Railfan.net Photo Contribution Guidelines
You must be the copyright holder for the photo or have permission to
post it online from the photo's copyright holder. If you are not the
photographer you should provide proper credit for the photo.
All photos must have some sort of description to use as a caption. We will
not archive any uncaptioned photos online.
Images should be JPEG (.jpg) format with moderate compression and medium
resolution, in general somewhere between 640x480 and 1280x960 pixels. We reserve the right
to recompress the images in jpeg format to minimize file size without
compromising image quality. In many cases we can actually improve the sharpness
of the image. In cases of extremely large images (greater than 1280x960) we
sometimes resize the image to better fit most web browser windows if the
subject matter does not require an extremely high resolution to preserve
visibility of details.
Filenames for images should not contain spaces or the following characters:
Ampersands "&" (use a + instead), number signs "#", exclamation points "!",
greater than or less than signs ">" and "<", asterisks "*" or semicolons ";" as
these are reserved as special unix "operator" characters and can cause some
automated processing operations to fail requiring manual manipulation of the
files before they can be indexed. In general it is safe to use letters,
numbers, dashes "-" and underscores "_" in filenames. JPEG images should all
have the ".jpg" filename extension and NOT ".jpeg". In most cases the image uploader
will fix the filename for you.
There should be text caption information included with each image providing as
much or as little information about the subject matter as you think the viewer
needs to know. Some useful details which can be provided are:
Date and time the photo was shot
Location
Railroad
Train number
Details on subject matter
Historically relevant information on the area or equipment
Locomotive or car manufacturer, model, HP, history, etc.
Photo credit information as you wish it to be seen
If the photo is part of a collection you may wish the credit to read something
like the following:
Photo by J. Henry Priebe Sr. - Collection of J. Henry Priebe Jr.
For photographers who send many images which are put into their own site area
photo credits for each image are not necessary unless creditting some other
photographer for the image as you will have a "blanket" credit in the heading
for your photo page.
We publish the "From: " email addresses in photo indexes with the addresses
munged to prevent spam address harvesters from being able to add your valid
email addresses to their lists in order to spam you. If someone wishes to
email you about your photo they can easily figure out what to change to make
it a valid adress again.
A short description may appear as follows:
Conrail SD70MAC 4131 leads TVLA-3 westbound at CP437 in Buffalo, NY on June 17,
1998. Photo by Henry Priebe
A longer description might be:
Conrail SD70MAC 4131 leads TVLA-3 westbound at CP437 in Buffalo, NY on June 17,
1998. CR's SD70MACs were built using GMDD "kits" at the Juniata Locomotive
Shops to CSX specifications and all 15 units, numbers 4130 to 4144 were
renumbered into CSX' 700 series.
CR's CP437 is the former location of NYC Tower 49 adjacent to Buffalo Central
Terminal. 49 controlled the west end of the terminal trackage as well as the
Buffalo Creek interchange and the west end of the NYC's Stock Yards.
The Buffalo Creek is now used as part of CSX' Chicago Line to Cleveland and the
former NYC main through downtown has long been downgraded to "Track 3."
Photo by Henry Priebe
For sequences of photos that should be arranged in a certain order there are
two things to consider. The miscellaneous contributors section indexes the photos showing
the most recent at the top. Uploading your photo sequence with the last photo
first and continuing with the subsequent photos in reverse order with the first
photo being uploaded last will have them display in the order you desire. When
listings are sorted alphabetically it is useful to include a trailing index number
in the photos' filenames. ie: MyPhoto-001.jpg, MyPhoto-002.jpg, MyPhoto-003.jpg, etc.
Because alphabetical sorts think MyPhoto-10.jpg comes before MyPhoto-2.jpg, it is
a good idea to left-pad the seqwuence number with a zero, as in the above example.
Photo submissions from one photographer of less than 20 or so total images
will be placed in a miscellaneous
contributions area unless they are particularly newsworthy. Batch submissions
of numerous photos may be given their own area named for the
contributor and subsequent submissions will also be placed there. If you wish
to send more than 20 photos then please let us know up front!
We will be happy to place anyone's photos online for them with few exceptions.
We do not promote commercial ventures unless they are directly related to
rail preservation or non-profit rail related companies. If you wish to put some
of your photos online then by all means send them in!
Digital images remain the property of the photographer/collection owner and we
will not confer publishing rights anyone else. As with all photos on
Railfan.net, explicit permission is granted to the viewers to use images "for
personal use only."
If you are not the photographer please make sure you have the right to
distribute the image(s) you wish to submit as a contribution. Railfan.net
cannot be held responsible for copyright infringement issues arising from the
display of contributed images and will cooperate with any official law
enforcement agencies in their investigations.
Likewise, we will also do what we can to assist you if your photos are
"pirated" for commercial use without your permission.
Railfan.net will not divulge any personal information about anyone without
their prior consent. If someone wishes to contact a photographer or collection
owner who has not opted to have an email address listed with their photos we
will forward the request to the last known email address associated with the
image.
Railfan.net Photo Contributors Area