JPG magazine

Hey guys!

We've been getting a lot of questions about photo deletion and photo guidelines. This little Get Satisfaction site is a place where we can have a discussion with all the JPG community-- and you all can talk amongst yourselves as well.

Just to jump-start a conversation on photo deletion, I thought I'd let you all know what we had in mind in setting up the photo guidelines.

1. To make an awesome magazine. JPG has grown into a great photo sharing site and an amazingly supportive community. But we're also making a great magazine here! We try to keep the photos on JPG focused on JPG Magazine. We do this for a lot of reasons: because JPG members don't want to go to vote on photos and have to wade through hundreds that can't even be published, because we're a small company and can't do extensive editing to prepare photos for print, and to make JPG the site for your best photos, photos you want to see in print!

2. To be as clear and fair as possible. There is always murky ground when dealing with any guidelines, but we're trying to make the rules as easy as possible. Take nudity-- there are absolutely amazing nude photos that are incredibly artful and but who are we to say "this one's art, this one's not"? That's why we have the "no down-stairs nudity" rule. Well, "no front-of-the-house down-stairs nudity", if you know what I mean. The hardest guidelines are the ones that aren't clear-cut of course, like digital adjustments.

3. Community-requested standards. A lot of our policy on photo guidelines have been guided by what JPG members flag as inappropriate, or email us.

Despite our beautifully growing community and fancy website, the JPG Crew here is actually pretty small-- and we need your help in making JPG into the magazine and site you want! So, what do you all think? Are there photo guidelines that seem unfair? Any guidelines we're not enforcing correctly? How can we communicate these guidelines better?

Here's our current photo deletion email. Suggestions are welcome!

I received a request in another thread to post the photo deletion email we send out, so here it is. This email is automatically sent to the email address listed in the member profile. We try to customize the email for each photo, removing the reasons that don't apply and adding sentences if need-be.

Just to re-cap the discussion so far, we've gotten a lot of great ideas on the photo deletion process, including the idea of having a "holding purgatory" where photos go for review and appeal before they are removed. We've also gotten some suggestions to send this to the site mail too-- great idea!

We'll work on those ideas. The goal with the current email is to be as clear as possible on why the photo was removed. I'd love to hear feedback if you have any.

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Dear Christi,

Thanks for participating in JPG, but your photo, "Photo Title," had to be removed from the site. The reason for removal was:

* Too small: Your photo does not fit JPG's minimum size requirement of
2200 pixel and was digitally enlarged or had white space added to meet the
requirement. This requirement is there to make sure your photo will look
great in print! Please submit a higher resolution photo.

* Digitally-added border: Your photo had a digitally added border. We can't
print with these borders, so we don't allow them on the site. Please feel
free to upload this photo again without the border.

* Digitally-added text: JPG does not allow photos with digitally-added
text -- this includes signatures, dates, and copyright statements. We
can't print with added text, so we don't allow it on the site. Please feel
free to upload this photo again without the added text.

* Multiple photos: JPG only allows one image per upload-- so diptychs or
series in a single upload are not allowed. Feel free to upload these photos
separately -- with only one image per upload. If they are part of a series,
you might consider writing a story or photo essay with these images.

* Digital alteration: Your photo was too digitally modified for JPG Magazine.
JPG does not allow overt digital alterations. Some adjustment to color and
sharpness are fine; however, photos cannot look overly digitally modified.

* Partial desaturation: JPG does not allow overt digital alterations, including
partial desaturations or "color cutouts" (where part of the photo is made
grey and rest stays in color). Please feel free to upload this photo again
as either an all color or all black and white photograph.

* Duplicate upload: Oops, it looks like you had accidentally uploaded this
photo twice. In the future, be sure to upload each photo only once.

* Misrotated photo: This photo was misrotated and will need to be re-uploaded.
Please make sure you rotate your photos correctly before uploading them!

* Inappropriate content: Your photo had content that is inappropriate for
the JPG community. We're okay with artful nudes, but do not allow photos
where the genitalia region is visible. Please do not upload the same photo
again -- that's grounds for account termination.

