Old Photo Album Help

What is the purpose of the album?

The album is about family photographs and their associated stories. Pages in the album contain examples of mystery photographs where individuals are asking a question about their photograph or examples of successful detective work in answering a question about their photograph. The album is a navigable database of old photographs submitted by the contributors after being approved by your editor. Each image must pass editorial review. It is not a random collection of images like some search engines return.

An old picture is meaningless to a young person without giving them some reason to be interested in it. An old picture is just a bunch of people they don't know doing strange old things they have no reference to. Only by bringing together a story with the picture can it have any meaning. The album is about associating pictures with their stories. When I envisioned City Gallery as a bulletin board system in spring of 1995, I envisioned an upload area for image files. The album brings this idea finally to fruition using the full power of a modern web environment.

If you like puzzles, you'll like the album. Most contributions will be from someone asking for interpretation of an image. This is where you can show off your skills at detective work and knowledge of history. Other images will be accompanied by success stories that inspire or give hints to others on how they can interpret their images. Some of the images will be beautiful representatives of the gallery operator at their most artistic, while others will prove the rule that most operators were in business to offer inexpensive images to the public. In either case, many of these old images will prove interesting.

How large of an image file size will you accept?

Image files sized above 200k will not be accepted. And only on a special case basis. A typical snapshot sized family photograph should produce a JPEG file sized in the 12-32k range. If your image file size is larger than this, you should adjust your compression factor and scan dpi to a level suitable for viewing on the web.

How do I format my image for upload to the album?

It helps if your image fits the following requirements:

• Is in JPEG format.
• Weighs in at 24-30k file size (this is the typical size a 4 x 6 inch color photograph scanned at 72dpi and saved at about 75% compression will be).
• Is scanned at approximately 72-100 dots per inch (this varies between Mac and PC monitors).
• Is no wider than 800 pixels and no higher than 600 pixels.

These settings will produce an image that is ideal for display on the web. They are not hard and fast rules, you will have to judge for yourself what settings best represent your image. If your image contains more than one photograph, it may be larger, but please make sure it is no wider than 800 pixels and less than 200k.

Will my email address be visible on a web page?

Not directly. We use a scripting technique to prevent junk email businesses from gathering your email address from our album pages. To contact a contributor to the album, click on the contact link at the bottom of the entry. If your browser supports the standard mailto link, it will open a new email message for you addressed to the contributor.

Can I use these picture on my web site, in my book or on my television show?

No. You may not reproduce any pictures in the album without express written permission of the copyright owner. Some images are owned by the editor or the editor may have the power to grant publication rights. But most images are owned by those who uploaded them or the copyright holder. Email permissions@city-gallery.com for information. Or you may contact the contributor directly to obtain permissions.

Can I link directly to a picture in the album?

No. We are not a free hosting service. And in any event, linking directly to images on the web is called "bandwidth stealing" and considered unethical because such practice shifts the cost of hosting images for your site onto others. It is the equivalent of theft, although no test cases have been through the courts to set a precedent. By linking directly to an image you incur traffic charges at our host, which endangers the existence of the freely available resources on this site. Technical measures will be taken to ensure album images are not linked to directly by individuals or search engines.

Can I have my picture removed the album?

Yes. Your picture can be removed from the album by request.

Are there any improvements to be made to the album?

Yes. This is the first version of the album and there are some areas where I am not satisfied with the operation. You may encounter problems submitting an image again after a failed upload. Or may see "no image available" when navigating for some skipped entries. Therefore, over time expect changes to be made that will enhance your browsing experience.