The term “snapshot” has grown to include a myriad of criteria above and beyond the normal “point and shoot” type images. If you want to know whether your image would be considered as a snapshot you need to answer the following questions truthfully while trying to be as critical and objective as possible.

If your image has already been rejected it might also be a very good exercise to go through the list and see where your image falls short and why it might have been rejected.

The questions
1. Did you put in some thought and planning before creating the image?
2. Does the image have artistic merit?
3. Does the image conform to the rules and norm for the genre? (This includes good composition, clear focal point, quality rendering, suitable colors etc.)
4. Does the image provide something new, unique or special to the genre?
5. Would the image offer universal appeal to a large group of people - especially people with no connection to you (friends/family) or to the subject (if a pet/person)?
6. Would it make a good wallpaper?
7. Do you follow the Code of conduct, abide by moderator decisions and act appropriately to fellow members on the site and in the forums?
8. Have you checked that there are no obvious flaws in the image (such as lamp poles in the foreground, bad lighting etc.)?
9. Is the image you are about to upload, not similarly represented in your galleries to date (multiple times)?
10. Is the image your own original work, or in cases where you use stock images/images from other sources do you have permission to use them and have you included a link to the source?

Scores:
The amount of “True” answers will be an indication of how well your image will fare.

1-4 : Your image would most likely be seen as a snapshot. Work on your technique, composition and subject matter and try again.

5-7: Your image stands a very good chance to be accepted. It might not make it to the perms but it should be shown for at least a month before being archived. Congratulations!

8-10: Your image is a cut above the rest. Chances are that it would definitely be accepted and it would most likely even be moved to the permanent galleries. Go forth and continue building on your portfolio of stunning images!

This is great KJ.. very well written, it will be interesting to see how many take notice..

I got a ... 3. :o(

Just kidding.

Well put together KJ. Some further clarification is ... indeed ... a good thing. :o)

From this post, I feel as a beginning photographer, I should not submit anything in the photography category because it will be imperfect and therefore a "snapshot."

Maybe it is just me, but having read through many posts here, I feel as though beginning photographers are actually being discouraged to post here. It is though only professionals and/or people with years of experience should post, and beginners are not welcome at all.

Does anyone know of a website where beginners are welcome and they can get feedback (besides Deviant Art)?

It is definitely not the intention to exclude anyone, especially not beginners. The point being made is that everyone should be making an effort to ensure that they are uploading their best work. You only need to do the very basics in order to get your images accepted. In any case us terrible mods have a tender spot for beginners - we give them some extra slack and you'll often notice a mod being the first to post feedback on new images.

Emily, please note that even as a beginning photographer, you should be able to answer yes to 1, 5, 9 & 10 - that only leaves you having to answer yes to one or 2 more (say 2, 6 or 8) to give you a "yes, this image has enough to post it - it may not be perfect, but it's good enough to get feedback on how I can get to the next level."

One of the great things about this site is that it's a place to learn, all that's being asked for is a baseline standard so that it doesn't become Flckr or PhotoBucket. If perfection was the standard here, the quiz would have said you need an 8 before your image might be accepted. 8•)

Beginners are not being discouraged .. that is NOT the intent, anyway .. the intent is to 'clean up' the new-image galleries and keep Caedes-dot-net from slipping into a Photo-Sharing site .. which many, on all sides of fence (mods \ members \ visitors) have noticed and pointed out at various times: the quality has\is slipping

a lot of this photo-traffic is being posted by established members who have dropped their standards for what makes a suitable post to a site proclaiming itself to be a DESKTOP\WALLPAPER site ... all anybody needs to do is think about the images they are considering to be post worthy, and look at them more critically (sans ego) .. is it a QUALITY \ NEUTRAL Desktop image for thousands of potential viewers ... NOT a simple "photo" of Disneyland or a city square, but something that the care and planning, composition and exposure is evident

we aren't doing this for "us", we are doing it for "you" .. the +mods have a desire to continue the acceptance of beginner works .. we are trying to hash that out, now .. we are mainly asking that everybody stop dumping "photos" and "snaps" in the wrong bin



in the 70's a comedian, by the name of Pat Paulson ran for President of the USA .. one of his many campaign slogans was:

"We have upped our standards .. so up yours"

yes, a bit tongue in cheek even for the time ... but in its base form, applies here ... we are asking the membership to "step up", to "do what's right for the team" ... and to raise the bar on submissions

and doing so with out all the kicking would be nice

Ok. I myself would not upload something if I did not at least try my best on it.

