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Technical Guidelines - 2010 PHOTOSHOT updated may 2010
Technical Guidelines - 2010
PHOTOSHOT
updated may 2010
Photoshot is one of the leading international photo libraries,
delivering some of the most extensive and high-quality image
collections in the world. Headquartered in London with offices
in New York and Hamburg, professionalism and superior
customer service are characteristics you can always count
on from Photoshot. With an archive that goes back to
the early 1900s, we represent over 1100 contributors
worldwide, capturing everything from travel, nature and
wildlife, to news, entertainment and sports, as well as RM
and RF creative imagery, including microstock, which will
be launched in the next few weeks. We’ve got images to
fit all budgets! We are home to over 8 million images, with
approximately 1.7 million digitized and online, and continually
growing on a daily basis. Our comprehensive collections
carry everything you’re searching for and can be seen in
newspapers, magazines, books and broadcast platforms
worldwide.
PHOTOSHOT
Who are we?
Please contact..
If you’d like to submit your work or need additional
information, please contact our Photographer Relations
Manager in our UK office.
Contact: Paul Lubbock
email: [email protected]
telephone: +44 [0]20 7421 6000
address: 29-31 Saffron Hill
London
EC1N 8SW
What we have...
You may already be familiar with two of our world renowned
collections: NHPA (Natural History Photographic Agency) and
UPPA (Universal Pictorial Press and Agency). NHPA is widely
regarded as one of the best collections of nature and wildlife
imagery, built up over 40 years, with contributions from over
150 photographers, including four “Wildlife Photographer
of the Year” winners. UPPA is thought to be the oldest
independent picture business in the UK, dating back to the
early 1900’s, and is the photography business of record
for royalty, politicians and the judiciary. It also has a strong
reputation for business and financial stories in the UK, EU
and US.
Our Collections include...
UPPA
NHPA
Woodfall Wild images
PictureNature
Oceans Images
World Pictures
Photos Horticultural
Star Stock
Retna
Stay Still
Talking Sport
Photoshot Archive
Photoshot Creative
Bruce Coleman
www.photoshot.com
SUBMISSIONS
For any technical assistance or queries please contact our
production manager:
Contact: Garry Dunn
email: [email protected]
PHOTOSHOTSUBMISSIONS
Image preparation
All image submissions need to be in accordance to our
technical guidelines upon agreeing a supplier relationship.
They all need to be captioned and keyworded correctly and
then sent in for uploading.
As a first digital submission, please submit 50 high res files
according to our guidelines and some information about
yourself. Please note that we will not return any CD or DVD
media. We will review the initial submission within
2 weeks and get in contact via e-mail. See our technical
guidelines below - we do not need full caption and keywords
for this, just a minimum description (but any material
submitted that we do put onto the site will need full captioning
and keywording as per the guidelines below)
What happens after you submit?
We ideally require non-interpolated JPEG files (saved at
quality level 12 in Photoshop) from a high end digital SLR of
no less than 8-10 megapixels made from RAW files where
any major corrections to colour/contrast etc have been
done before the files are processed. Please can you provide
these as high res JPEGS.
“Digital originals” / Digital Capture:
If the quality is acceptable we will ask for a larger submission;
if we reject your submission we will e-mail you explaining the
reasons. We will of course welcome a new submission on a
different subject matter.
How to submit...
Once your work is accepted...
Photoshot now only accepts digital files from prospective
photographers, providing the specifications outlined are met.
Sharpness, correct exposure and good use of lighting and
composition are essential, but we are looking for pictures
with interest and impact.
We aim to create consistency across all our digital files,
whether they are files from digital cameras, scans from
transparencies submitted from photographers or files from
our own transparency scanning programme. We believe
in setting high standards in both transparency and digital
submissions, in order to offer the highest quality service to
our clients.
• Scans should be made on a Drum scanner, or equivalent.
• Ideally file size should be 50-60 MB for 35mm film, or larger
when scanning from a medium/large format transparency.
