Photographica is the coolest site on the internet to share your photographs with the world. With over 10,000 members now, Photographica has grown exponentially the last year or so--and we're glad you've decided to join in the fun. Here are a couple of pointers to help you master the site:

Submit a story just once every 24 hours. We appreciate your enthusiasm, but the front page only holds 30 stories at a time. When you post, the story on the bottom drops to the second page, where it receives much less traffic. If you post two or three stories in a row, two or three stories will drop off the front page. Be nice to your fellow member and just post once per day. Remember, you can post any number of pictures within your post as you want.

Read the Help Page, and PREVIEW! If your picture is not appearing in your story as a popup when you Preview, it will not appear when you click Submit. You need to manually insert your photos into your story. You do this by choosing your photo from the dropdown menu to the right of the text body on the Submit New Story page. You can then change the words "Description_Here" to whatever you want to title your picture. Like this! Remember, you can Preview as many times as you need to--but you can Submit only once.

Read through the Q&A Section.You can read all the questions others have come up with by clicking on the Q&A link in the right-hand blue box on every page. There you can learn how editors delete your photos upon request, you can create avatars to show up when you make comments, and why the Photo Journals section is so cool. This site rewards exploration--no question is dumb, and no question hasn't come up before.

This is a community.The great thing about Photographica is its members and community. Don't just submit photos--comment on other members' work! The more feedback we get, the better photographers we'll all be.

Put your money where your pictures are.Help make this the best photo site on the web: Subscribe! You not only get access to cool features, you're helping with the administrative costs and doing your part. You'll be the among the first to try out new features as Cory implements them, too.

Have fun.Photographica is a rewarding site that encourages discussion, debate and, within reason, controversy. We're only as good as our members.

Questions?Contact info for your Editors is at the top of every page, by clicking the About link.

Okay, so we know that a suspritzed diamagnetic synchronizing filter doesn't REALLY exist, but I've also heard that you really SHOULD use a filter, and that there are lots (Gobs I think) different types of filters... So....

1. Has someone already taken the time to explain different filters? If so, could I have the link?
2. If not, would any of our more "salty" photo-masters mind taking a minute and tapping out what filters a beginner (like me) should start with, and what filters one may grow into?

Thanks everyone...

C

I'm going to step way out on a limb here, but I think the quality of photos being posted lately needs a lot of improvement. So, I decided to post some random advice on creating exciting and interesting images. Much of this advice I picked up from a National Geographic photographer (Joel Sartore).

1. If it's boring, don't shoot it.  Most of the time the answer is no (a Joel-ism).
   
2. Compose your picture from the background forward (Joel-ism).
   
3. Expose for the brightest part of the frame that you want to see detail on.  For example, many times the sky is the brightest part of the frame for a landscape. Expose for the sky (not the sun).  As Joel says, the sky is the boss.  Conversely, if your frame includes a reflection of the sun, don't expose for that as it won't matter how much you stop down, it will still be burned out.  This piece of advice made a huge difference in my own images.
   
4. Focus on your subject.  This may seem like a no-brainer, but I'm seeing lots of shots where the subject is out of focus.
   
5. Don't have out of focus distractions in the foreground.  That is unless the out-of-focus items in the foreground are an essential part of your composition.  I remember one neat image lately where out-of-focus tallgrass blowing in the wind created a veil-like curtain in front of the subject.  In most cases though, either get it in focus or get it out of the frame.
   
6. Use near/far perspective on landscapes to give perspective, just make sure the near objects are in focus.
   
7. Edit ruthlessly.  If you post 20 pictures don't be surprised if people get scared away.  Sift them down to the ones you think are best and then be open to feedback.  You'll get more worthwhile feedback and you'll create goodwill with your mates.
   
8. Good light is good and bad light is bad (Joel-ism). Meaning? The good light with lots of warmth is early in the day and late in the day.  Also, cloudy days can give nice, even lighting.  If you're tempted to shoot in bad light, don't.  Come back later in good light or create good light by somehow diffusing the harsh light.
   
9. Compose, compose and compose.  Don't just assume you're going to be able to crop later in PS.  Take your time and compose in the viewfinder.  If what you're seeing isn't working, either make it work or don't shoot the picture.  Again, most of the times the answer is no.
   