For question no.6, does that then imply that no portrait images would be wanted on this site because they can't be used as a wallpaper?

No, it is an artistic website as well, although the focus is on wallpapers. The key is to do a true portrait image which takes care and experience to pull off. 8•)

Agree with Cat: portraits can be very artistic and are welcome. Please avoid family un-artistic captures.

The Self-Portraits are accepted for members with an expanded gallery. The goal is to see the face of our most active members...
In other words, start his gallery with a self-portrait is not the best

Oh ok, yeh thanks I understand now, I couldn't quite guage the balance between the desire for artistic images or wallpapers but that has helped. Cheers.

good ideas... good point KIEFER. i think it comes down to people just posting every picture they take... i used to be a member here (around 2004) most people had only a few images in their galleries, because they only posted their good stuff.. now its like wading through all the generic snapshots and occasionaly you find a good shot... but its getting better and you guys are doing a great job at cleaning it up..
keep up the good work.

There seems to be an influx of snap shots of tidal proportions. While I'm guessing the mods have relaxed their axes, I wish the membership would exercise some level of restraint. Please, please, PLEASE quit posting stuff for reasons like:

a)I thought it was interesting
b)I wanted to show my friends
c)It was "cool"

If, on the other hand, you can present something artistic, and of a higher technical standard, and the above reasons happen to apply anyway, then hey great.

If you're just looking to share your latest "find", please do so on a photo-sharing site like Flickr, Myspace etc.

Well, I'm not exactly sure I'd say tidal proportions, but I admit the tide is rising, & seems to be rising fast. I was going thru the New Images & found an image that had been re-worked & to the better. Personally, I thought the artist was mistaken but art is subjective so there ya go.

So the old saying about one man's treasure IS true after all.

Personally I'm upset about the seemingly relaxation of standards around here lately. The New Images gallery was looking so good there for a while !! It was definitely & you should pardon the expression.... a joy to behold.

But c'mon kids.... a picture of somebody's stuffed rat with a hunk of cheese ? One of the mods lost a bet right ? I mean there had to have been a perfectly logical reason that a picture of somebody's dog's stuffed toy was displayed loud & proud in the New Images gallery.

And here Rob is 110% right, An image of a stuffed toy has absolutely no place here at all. At least, done with no artist atempt at all.

I admit that's just one person's opinion. As members of the site, of course people have the right to post photos here. They also have to abide by the CCoC.

BUT, with membership comes the responsibility of taking a step back & really taking a good hard look at what they're doing. Do certain images really belong here or are they better suited to Facebook, Myspace, Flickr etc.?

"If you're just looking to share your latest "find", please do so on a photo-sharing site like Flickr, Myspace etc. "

Yup.

Ok well I must ask, please do not be afraid to delete my images. I am new here less than 2 days and have submitted 3 images. One was rejected(i think) not sure if it was due to I forgot to change it from .bmp to a smaller format or if it was unacceptable. Im not afraid to have my work deleted, rejected, or just be flat out told 'It sucks." I do upload only images that I think conform to the sites policy and I do think that almost any decent cgi art has a place on lots of desktops because it is straight out of someones imagination giving it a very nice feel most of the time. I do appruciate getting work accepted because I love to share my work, and let others hopefully get some enjoyment from it and I like to hear what people think about it but if it isint up to the standards of this site well..
There are plenty of sites out there that it probably far excededs the standards and I can share it there. I feel posting or attempting to share my work here is better because it is under the axe more. If it's no good I want to find out and if it is good I want to share.

Hi Kalen... ;-) I'm sure that if you were curious about why an image of yours was rejected by an Image Mod you could find out simply by asking.

Just check the "show users online" & anybody with an ( + or an = ) in front of their names should be able to help you. Just send them a politely worded request & I'm sure someone would be happy to help.

Lauren

Checked into the issue and seems the image was rejected due to technical difficulties (most likely the bmp issue as stated).

NP, I will send it in again, found a minor error in it I wanted to fix anyway...

I sign the pledge to never post a snap shot...