When submitting digital photographs for publication use, please keep in mind that you cannot usually see the difference between a low resolution image and a high-resolution one at normal size on your computer monitor. You'd need to enlarge the image on screen 200 to 500% to see the pixels begin to show up. or if you'd print it on your inkjet at the highest setting, you can see if it will appear too jaggy or blurry to work in print.

Photo-Taking Composition tips:

1. Try to capture the subject's face as the focus. And take several photos in a row, to be sure you capture the best smile, or people's eyes are all open in a natural way -- especially if the group or family is large.
2. Get CLOSER to eliminate too much distracting background imagery.
3. When taking a picture of a one person --turn the camera sideways to get more of a portrait format instead of a landscape orientation, which is better for larger groups.
4. Avoid glaring noon-time sunlight (straight overhead) which makes eyes look dark and sunken. Morning or late afternoon light is better. Also flash photos can look flat and unattractive, avoid it is possible.
5. Avoid complicated backdrops with too much going on. Depending on the purpose of the photo, this may be too distracting.
6. Avoid putting the subject smack dab against a blank white wall -- which produces ugly shadows around their head. Instead place the person 3-4 feet away from a neutral wall or backdrop - or in a location that tells something interesting about the person's job or interests.

When TAKING Digital Photos Yourself:

1. The photo needs to be taken at the highest quality setting possible on your digital camera. This may be marked as LOW resolution, or "normal" quality on your camera. generally these digital images will be suitable only for on-line use, such as a web site, or for sharing through e-mail with friends and family. They are NOT suitable for quality color print or publication use.
2. Check your camera's instruction manual to be sure you have it set at "hi-rez." Note: This will not allow you to save very many photos in your camera's memory. (That's why most people don't use this setting.)
3. Saving the Photo into the camera itself as a TIFF will produce superior results, but JPEG compressions is also acceptable if it has not been saved over and over again repeatedly (because each time you save it as a JPEG again it re-compresses the image, leaving out critical color information and degrading the sharpness, clarity, etc of the image).

When Scanning a Photo Snapshot Yourself:

1. Make sure the scanner is set to scan at 300 dpi.
2. Save the scanned image as a TIFF.
3. It's best to scan directly from a traditional film photo print (or even its negative) rather than scanning an inkjet print -- even if it has been printed on photo paper. The scanner will pick up individual pixels, and the results will be very grainy.

Before sending the photo via e-mail: Check to see if

1. Minimum file size should be approximately One (1) Megabyte, the dimensions of the photo should be roughly 3 x 5 inches (or larger) at 300 dpi.
2. Do Not send a photo that is 12 x 24 inches at 72 dpi.
3. Images generally posted on internet web sites are not suitable because for space saving reasons, these images will have been re-sized to optimize them for web use, which leaves out lots of digital information needed to keep a photo hi-rez.
4. The photo is not copyrighted. Many professional portrait photographers own legal protection to their prints, even if you have paid them for it. Olan Mills, for instance will not allow you to scan and print from their photos. But, if you write them for permission for a nonprofit-related use, they may grant one-time permission.