Features / Pretty as a picture!
Guidelines for sending gallery and cover photos, when requested.
WANT TO SEND us a seasonal gallery or facebook cover photo we’ve asked for? This could be flowers and gardens in the spring/summer gallery, or perhaps wild seas or dramatic landscapes during the year.
Please read the guidelines and terms below before sending us your photos. These may be updated, so please check regularly.
Facebook Cover Photos
[For Garden Gallery click here]
We are looking for images to display as cover photos for approximately one week to one month at a time, depending on the number received. We’d like to see Shetland landscapes or seascapes that reflect the current time of year, from amateur or professionals, which are free for us to use.
As long as it is ‘wild’, we will accept a wide range of subjects, for example, Mirrie Dancers, sunrise/sunsets, beaches, wildflowers, crashing waves. Just wide open views that capture Shetland. We all have amazing photo opportunities, perhaps on the way to work, walking the dogs on the beach or from your garden. We’d like to share that with our readers.
The photos MUST be landscape format, in focus and high resolution. There is no upper limit on the resolution. If you are not sure on the size of your image, check the camera for file details; or if dragged to a desktop, right click > Properties > Details and look for dimensions, in pixels (px). For example a photo 640 x 480px would be too small, a photo 2000 x 1500px (or greater) would be much better.
You can email them directly from your device gallery after checking the dimensions. If given the option, select the highest resolution or best/highest quality setting.
Please EMAIL the photo to gallery@shetnews.co.uk only, and add ‘Cover photo’ and the date taken to the subject line, rather than ‘last week’ or similar.
It’s important the date when the photo was taken (at least the month, beginning/end) is included when you send it. The year doesn’t matter, although it would be nice if it was the current year. Details of where the photo was taken and other pertinent details may be shared online, if given.
Facebook takes a letterbox shape out of the photo, so the entire photo can’t be shown. While we can select which part of the photo, it might mean that some detail on the photo might be missing when viewed on Facebook, or possibly that a fantastic photo couldn’t be used without losing the ‘subject’.
If the photo is ‘signed’, be aware this may not be visible on the cover, but would be if the photo was clicked on, or downloaded. Please see the Privacy section below for details. Using a photo involves a Facebook post where details of the photographer and any details about the photo will be given.
We will retain photos, for example if we receive several excellent photos and can’t use them all, we might save them for use the following year. If you don’t want this let us know. It is also possible that your photo doesn’t get used. See the Privacy section for details of how to contact us, and also assumptions about the use of the photographer’s name.
Please don’t include people or pets as the main subject, as these will probably be rejected. It should be about the wild land or seascape.
We look forward to seeing Shetland at its finest!
Garden Gallery Guidelines.
We have now closed the summer 2020 gallery. The gallery will remain online in our feature section.
Send us a maximum of ten photos. Remember there are a few weeks to send them, so if something isn’t quite ready yet, you can wait a few days until it’s perfect. Please don’t keep sending us the same photo because ‘the flower is open a bit more’.
If you send us more than one, your photos will be spread out in the gallery, rather than next to each other.
Send us landscape (horizontal) format where possible, as the gallery preview crops images, as does Facebook. If you must send a portrait (vertical) image, for example a lovely Delphinium spike, be aware it will get its head and feet chopped off in preview modes.
Don’t worry about resizing or optimising your photos. If your connection will take a large upload, we’d prefer an original image if possible.
We realise that some of our readers are not from Shetland, but might still want to share their garden. We have no objection to this, but please tell us when sending the photo so we can label it as such.
If you would like to name the plant variety/ies in the photo, that is fine, but try to keep it brief.
If vegetables are your passion instead of flowers we can publish those too.
We accept polytunnel photos, but please don’t send photos of houseplants – they have an easy life!
All photos will be assumed to have been taken by the sender unless an alternative is given. We will also assume we have the right to publish your name and the location unless you specify otherwise.
We reserve the right to crop or resize the photos, only if necessary.
If you send multiples of the same subject, we may use just one.
You don’t need to worry if you’re not a great photographer, it doesn’t have to be the perfect shot. The plant is the star! If we feel a photo you send is of insufficient quality to publish, we will let you know.
How to send your gallery photos
Add Shetland News as a contact on your phone; you can use Facebook (https://facebook.com/shetlandnews) to share via Messenger, or send an email to gallery@shetnews.co.uk. Your photos will be added as soon as we can.
Privacy, GDPR and copyright
By sending your photo to us, your name will be included and any name you include as a caption, unless you say otherwise. You can ask us to change this at any time.
We may contact you to let you know your photos have been used. This will be by the method you contacted us. If you don’t want us to contact you for this purpose, please let us know.
The photos with the caption, which may include names, will stay online in our showcase section permanently. If you want captions removed, or the photos removed, email gallery@shetnews.co.uk, or private message us on Facebook Messenger and we will remove it as soon as we are able.
The photographer retains copyright to the image, but as always, please make sure you are happy to share your photo on the internet. No images online are private and we cannot guarantee they won’t be stored by third parties.
It’s polite to ask any (human) subjects in the frame if they mind you sending the photos to us.
Your messages will be deleted after three months of the closing date for photos. Please see our privacy policy for further details.
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