* Not right for JPG: Although we love illustrations and collages, they are
not right for the JPG site. Please do not upload this image again.

Please be sure to read the photo guidelines before uploading again. You can find them here: http://jpgmag.com/about/photos.html. Note that once a photo has been deleted from the site, it's gone and we can no longer access it for review. Please don't take this personally - it's not! We just want to keep the JPG site focused on the kind of photography that we print in JPG Magazine.

Thanks,

-- Paul, JPG Publisher
http://jpgmag.com

I know, I know, I'm probably going to just stir up the nest a bit more, but why do people cry when their photos get deleted and JPG staff says that the photo doesn't meet submission guidelines? The guidelines are clearly posted, and software isn't perfect, nor are the mods. Ok, so you uploaded a photo, then some staff member is perusing recently uploaded images and realizes that you have a photo that just won't look good in print. They delete it and send you an email. Maybe there was a little bug in the upload software, maybe a mod had a bad day. Why cry like a baby? Why not take the time to remember that JPG, while an awesome community with many talented photographers, does exist to make money, and the majority of their decisions follow that vein. I'll admit, I'm a fan of some of Aaron's work, he's got an amazing eye, but I don't think one photo will make you or break you, nor will you lose the respect of your peers if it vanishes. Perhaps some folks should chill for a bit, and let the fuss die down for a few days while the powers that be (at JPG) work on implementing some of the many changes that have been thrown around in the blogs.

I'm hoping the daily limit goes away and instead a monthly limit comes up, maybe 50 a month, to help people learn to self edit a bit better. I admit to occasionally putting up a photo that I know isn't great, but that I hope I can get some constructive criticisms from folks for next time I'm in that situation. Hmm... maybe a way to mark photos as specifically being for peer review/constructive criticism would be helpful...

With all the negative talk (and fixing the things that we don't like), I did want to take a minute to be able to outline the things that I love about JPG, that make me come back here. When I joined JPG (in December 2006, yikes) I didn't really know what this community was about, I hadn't heard of the magazine before (I don't really shop in bookstores) and the whole concept was tantalising.

And during this time I've seen JPG go through a whole lot of changes! Introducing the comments was one of my favourite changes. I don't comment "a lot" but when I do I hope it's meaningful to the photographer. I check my recent activity all the time. I like seeing what's popular, what people overlook.. it's really helped me push my photography in different directions.

I like how easy it is to discover new people! It's got the major social networking aspect to it, but it doesn't rely or depend on you communicating with people you already know! Amazing. I've brought quite a few people to JPG but the overwhelming majority are people I just stumbled upon - or they stumbled upon me. I've found some absolutely fantastic people this way, and a whole lot of photography that has truly inspired me to try more.

When my contacts get published I send them notes congratulating them. It's exciting to me to see them in print. I'm not new to the publishing business and I've done a lot of printwork before; but JPG makes it new and exciting. I was thrilled when I was published! I was giddy! I think I may have been more excited about that than the time I had my first gallery showing - ahahaha!

And I've had great interaction with the staff. I really appreciate it, guys. I've emailed in a few times with questions/concerns/praise, and I've always gotten a personal note back. I've had some stuff removed (from a theme/from the site) and I just take it in stride. I try to not let anything get under my skin as it is. I know you guys are busy... I'm busy too.

Okay I'm done babbling. I just thought there should be some focus on the awesome parts of JPG too.

I hear that there is an ongoing battle between some members of the community and the JPG publishing group. I also hear that the JPG members are aloof and they are not upholding the spirit of being a community. I have a few points to make but before that let me tell you that I had one of my photos deleted and never made such a hue and cry over that. JPG has done what a professional organisation needs to do. I am part of the community because I see good photos being recognised and published. Not for some contact listing and back scratching comments on some of the worst snapshots ever taken. Some people have this idea that the more contacts you have and the more comments you have mad the better you are at photography. Try brokerage, it might be more fulfilling. And stop being a wuss.