photographers' guidelines

Clear color slides remain an excellent medium for photos to be printed in our magazine, and they offer maximum flexibility in terms of printed size, all the way up to two-page spreads and covers. Prints work well, too, but are limited to the size of the print as a maximum size in the magazine. Digital photos are excellent, given that certain requirements are met.

The availability of digital photographs has been both boon and bust for us. Recent experiences have taught us a great deal. Consistent problems have forced us to create this new policy for the submission of digital photos, which supersedes all previous guidelines.

Digital photos must be high resolution

This means 300 dpi at the size to be used. How a photo looks on your monitor screen has little bearing on its usability for print. You can convert with this formula: Pixels divided by resolution = size.

Thus, an image 1600 by 1200 pixels, divided by 300 dpi, gives a size of about 5 by 4 inches. That would be just marginally large enough for most article illustrations, but unusable as an opening spread or a cover. We prefer to get photos as large as your camera can take them, so, even with 5- or 8-megapixel cameras, use the best-image setting (as opposed to the memory-card-space-saving setting).

Images are best submitted on CD or DVD, or posted to an FTP site.

Contact Information

Please enclose both mailing address and email address when submitting photos, so that a contract for the photos we choose can be sent expeditiously.

Digital Manipulation

It is extremely important that you not edit digital photos in any way. Don't crop, color correct, clean, or manipulate in any way. This is extremely important. Any photo found to be edited will not be purchased. Any editing we feel is necessary will be done by our Art Department.

Submitting Photos

If you are submitting more than three digital photos, you must include either a file that contains thumbnail images of all the photos or a printout of thumbnail images of all the photos.

NOTE: Please do not send more than 5 photos for every 1000 words. Remember that there will be an editor opening each photo and evaluating it, so if you sent 80 photos for a three-page article, there really would be no way for our staff to make a reasoned decision without spending an extraordinary amount of time opening photo files. Any such photo "overkill" will result in your submission being returned to you for vetting. It will save everyone time and effort if you choose the top photos yourself, ahead of time, before sending us your submission.

Send photos (slides, prints, CDs) to:

Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine One T.F.H. Plaza Third & Union Avenues Neptune City, NJ 07753 Attn: Nicholas Violand E-mail: nvioland@tfh.com

Thank you - we look forward to seeing your work!