First and foremost,
THIS IS A PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITE, meant to give amateur photographers the opportunity to combine their artistic vision with the realm of documentary journalism. This is also a resource for tourists, history enthusiasts, people interested in finding more, and students. So we need to keep our photos true to life and our information far from misleading.
And we are looking for above-average photos that have good composition and exposure, accurate colors, and artistic expression.
Photographs should adhere to our Standards of Quality:
1. Well-exposed
2. Have accurate colors
3. Minimal geometric distortion
4. In focus
5. Taken by you
6. No crazy altering of the photo
If you have a photo that does not follow these requirements,it may not be considered for inclusion.
Technically (because we are a website that needs to work right and load fast), we are looking for
1.
Dimensions on the long side of the photo: 800 to 1200 pixels (It doesn't matter what the actual dimensions are, as long as the longest side of your photo is within that range of pixels.
2.
.jpg (JPEG) files only.
3.
Compressed enough to load fast. Saving out to file sizes from 150 to 350 KB. The faster the better, but don't ruin the quality of your image.
4.
Named Appropriately. You can just give the files descriptive names. Nothing complicated here.
5.
Marked with your name. See below.
Bonus -- as with any image you plan on posting to the web, saving it with an sRGB color profile will allow viewers to see the colors true to how you intended them (assuming your monitor is calibrated for photo editing).
All images we use REMAIN YOUR PROPERTY. We ask that you keep one thing in mind: As an educational resource, we will often get asked for use of images in papers, presentations, and projects at the very least. NYH wants to help people. All images we take in, that are not marked with a © copyright symbol, are subject to the Creative Commons Attribution License. That means, People can use the image for non-profit as long as they credit who did it, and where it came from. Don't like it? Add the © to your photo. Because the contents of the markers may be copyright of the marker's author, and because we want to have at least one photo to share with our visitors, it is good practice to not copyright photos of actual signs or trademarks.
You MUST mark your images
Along the bottom with legible text and must not obscure any important features of the photo.
Follow this format (leave out the ©, if you want your image to be shared (see above)) :
“© Photo credit: {your name} – NYHistoric.com ({month/year photo was taken})”
For example:
“© Photo credit: Matthew Conheady – NYHistoric.com (9/2012)”
And what it looks like:
What to keep in mind when photographing a site
The first things you should keep in mind is that all the photos should stick to the Standards of Quality listed above.
1. Thoroughly read and understand the sign. Make sure you are photographing what you should be.
2. Snap a close up of the sign.
3. Snap a scene of the sign and surroundings (make sure the sign is in focus).
4. Snap any whole buildings or objects of interest.
5. Snap details
6. Snap possibly related things (across the street, down the river, etc) just in case.
7. Snap any other informational signs on the site
8. Take a GPS reading of the SIGN itself.
9. Avoid harsh shadows and lighting, especially on the marker itself.
10. Be creative. Be an artist. Not every photo has to be boring and geometric like mine.
11. Be a storyteller. You need to tell our user what this site is like today by using your camera.
A note about winter
I hate winter, but that's not the main reason why I don't think winter photos are good for this type of site. Not only is winter a bit dull and boring for our cameras, snow and ice obscures detail. It should be covering an old foundation, monument stone, old canon, sign, mounts... anything. We ask that you refrain from shooting new sites in the winter, but feel free to add winter impressions to sites that already exist.
An exception to this may be any particular historic sites that deal with winter specifically. There are a few out there.
A little bit of legal: NYH has the right to use your photos on other pages, and in advertisements, on Facebook to promote the site, but NYH will not claim the photo as property of NYH or ever sell prints of it. By submitting, you are essentially giving us a borrower's license and this borrower's license carries over to any owner of NYH, and this agreement lasts until NYH cancels it. Once submitted, its home is on NYH.