10. Know what your subject is.  Again, another no-brainer, but there are a lot of images being posted where it's not clear.
    
11. Give people paths to wander in your image.  By that I mean be conscious of layers and the path the viewers' eyes may follow through your image.
    
12. Make your image something interesting.  That includes picking a subject matter that is not the same as what everybody else is doing.  It feels as if Photographica is becoming the flower picture site of the Web.  If it's an incredibly beautiful flower shot then great, post away.  But if it's a garden variety flower shot (pardon the play on words) why not leave the posting space for someone else with something different to show.

I know I'm opening myself up to tons of criticism with this posting.  But, I felt that rather than find myself drifting away from Photographica I ought to at least take a shot at offering some constructive feedback in the interest of making it better.

I'll be the first one to admit that I'm not a great photographer.  I'm sure you'll be able to look at my images and find a number of them where I've violated the advice I posted above.  But, I hope that doesn't cause you to dismiss it.  After all, it's not my original thinking but rather advice that I've soaked up from some really great photographers.

Also, I've tried to stay away from rules, like the rule of thirds.  We know the saying about rules and I don't hold to them that strongly.  Finally, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of advice on taking interesting images.  It's just the random thoughts that have popped into my head as I've been composing this posting.  I'm sure that the moment I hit the Submit button I'll think of something else.  You'll probably want to add your own items as well.

Anyway, please don't anyone take this as a slight.  I truly love this site and want to see it get better.  I'm just a bit distraught that we're not posting as high a level of images here lately.  When I see the numbers online seeming to drop I worry that the quality of images might be part of the reason.

Let's all do our part to make this the best site possible.  There are a lot of great photographers here who could add lots of items to this list.

Okay, fire at will!

I know overflow from too many postings in a day get sent there, but what was it originally created for? Thanks!

This weekend I'm planning on digging out my old Olympus OM-1 and see if it still works.  The film I bought is rated at ISO 400, the camera only shows ASA film speed; is ASA and ISO the same speed?  If not, do you know what I should set the camera at?

Just a quick reminder that this site is in a constant state of change. Some of those changes are for a better appearance, or to add functionality, or to fix bugs. No matter what the reason for each change, it is important to remember that your computer will do it's best to hold on to the past, so to speak. What I'm trying to say is whenever a change is announced, it is probably a good idea to clear your browsers cache, or Temporary Internet Files.

Clearing your cache can often resolve quirky little problems you experience on this site, and all over the Internets for that matter, and is very easy to do...

• In Firefox: Click into the Tools menu, then select Options. Once the Options window opens, go into the Privacy tab, and click the Clear button next to Cache.
  
  
• In Internet Explorer: Click into the Tools menu, then select Internet Options. From there, locate the area right in the middle of the window that says Temporary Internet Files and click the Delete Files button.

If you are using a different browser, the steps should be fairly similar to either one of those above. After clearing your cache, refresh the site. If you are still having an issue, PM me or one of the other editors for assistance.

As always...have fun and enjoi!

For those of you who have ever said "I love galleries, but the one thing I HATE about them is that you have to remember the keyword you used, because it doesn't get displayed anywhere..." I have some great news! Bookmark this URL:
http://www.photographica.org/delete/

When you go to that address, you will get an error about not having permission, or some such banter. Ignore it. Look on the right-hand side of the page...there you will see the old skool HTML help box (also a handy thing to look at sometimes), and below that you will see a list of your most recent uploaded images, and finally, a list of your most recent galleries! Keep that in mind, it's been helpful to me on more than one occasion!

When naming your pictures (title AND keyword) avoid special punctuation characters like "#" and "&" and "?". The site can't recognize them, and so your photo won't appear. Letters and numbers are fine, and in any combination.

We editors can delete the pix that don't show up, of course--I'm just lazy and am trying to save myself work.

How 'bout this weather we're having?

If you'd like to have a photo (or photos) deleted from your "My Photos" page, please contact one of the following Editors:

austinspace (John)
codepoit (Chris)
kwsNI (Aaron)
kikker (Shmuli)

Private Message is the best way to make this type of request. PM links for each of us can be found on the Contact page (link at the top of every Photographica page). You are more than welcome to send a PM to any other Editor, but the 4 of us listed above are around a lot more often than the others.