The right size
Remember, larger the file size the more time it takes to upload. So it is better to resize your image/artwork to 550 pixels (longer side), before uploading, although the system is programed to resize all images it receives (in whatever size) to a maximum of 550 pixels (longer side) for your online portfolio.

The right resolution
There are many ways to do this, depending on your operating system and the software you work on. Almost every image-editing program (like Photoshop) has a function that tells you the resolution of your images. In Photoshop, simply open your image and go to ‘Image>Image Size’ and the dialog box will tell you the resolution/pixels as well as the DPI of the file.

Within Windows, you can simply view the folder that contains your images and change the view type to ‘Details’ and it will tell you the resolution of your files in one of the information columns. Alternatively, you can do the following:

Before you submit your images try e-mailing one of them to yourself, you will then see the size of the picture that will arrive in the gallery.

When you are happy with your image, you will need to compress it in order to upload it. Ideally the images should be JPEG files of 550 pixels (longer side) at 72dpi. JPEG is the standard format for photos on the Internet and there are many applications that can compress images into this format. Images saved to color must be RGB files and not CMYK files.

When testing our upload procedure, we found the safest way of reducing a file size is to use the ‘save for web‘ tool under the FILE menu. However, it is very important to establish the 550 pixels (longer side) dimension before adjusting the QUALITY tab to get the correct kb size.

Click here for a step-by-step guide to how to compress your images, which we hope will be of some help...
Put your chosen image onto your desktop and open Adobe Photoshop. Go to FILE - scroll to open. Click on your chosen file – when you see it in the window click on OPEN. You are now looking at your image in Photoshop.

Go to FILE and scroll down to SAVE FOR WEB. At the top of the page you will see four choices of viewing your image, choose 2-UP.

You are now looking at your image in its original size in the left hand box; the adjustments you make will show the quality of image and file size in the right hand box.

Look at SETTINGS in the top half of the panel on the right of your screen.

Make sure that ‘jpeg’ is showing in the choice of ‘file box’ – tick the OPTIMIZED box opposite the ‘file box’.

Go to the bottom half of the panel – ‘Color Table and Image Size’. Click on IMAGE SIZE.

In the ‘New Size’ box, showing ‘Width’ and ‘Height’ put 550 in the box, which corresponds to the longest edge of your image. If for instance your image is portrait, it will be 550 pixels HIGH; the width dimension is automatically calculated. If it is of landscape dimensions, it will be 550 pixels WIDE etc.

The number in the PERCENT box below will reduce. Tick the CONSTRAINT PROPORTION box below that. Click APPLY at the bottom of the page.

OK, once you have your image saved at either 550 pixels wide or high and you have ticked the CONSTRAIN PROPORTIONS box, click the SAVE button at the top of the page.

The right files type
It is recommended that you upload a high-quality JPG image in RGB format. However, GIF, TIF and PNG images are also accepted.

The issue of color management for digital images is complex. To simplify things, whereverart.com asks contributors to submit images in RGB format. This is because the CMYK format has a smaller color space, and so contains fewer colors. Unless you have reason to do otherwise, set your RGB “Color Settings” to “Adobe RGB (1998)” on both Macintosh and PC - this has become the de facto standard for most imaging professionals.

Bit depth of 8 bits/channel. While scanning images, scan to the highest bit depth possible as this ensures better tonal range. Convert to 8 bits/channel before sending the images to us as our upload system automatically reduces any 16 bit files to 8 bit.

The right images quality
It is essential that you check the quality of your digital images/artworks before uploading. It is most likely that your images contain small blemishes picked up during the scanning process (either from particulates in the air, or dust embedded in the film). You must check your images at 100% zoom with image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. 100% means that one monitor screen pixel is displaying one image pixel.

The image will be larger than the available screen area, so start at the lower left-hand corner of the image and work your way around clockwise. Take time to review each section and use cloning tools such as those supplied with Adobe Photoshop to correct any blemishes or scratches.

If you are applying any layers or filters to your images prior to flattening them for submission, please ensure that you check the image once again at 100% zoom. You can overcome subtle differences between the grain of the original film and the smooth texture of any layers or filters by using the noise filter in Adobe Photoshop. Any retouching must be able to withstand scrutiny at 100%.

Not sharpened - All digital images, be they from digital camera or a scanner, require sharpening to get the best results. Some digital cameras have an anti-aliasing filter in the body of the camera, which actually softens the image in order to reduce aliasing effects. The images must be sharpened at some stage to give the best quality result.

Images from digital cameras -

Over the past few years, digital photography has caused a revolution in how images are submitted. Digital cameras are now capable of producing top quality results and have become increasingly popular with photographers. Our standard advice for preparing digital camera files for whereverart.com is as follows:

Normally the acceptable digital image files formats are JPEG (compressed) image stored as JPEG “High Quality 10.” In the rapidly changing world of digital imaging, many of the newer cameras now capture images in a format known as camera raw or RAW (not an acronym). A RAW capture contains the actual values recorded by the imaging sensor when the photograph was taken, without any in-camera processing that might lead to a loss of detail or other quality problems. But submitting images in RAW format can be problematic as this format is highly proprietary and differs from one camera manufacturer to another, and sometimes between cameras made by one manufacturer. The choice between shooting in RAW, TIFF or JPEG is a matter for your own workflow. Shoot in RAW for maximum control in post-processing. If shooting in JPEG, always use the “Fine” (least compressed) setting. Modern professional D SLRs produce excellent JPEGs, which are visually indistinguishable from RAW or TIFF. With lesser cameras, it may be necessary to shoot in RAW to achieve acceptable image quality.

• Capture images at as low an ISO setting as practicable.
• Turn off in-camera sharpening.
• Before working on fine JPEGs, they should first be resaved as TIFFs or another format, e.g. PSD. Never resave JPEGs in JPEG format - this will result in permanent loss of data and degraded image quality.
• RAW files should be checked for correct exposure, color cast, etc, and any adjustments should be made at this stage. When converting from RAW, ensure sharpening is turned off - it is on by default in Photoshop.
• If necessary, rotate the image so that it‘s “the right way up”.
• Do not crop your images excessively.
• Now open the image at 100%, and check for dust contamination on the sensor. This shows up as dark, circular marks - particularly noticeable in the sky and similar areas. Thoroughly check the upsized image at 100% and make any necessary corrections using the Clone Tool, Healing Tool or the History Brush technique as appropriate.

Images from scanners -
Many reasonably priced desktop scanners can produce high quality scans, which meet our technical requirements. Follow these tips to get the best from your film images.

Shooting images on film -
Images need to be of the highest possible technical quality. In general, shoot on the finest grain film, and with high quality lenses. Please note, however, that fine grain film is inherently high in contrast. Most desktop scanners cannot record the wide dynamic range of modern transparency film. If you are shooting images, which are going to be scanned, try to keep the contrast down. However, do not overreact and shoot images with a ‘flat’ contrast.

Scanning prints -
We do not recommend scanning prints as an alternative to scanning negatives or transparencies, scanning these will give superior results. If you are thinking of scanning prints then you must remember the quality of the original print is paramount - it must be sharp, with good color saturation, and without excessive contrast. As with film, the scanner should be of the best quality possible. As a rough guide, a 10 x 8 inch print will need to be scanned at around 500ppi.

Scanning images from film

• Choose a scanner with high quality optics, and a dynamic range of at least 3.0.
• Do not scan above the maximum optical resolution of your scanner. Most scanners offer scanning settings way above their optical maximum. This is achieved by interpolation and results are usually unsatisfactory. Scan at the true optical resolution required.
• Using your scanner software set the black/white points at, or close to, 0/255.
• Ensure sharpening is turned off.
• Scan at the highest bit depth available, but convert to 8 bit before submission to whereverart.com
• If necessary, rotate the image so that it’s “the right way up”.
• Open the scan at 100% and check that none of the film rebate is visible - if it is cropped cleanly to the edge of the image area.
• Carefully check the entire image at 100% for dust, dirt, scratches and other blemishes. These can be corrected using the Clone Tool, Healing Tool or the History Brush technique whichever is appropriate.

The right image quality
Calibrate your monitor. The appearance of your digital images will vary according to the monitor you use, and again on the printed page. One vital operation to carry out regularly is to calibrate your monitor. This can be done with specific software packages and on screen meters, or more easily with the Adobe gamma software, which is an integral part of Photoshop. If using a CRT, make sure that the monitor has been running for around half an hour before the calibration process, and that any ambient light is consistent with the normal working environment. Another important point is to make sure that you have a neutral grey desktop on your monitor, against which to view the images.

Exposure. The histogram is a graphical representation of the tonal values in an image. Check, and if necessary correct, exposure using the histogram (Levels). For most images, the black point should be at or near zero, with the white point at or near 255. At whereverart.com we expect the black/white points to be within 5% of these values, i.e. black at Level 12 or below, and white at Level 243 or above. There are exceptions of course - for example, extreme high key or low-key shots, and misty, atmospheric images may not contain the entire tonal range from black to white. This is perfectly OK.

In Levels, if most of the tonal values in the histogram are bunched up towards the left, the image is probably under-exposed. If bunched up towards the right, it is probably over-exposed. Use the center slider (gamma) - or for more control use Curves - to try to improve matters, but there is a limit to how far you can go before image quality deteriorates. Raw shooters should go back to the original Raw file and make corrections there.

Grayscale images. If you are working with grayscale images, please save them as RGB prior to submission.

Check your images at 100%. Always carefully check the quality of your digital files at 100% before you submit them to us. 100% means that one monitor screen pixel is displaying one image pixel. This is the only way to see every pixel in your images. In Photoshop, the keyboard shortcut for 100% is Ctrl+Alt+0 (PC) or Cmd+Option+0 (Mac), or double-click the zoom tool.

Simple retouching techniques. Most digital images, like their film counterparts, will require some “spotting” or retouching. This might be of dust specks or hairs picked up at the scanning stage, or removal of small blemishes from the original image. Digital cameras are not immune. Dust on the camera sensor shows up as dark, circular marks, particularly noticeable in the sky and similar areas.

Clone tool/Healing tool. Perhaps the most useful tool is the Clone Stamp Tool (keyboard shortcut ’S’). This can be used to copy pixel for pixel areas of tone, to eliminate defects such as spots or hairs.

• First choose a suitable size of stamp (for this purpose ensure that in the preferences of Photoshop, you check the “brush size” box: File > Preferences > Display and Cursors > Brush Size, so you can see exactly the diameter of brush chosen), then put it into an area immediately next to the blemish to be removed. You can quickly alter the size of the brush using the keyboard shortcut ‘[‘ to decrease or ’]’ to increase. Using the command, Alt+Click, sample of this area.
• Now move the stamp to the blemish and click the mouse. You will now see two cursors - the sampled point and the area to be improved. This starts to replace the pixels under the cursor with the ones sampled. This may take some getting used to but with practice, even large blemishes can be effectively removed.

The opacity of the tools can be altered, but, more importantly, the “blend mode”. In normal mode, the stamp literally clones pixels from one area to another. Try using the lighten and darken modes. In darken mode, the tool will only paint color if the destination is lighter than the source, whilst in lighten mode the opposite will happen.

You may need to sample an area several times to prevent telltale repeat patterns. The Clone Tool can also be used like a spotting brush for removing small areas of dust and blemishes. Rather than painting with the tool, a single click is used to lay tone over the blemish. Use a soft edged brush slightly larger than the area to be removed.

The right way to protect your artwork
When you submit your work on the internet; as a precautionary measure place a visible watermark or copyright sign on all your artworks. This may not prevent your artwork from unauthorized downloading, but this will make the artwork unsuitable for further use. Another way of safeguarding your image/artwork is to use it in low-resolution. This will discourage printing of images since the quality will be grainy and low. The web only supports 72 dpi-resolutions anyway, so the images will still look fine on the web. Please be aware that by posting your artwork on the Internet, anybody can download, print, screen-capture or digitally edit your image. This also allows websites like ‘Google Image Search‘ to add the artwork to their image search functions without any credit to the Artist. YOU MUST ALSO KEEP IN MIND BEFORE POSTING YOUR WORK THAT NO SECURITY MEASURE IS PERFECT OR IMPREGNABLE. WE CANNOT CONTROL THE ACTIONS OF OTHER USERS. IF YOU FIND THIS UNACCEPTABLE PLEASE DO NOT POST YOUR ARTWORK ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET.

Sending it by post
CDs are accepted, but there is a small $2 processing fee for each image you send to us on CD. Please include a Banker’s Check (Pay order/Draft payable at New Delhi, India) or money order with your CD (please click here to see other payment options). Do not send cash. All files written onto the CD must be named by their whereverart.com ID number to insure the correct files are attached to your portfolio. Please mail your CD along with your name, username and payment to: