photoguidelines2009

Photo Guidelines

One of the greatest advantages of Contemporary Mosaic Art is its photo gallery feature, which allows us to easily upload images of our art, create albums, and submit our work for the enjoyment of other members.

The photo gallery is a place for you to leave comments or questions about a particular mosaic that another member has posted. There is a critique group for those members who would like to have more constructive, evaluation and feedback about a particular mosaic.

As artists showcasing our work in a virtual gallery environment, the quality of the photographic image is of primary importance... it's all we've got!

The better the photograph is, the more we serve our work, and the more we serve the mosaic art community.

Four really important reasons for good photographs:

1. Good photographs do justice to our work, showing them in the best light (literally and figuratively), and facilitating the most immediate communication of our thought, emotion, experience - in essence, what we are trying to express.

2. Good photographs allow our peers the opportunity to more fully experience our work, which is necessary if they are to provide constructive feedback, and preferably all those oohs and ahs that make us feel so darn good!

3. Good photographs show that we respect our art, and that we want our art to be taken seriously. This is vital for us personally, but also for the mosaic art community in general. One of the ways we can help to promote mosaic art as fine art is to present our efforts in a serious and professional way.

4. Last, but not least, for a photo to be eligible for the home page slide show, it must be a good quality photo, i.e. in focus, no date/time stamp, centered and fully represented (see guidelines below).

Following are some guidelines to keep in mind when maintaining photos on this site:

1. Make sure your images are clear and in focus. Please limit the views to 4 to 6.

2. Be sure that your mosaic is centered in the photograph, and that it is fully represented - meaning all there... no top or sides or bottom cut off. The only exception would be for detail shots.

3. Turn off the date/time stamp feature on your camera for photographing your mosaic art. (This is not only unprofessional-looking, but it really distracts from the essence of your art.)

4. Upload a large enough image to fully represent your art, and to allow for zooming.

5. In the description field, include the dimensions of the piece. This is very helpful for the viewer in visualizing your work in context.

6. List the materials in the description field.

7. Tell us about it! Just a sentence, or two, or more... Use the description field for this.

8. After you upload your photo you will see on the right side under the photo a link "add tags" when you click on that a box will appear where you can add the tags To assist you, this link Tag Words will provide you with a list of tag words to use and you will be able to print it off for further use. Please use any and all that apply to your work.
Why tag? When I am looking for photos to put in the home page slide show, I will be able to use these words to find just the right photos. It’s also going to be helpful for you as you will be able to view different artists work on the subject or style that you might be interested in.

9. Please put all you photos in an album. This feature is a nice way to organize your work and to help other members view your work easily This is especially helpful as time goes on and you add more photos.

10. Only uploading mosaic art - no personal photos.

11. Think of your virtual gallery as an actual physical gallery, which is, of course, limited in size. As time goes on and you create more work and evolve in style, technique, and/or skill level, how do you arrange your gallery space? What work would you choose to represent who and where you are as a mosaic artist now? Do you want to showcase your work from a few years ago? Ask yourself: “What work do I want to speak for me?” and then do some housecleaning... or gallery cleaning. This serves two important purposes: 1) your work says what you want it to say about you; and 2) theCMA gallery is much more manageable for its facilitators to maintain and for its members to navigate.

And finally...

You don’t have to pay out the wazoo for professional photographs to get decent photos.

For tips on taking good photographs of your work,

please check out the forum post “Tips for Photographing Mosaics.”