked and forget. I usually don't acknowledge at the time of receipt, but rather at the time that I actually publish the photo (or decide not to), which most often but not always is the same or next day. Occasionally I may not have time to tend to the gallery for a longer period of time. I send out a lot of acknowledgement messages so I usually don't write much, typically the message is simply “Thanks”. Please don't be offended by brevity; all contributions are appreciated. If I decide not to use your photo, I will try to explain why.
Once in a while, if a photo is of special timely interest, I may post to carolinabirds when I have published it, but usually I leave it up to you to publicize if you choose.
—Kent Fiala, web site editor