• Pictures should be scanned at the optical resolution and the
highest possible bit depth of the scanner. Do not interpolate
(re-size) images to achieve the required file size, even at the
scanning stage.
• Images should not be sharpened either at the scanning
stage or in Photoshop.
• All the shadow and highlight detail contained in the original
transparency should be present in the scan. Assuming that
your working space is Adobe RGB (1998), then the RGB
‘density’ reading (0=black, 255=white) for shadow detail
should not be much less than 10 while good highlight detail
should be perhaps around 240. True specular highlights can
peak to 255 in small areas.
• Adobe RGB 1998 colour space (embedded)
• 300dpi
• Ensure images are the correct orientation
• Dust and artefacts removed at 100% magnification
• Saved as JPEG at quality level 12 in Photoshop
• Captioned in Description field of File Info in Adobe Photoshop
- see Captioning & Keywording guide.
Panoramic...
If you are intending to submit panoramic images please can
you make sure that the original file is 80 meg.
Scans from transparencies:
• Adobe RGB 1998 colour space (embedded)
• 300dpi
• Ensure images are the correct orientation
• No sharpening/USM
• Dust and artefacts removed at 100% magnification
• No interpolation
• Saved as JPEG at quality level 12 in Photoshop
• No layers, channels or paths
• Converted to 8 bit High res Jpeg before saving
• Captioned in Description field of File Info in Adobe Photoshop
- see Captioning & Keywording guide.
PHOTOSHOTSUBMISSIONS
How do I get my images to you?
There are several ways in which you can send us your images.
1. DVD & CDs:Please send them marked clearly to -
Paul Lubbock
New Submissions
Photoshot
29-31 Saffron Hill
London
EC1N 8SW
UK
2. Hard Drive:Please send your hard drive to your relevant Editor, to find out
who is your designated Editor please contact Paul Lubbock.
3. FTP - Stock (non-time sensitive)Please can you upload all of your non-time sensitive material
to the following FTP address, making sure that you have titled
the folder with your name and relevant code.
IMPORTANT: Please make sure that you only upload
high res jpegs as any Tiff files will slow down the server.
Address: ftp.uppa.co.uk
User name: submission
Password: sub2008
Please put your name and which collection it is for in the
folder name. e.g. Joe Smith_NHPA
For all our new Bruce Coleman Inc photographers please put
your name followed by BCI.
e.g. Joe Smith_BCI
4. FTP - Live News (time sensitive)PLEASE DO NOT SUBMIT MATERIAL UNLESS YOU HAVE
CONTACTED THE NEWS DESK FIRST OR ARE A REGULAR
SUPPLIER TO US
If you are uploading news worthy material please can you
make sure that you have inserted into the picture code how
many images you will be uploading e.g. David Barrett will
upload 16 pictures therefore he would need to code his
pictures as follows:
E.g. B312_DB16_001 B312 (His B number)_DB
(his initials) 16 (total in set) _001 (First one of the sixteen)
Please upload these images to our News Desk FTP:
Address: ftp.uppa.co.uk
Username: desk
Password: uppa01 (zero)
Once you have uploaded your images please can you email
our news desk editor, Marvin Woodyatt, to complete your
delivery.
Email: [email protected]
If you are experiencing any problems with this FTP address
please contact Marvin to give you a alternative FTP.
Please make sure you put the following information in you
delivery email:
Who:
What:
Where:
When:
How many images have been uploaded:
If you have any further questions or problems getting
your material to us please do not hesitate to contact our
Photographer Relations Manager, Paul Lubbock to assist
you.
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0)207 421 6000
PHOTOSHOTSUBMISSIONS
Captioning & Keywording:
Images should be captioned using the IPTC caption
information plug-in in Photoshop (File>File Info) or similar
software. All of the caption information should be entered
into the Description field. See below for a caption example
using Photoshop CS/8. Keywords should be entered into the
keyword field, separated by semi colons (;).
Please note: The illustrations are if you are working on your
images in Photoshop. Please use equivalent fields if you are
using other software packages such as Fotostation.
