PHOTO SUBMISSIONS FOR ART-I-FACTS
Please provide a caption or title with your photo submissions. When possible, give the names of the people in your photo from left-to-right. If it’s a a large group, you could say cast, ensemble, entourage, chorus, etc, rather than every name. Please provide photo credit when necessary.
It is better to submit a high quality full page or half page photo with one or two sentences about your upcoming event, exhibit or subject then it is to have 300-350 words accompanied by a small poor quality photo. Remember: bigger better photo, less words.
Front Cover Photos
Submissions should be high quality images that represent events or exhibitions that will take place during the issue dates of the magazine.These images should be at least 8.875 inches wide at 300dpi regardless of orientation (landscape or portrait). That dimension includes a bleed for cropping. The image height is not as important; however, it must be taken into consideration. The minimum size for a full-size front cover (vertical), requires a height of at least 11.25 inches at 300dpi which includes the bleed, along with a width of at least 8.875 inches wide at 300dpi (2662.5 pixels). Not all that meet the minimum make a good front cover, but at least it gives you a chance.
The magazine is trimmed to 8.375″w x 10.75″h. The live (safe) area is considered to be 8” wide x 10.75″ high, but make sure we have plenty of background behind your main images (around the edges) to allow bleeds for cropping and for the magazine title information. For a full-sized cover, please make sure the image is at least 8.875″ x 11.25″ high (2662.5px w x 3375px h). It is often helpful to have more/extra/excess background around the subject of your photo (person, group, artwork, building) that you are trying to show.
The best front covers are vertical (portrait orientation), but we can use horizontal (landscape) shots as well. If a photo is large enough, we can use a portion of a horizontal photo as a vertical on the cover. We have also used a panoramic photo to wrap the front and back covers. Having a couple cover options is important.
Feature or Calendar Photos
Submissions for feature stories or articles, or the event calendar can vary greatly in size and dimensions. They can be portrait or landscape orientation. It’s good to keep the cover image dimensions in mind. I recommend sending photos that are at least 5″ x 7″ (1500 pixels high x 2100 pixels wide) portrait or landscape, however, we recommend that you send photos that are at least 8.875″w (2662.5 pixels w) if possible, so they can also be considered for the front cover.
When you are viewing in file explorer in icon view, your PC will tell you how many pixels x pixels your image when you hover over the file icon or name. On a Mac, when you are viewing files in icon view, pixels x pixels show up underneath the filename.filetype that is located below the icon. FYI – It is listed width x height.
Easy Math
What do pixels have to do with print [high-]resolution? Here is the math. If your image is 2200 pixels x 1500 pixels, divide both by 300 to get your inches at print resolution. So, 2200 divided by 300 = 7.5 inches and 1500 divided by 300 = 5 inches. Now you know where we came up with the numbers above under Front Cover and Feature or Calendar Photos, right?
The majority of images I receive are unusable (70-80%). Most submissions are around 600 pixels x 300 pixels, which is 2” wide x 1” high in print. They may look great on your screen, or printed on your office printer, but will appear pixelated (images that look like fuzzy rectangles) in the magazine. That means that pickings are slim when we are looking at photos. Besides that, a few of the groups don’t send any photos at all. Sending in good photos you have a better chance of getting them in or on the front or back cover of the magazine.
Recommendation: Find a friend, staff or board member who owns a nice camera or who has a really good camera phone; and knows how to use adjust the settings. If all else fails, find a photographer who knows what they are doing. That makes a big difference. It took me a few years to figure that out.