How to Submit Digital Photos to a Print Group
The Toronto Focal Forum is a print critique group that finds itself working online. Here's how to participate in the digital format.
For Viewing in our Virtual Meetings
Image Requirements:
- Sized to fit within a rectangle 1920 pixels wide and/or 1080 pixels high
- Images should be saved in sRGB colour space
- File size no larger than 3 megabytes
- jpeg format
- How to name your images: Your Name (space) dash (space) Title.jpeg
- For example: Firstname Lastname - White Flower.jpeg
- Email your image to tfflightbox@gmail.com before 5pm on the Sunday prior to the meeting.
Images for Snapshots
If you would like your image to appear in the following issue of Snapshots:
- Follow the guidelines above and email it to tffsnapshots@gmail.com before 5pm on the Saturday following the meeting.
- Write a few words to be included with your photo if you wish.
- Snapshots also welcomes other submissions: photo essays, articles, or anything else you would like to see included.
TFF Instagram account
You can find and follow us on Instagram. Our name is: torontofocalforum.
If you would like to submit images, please email them to torontofocalforum@gmail.com with the following information:
- Your Instagram account name if you have one
- The title of your image
- A brief write-up/description (optional but it is always nice to know a bit about an image)
- Any hashtags you'd like to add, i.e., location (city/country), subject matter, season, etc.
- Although you can upload any size images you want, Instagram works best with images that have a 4x5 aspect ratio and a maximum size of 1080 pixels wide x 1350 pixels high.
Monitor Test Image
It's always best to use a hardware calibration tool to adjust your monitor for optimal photo editing and viewing. However, even calibrated monitors will differ, and the compression needed for internet transmission can also affect our viewing experience. We can use this image as a way to compare what we see to how it displays for others in our group. This image shows colour and greyscale bars with even steps from lightest to darkest.
Fist look at the centre of the display, with the greyscale broken into sixteen steps. This is where we'll see the greatest variation.
For most screens the darkest two bars will merge. If you see each one clearly, then you are probably seeing more shadow detail than others are; if you can't distinguish between the darkest three steps, then shadows are deeper and more blocked than usual. This isn't something that needs to be "fixed" if you are accustomed to it, but understand how what you see is different from what others see.
Next we can consider the highlights. This lets us understand if we're seeing 'paper white' where there is actually detail. Most monitors handle these well, so the brightest bars should be easy to distinguish on the sixteen-step bar, and the 32-step bar beside it should also show some distinction. But note also that your viewing conditions will influence this, so there is no need for 'perfect' results.
The colour bars should also show distinct steps through luminance and saturation changes, but that level of nuance is beyond our requirements. But if you'd like to explore further, this image is adapted from a page supplied by monitor maker Ezio. You can visit it for more information: let's check the LCD's display.
It's always best to use a hardware calibration tool to adjust your monitor for optimal photo editing and viewing. However, even calibrated monitors will differ, and the compression needed for internet transmission can also affect our viewing experience. We can use this image as a way to compare what we see to how it displays for others in our group. This image shows colour and greyscale bars with even steps from lightest to darkest.
Fist look at the centre of the display, with the greyscale broken into sixteen steps. This is where we'll see the greatest variation.
For most screens the darkest two bars will merge. If you see each one clearly, then you are probably seeing more shadow detail than others are; if you can't distinguish between the darkest three steps, then shadows are deeper and more blocked than usual. This isn't something that needs to be "fixed" if you are accustomed to it, but understand how what you see is different from what others see.
Next we can consider the highlights. This lets us understand if we're seeing 'paper white' where there is actually detail. Most monitors handle these well, so the brightest bars should be easy to distinguish on the sixteen-step bar, and the 32-step bar beside it should also show some distinction. But note also that your viewing conditions will influence this, so there is no need for 'perfect' results.
The colour bars should also show distinct steps through luminance and saturation changes, but that level of nuance is beyond our requirements. But if you'd like to explore further, this image is adapted from a page supplied by monitor maker Ezio. You can visit it for more information: let's check the LCD's display.