Add words with the same meaning. If you add “mother”, also
add “mum”. Consider UK and US variations, so in the example
above, add “mom”.
Describe your images in a methodical way.
•Literal - e.g. “boy, girl, children, beach, sun, sand, sky, car,
shadow”.
•Attributes - e.g. “happy, smiling, walking, blue, young, old”.
•Location - be specific, e.g. “The White House, Washington
DC, USA”; or generic, e.g. “office, school, home”.
•Interaction - e.g. “chasing, playing, moving, touching, shouting,
flying”.
•Concepts - e.g. “heat, power, happiness, strength, humour,
teamwork, tranquility etc”.
•Broad subjects - e.g. “lifestyle, travel, sport and business”.
•Digitally created or excessively manipulated images (i.e. those
that have been significantly altered from the original image)
should be labelled as such.
Please see our ‘Technical Guidlines’ for a more detailed guide.
PHOTOSHOTTECHNICAL GUIDELINES
Where do I begin?
Step 1. Open your image in Photoshop and save it as a JPEG
file at quality level 12 in Photoshop.
Step 2.Enter the caption.
Select “File Info” from the “File” menu; ensure that the top
drop-down box displays the “General Desciption” page display.
Complete the fields as follows:
“Title.” State briefly what the image is, or what the most
important feature of the image is.
“Author” Your name or preferred credit style/
Photoshot.
“Author’s position” Leave blank.
“Description” Write a brief, but factual title of the
image.
“Keywords” The words that you choose when
keywording and the order you put them in act like a road map
that allows the search engine to navigate through thousands
of images when it is responding to a user’s search query. This
must include all of the words from the description.
E.g. Description: FELBRIGG WOODS, Norfolk Winter
Keywords: landscape; landscapes; scenic; scenics;
scene; scenes; tree; trees; winter; season; seasons; dead;
scary; frightening; dark; pattern; patterns; england; english;
british; britain; europe; european; Felbrigg Wood Norfolk in
Mist, Felbrigg, Norfolk.
E.g. Description: LESSER FLAMINGO,
(Phoenicopterus minor), Lake Bogoria National Reserve,
Kenya.
Keywords: bird; birds; animal; animals; wildlife;
flamingos; flamingoes; flamingo; flocks; flock; group;
groups; lakes; kenyan; africa; african; lake; mass; reflection;
reflections;; reflected; pink, kenya, lake, Bogona, Lake Bogoria
National Park, National Park
Description Tips:
In the Description field, write the most important things.
This includes the names of any featured person(s), kind of
person(s), animal(s), object(s), landmark, landscape, special
event, design(s), or shape(s) represented.
Add any featured or implied actions in a simple subject/
predicate format.
What to include:
1. A description of things and actions.
The very first words should tell us where we are: e.g. ‘Felbrigg
Woods’ This should be followed by a space, then a “–“, and
another space
PHOTOSHOTTECHNICAL GUIDELINES
The words that you choose when keywording and the order
you put them in act like a road map that allows the search
engine to navigate through thousands of images when it is
responding to a user’s search query.
To write in good keywords, you must understand the following:
- How much information to include
- What information to exclude
- How to describe physical elements of images and to
summarize other elements. The “Keyword” field is where you
describe the image in plain English, using normal word order,
capitalization when necessary, and punctuation.
Remember to include further descriptions of any attributes
that make an image unique, compelling, or that are obviously
a part of the artistic composition.
Also add words and common phrases that convey what an
image evokes or illustrates. This subjective element lets the
search engine consider conceptual queries users may submit
when they don’t have a particular image in mind, or when they
want to brainstorm. These words can convey a particular or
abstract concept, emotion, style, or genre.
E.g. Active; Athletic; Bikini; Calm; Clothing; Day; Diver;
Enjoyment; Expert; Fun; Leisure; Lifestyle; Ocean;
; Outdoors; Peaceful; Pleasure; Preparing; Rear
View; Relaxation; Sea; Silver Swimmers; Sky; Standing;
Swimmer; Swimming Cap; Trained;
Keywording Tips:
