Submissions
Interested in Submitting Imagery to Viewfinders?
Your work is fresh, innovative, original and contemporary. You would like to increase the visibility of your work, but don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Collaborating with Viewfinders might be a great option for expanding your business.
We welcome professional photographers who are interested in working with Viewfinders to email our studio team at studio@viewfindersnw.com. Please include links to an online gallery, a website that showcases your best work (low-res is acceptable), or contact sheets sent to us via email, as well as a few words on what you feel are your best strengths as an artist. Viewfinders maintains high standards of quality to ensure our clients’ satisfaction.
Submission Process
If we decide that we would like to include your work as part of the Viewfinders offering, there are three steps in the evaluation and final submission process:
1. Photographer submits a selection of imagery in high-resolution files (preferably via CD/DVD), so that Viewfinders may review for technical quality.
2. After the technical review has been completed and your imagery meets our high quality standards, Photographer submits contact sheets or posts an online gallery of all the imagery they would like to be considered for inclusion into viewfindersnw.com. We'll report back to the photographer on which imagery has been selected.
3. Photographer then processes and prepares their images based on our guidelines below. Send your final, high-res files via CD/DVD with complete captioning and keywording. Accurate captioning and keywording helps to get your images uploaded in a timely manner. Copies of model and property releases should be provided to Viewfinders along with your final submission.
Final Image Submission Guidelines
Your final selection of high-res images must be approximately 50 Megs in size at 300 ppi, .tif file extension in 8 Bit Adobe RGB 1998, spotted & cleaned at 100% image size with no black borders or edges (film scans) or sensor dust (taken digitally in camera raw). Your image files will end up being approximately 11x17 inches in dimension. This keeps our image archive consistent. We prefer that you don't upres an image that's below 50 Megs; rather we suggest re-scanning it or re-processing your image using your preferred, camera raw file converter.
Viewfinders only accepts digitally captured images that were shot in camera raw (.NEF / .CR2, etc.). Your image file extension will vary depending on your camera manufacturer. To ensure the best possible quality, please process your camera raw images using the below settings.
Process your camera raw files in 16 Bit ProPhoto RGB at 17.5 MP, 300 pixels an inch and here's why. Not only do you come out with a 50 Meg file (after converting it down to 8 Bit), processing your images in 16 Bit ProPhoto RGB yields the most information to work with in the beginning by bringing it into the widest camera raw color gamut available.
The final steps to preppring your files (after spotting your images at 100% to remove sensor dust and blemishes or any other image adjustments/techniques you want to do) is to then convert the color profile and bit depth from 16 Bit ProPhoto RGB to an 8 Bit Adobe RGB 1998 file. Then save your images as a .tif, making sure your resolution is 300 ppi. Your image files will then be approximately 50 Megs. Remember that a 16 Bit image is approximately 100 Megs in size before you convert it down to 8 Bit.
If you intend on cropping your images, please consider processing them in camera raw at the 25 Megapixel image size. If your cropped image is still above 50 Megs, size it down accordingly.
Sharpening your images before submitting them is not necessary. Due to the numerous ways and various intensities of sharpening, we have found that image quality is severely reduced. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact us before submitting your images.
Caption, Keyword & Metadata
Embed your caption, keywords and metadata information within each final image you submit. We will use this important information on the Viewfindersnw.com site image detail page. We recommend using the IPTC metadata fields in Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom or Apple Aperture to embed captions, keywords, locations (city, state, and country) or any other information related to the image. We'll also be evaluating your images to see if additional keywords need to be added. Be as detailed as possible and make sure your locations and spelling are correct. Inaccurate information delays your images from being uploaded to the site.
Final Submission Checklist
• Digitaly captured image was shot in camera raw
• Processed in 16 Bit ProPhoto RGB
• 17+ Megapixel size
• Spotted for sensor dust at 100% image size
• No black borders or edges if submitting film scans
• Final color profile converted to 8 Bit Adobe RGB 1998
• Final file size is approximately 50 Megs
• Image dimensions are approximately 11x17 inches at 300 ppi
• Format saved as a .tif
• No sharpening applied to your images
A detailed overview of our technical specifications and keywording/captioning guidelines can be requested by emailing us here.
Viewfinders welcomes any questions you may have regarding photo submissions. Contact us at studio@viewfindersnw.com or 503.222.5222.