You, the photographer, need no degree in photography or design, no professional experience in the field, no portfolio of published or exhibited work – just high-quality digital photographs.

There are two 'musts' involved:

· You must have original digital photographs.

· And you must agree to the terms & conditions.

What

foto38 is committed to the idea that photographs depicting any scene or subject matter can warrant widespread dissemination and elicit the interest of an art-consuming public.

These are the main criteria for photographic submissions; they're not the only criteria. Please take a moment to read the following list of regulations.

· Photographs whose audience and appeal is limited to friends, family and associates of a photographer meet none of these criteria and will not be published on the site.

· foto38 strongly recommends that any photographs depicting clearly recognizable individuals be submitted only if the individuals depicted have provided the photographer their written consent to make their image available for online publication and purchase. This recommendation applies in certain circumstances to photographs depicting private property. (See model-released images and property-released images.)

· Ambiguous and arguable as such distinctions can be, foto38 makes a distinction between photography depicting sexual content produced with clear aesthetic and/or sociopolitical objectives and that produced for prurient consumption. Pornographic images will not be published. Photographs depicting minors in sexual situations, regardless of the aesthetic and/or sociopolitical objectives of the photographer, will not be published.

· Photographs containing copyrighted, trademarked and other proprietary material will not be published without proper authorization.

These and other regulations contained within the foto38 terms & conditions apply to any/all photographs you submit for publication.

If you are uncertain whether a particular photograph meets these criteria, please contact foto38 with any questions you may have.

photographs by andy miles

While foto38 makes no demand that you do so prior to submission, we encourage you to modify your photographs in any way that you see fit. Such modifications might include but are not limited to color and contrast correction, cropping, canvas rotation and other digital imaging adjustments that do not fundamentally alter the meaning or content of a photograph. In the event that you do modify an image, foto38 does not ask that you disclose methods or details.

While foto38 makes no demand that you do so prior to submission, we also encourage you to manipulate your photographs in any way you see fit. Such manipulations might include but are not limited to coloring or de-coloring an image, extracting from or inserting into an image people and/or objects, superimposing onto an image graphic symbols and/or text, and other digital imaging effects that fundamentally alter the meaning or content of a photograph. In the event that you do manipulate an image, foto38 asks that you disclose methods and details, but you are not obligated to do so.

While the quality of the photographer's camera can certainly improve the quality of his/her photographs, that is by no means a guarantee of quality. By the same token, photographs taken with something less than professional gear, including digital cameras from the lowest end of the consumer market, can undoubtedly produce photographs of merit.

In inviting the submission of photographs from anyone anywhere, foto38 does not (and will not) make a judgment about the quality of a photographer's camera, just the quality of his/her photographs.¹

photographs by ulrike leis

If you're looking for some idea of the kind of photographs foto38 is most likely to publish, we recommend visiting the gallery, with this caveat: Whatever impression they leave you with, the photographs published in the galley represent only a sampling of what's been submitted to the site until now. The photographs you submit may make an entirely different impression in the months and years to come.

When

foto38 is accepting submissions right now. Please don't hesitate to contact us.

Why

foto38 provides photographers an attractive, interactive showcase for exhibiting and selling their work in a collective, non-corporate environment.

And it's a good deal (see subscription details).

How

If you would like to submit your photographs to the site, please e-mail submissions@foto38.com indicating your interest and intention to do so. Please don't include any attachments in the message; we won't open any e-mail message with attachments.

If you can provide a URL where at least eight representative photographs may be viewed, please do. We'll review your work there.

If you can't provide a URL where at least eight representative photographs may be viewed, you'll be given instructions for uploading no fewer than eight representative photographs (not to exceed 15) to an FTP Web site.

photographs by rani woolpert

Once your photographs have been reviewed, foto38 will make a decision whether to accept or decline your submission. Either way, you'll be notified of the decision within three days' time.

If your photo submission is declined, you are invited to submit new photographs again in three months' time. Photographer submissions are limited to four per year.

If your work is accepted, you'll be given instructions for uploading a full portfolio of your work . You'll be asked to organize the photographs into galleries and name each gallery (you can opt to have only one). These are the gallery titles that will be published on the site.²

Once we receive your full submission, we'll review the photographs and make any modifications as we deem necessary. You'll additionally be asked to write and submit a short biography (not to exceed 250 words) and/or provide short answers to a series of biographical questions. You'll also have the option to submit a short essay about your photographs (not to exceed 1,000 words). You'll then be asked to enter a title and date/location where and date when (approximate or exact) each published photo was taken. Additionally, you'll have the option to write and submit a 'fotolog' for each published photograph, providing any additional details you might like to share about individual photographs. Finally, you'll be asked to select among the options of licensing your photographs royalty free, rights managed, or not at all.

At this point, your photographs will be ready for publication and should appear on the site within 48 hours' time.

Language:

If English is not your native or preferred language (or that of a significant segment of your target audience), all of the information you'll be asked to provide, including the gallery titles, may be entered in the language of your choice; we just ask that you provide (parenthetical) translations in English, adhering to prescribed word limits.

photographs by lawrence davidson

Pricing your photographs:

foto38 customers have two options: to purchase a print or to license the image in its electronic format.

Print purchase prices reflect the cost of printing and the assigned value of the image itself. In assigning value to an image, you choose your own sales charge formula, based on whatever calculations and considerations you care to include. All sale charge formulae must include two measures: cents and size. Cents must be computed in U.S. dollars, size in inches. The minimum rate is 50 cents per inch; there is no maximum rate. The formula applies to all photographs in your published portfolio.

You can request to change the formula at any time. The change will take effect within three days of the request submission.

The sales charge formula does not apply to image licensing arrangements.

For image licensing arrangements, photographers can choose either, both or none of the following options:

Royalty free
If you choose this option, you'll be able to set a royalty-free licensing rate for low- and, where applicable, medium-, high- and super-high-resolution images, based on whatever calculations and considerations you care to include.

Whatever rates you choose, the rates will apply to all royalty-free licensing sales until such time as you request they be changed. You can request to change the rates at any time; the changes will take effect within three days of the request submission.

Photographers will be asked to indicate, where applicable, whether an image has been model and property released. Where applicable, royalty-free images must be model and property released.

Rights managed
If you choose this option, you'll be able to set rights-managed licensing rates according to the scope of the specific one-time use of the image. A prospective client will be asked to detail the one-time use of the image, and you determine the price for licensing the image.

Price considerations for proposed use on a Web site, for example, include the visibility of the image – the page space it will occupy (half page, quarter page, etc.), its placement on the site (in the site banner versus the body of site content, on the home page versus an interior page), and site traffic. For proposed commercial use in a brochure or catalog, or proposed editorial use in a newspaper or magazine article, similar considerations apply.

Photographers will be asked to indicate whether an image has been model and property released, where applicable. Rights-managed images that are not model and property released will be clearly noted as such and generally available for editorial use only.

You can likewise opt to not offer in any licensing arrangement an image or images in your gallery.

Subscription details

Membership fees:

Your first 12-month foto38 subscription begins the day your portfolio is published on the site. The first 12 months are free.

While you can resign from the site any time you choose to, you'll have the option at the end of every 12-month subscription period to renew or resign. A month before the subscription period ends, we'll send you an e-mail asking you to renew or resign.

If you opt to renew, you'll be assessed a non-refundable subscription renewal fee. Rates will be determined by the sales performance of your portfolio during the previous 12 months. The sales performance of an individual photographer will at all times be measured against overall sales performance of the site. View formula

If you opt to resign, the photos and galleries associated with your account will remain on the site for no more than 10 days following your resignation. There is no penalty for retiring a subscription at any time.

If in two attempts we fail to reach you (receiving no reply), your subscription will automatically expire – not renew – at the end of the 12-month period.⁵ The photos and galleries associated with your account will remain on the site for no more than 10 days following the expiration of your subscription.⁶

photographs by Jen Loebsack

If you'd like to resume a subscription during the six-month period following resignation or expiration, your photographs will be published as they appeared on the site at the time of resignation/expiration, unless you specifically indicate a preference otherwise.

At the time of subscription resumption, the fee for new photo uploads will be determined by the sales performance of your published portfolio during the previous 90-day period of your prior subscription term.

A non-refundable subscription resumption fee of $5 (U.S.) will be assessed. You'll be considered a continuing member, meaning that if you resigned six months into your subscription, you'll be required to pay the annual, non-refundable subscription renewal fee after six months of resumed subscription.

If you choose to resume a subscription at some time following the six-month period within which you resigned or your subscription expired, the subscription will be considered new and all new-membership policies, as stated at the time you resume your subscription, will apply.

Photo Uploads:

Once your work has been published on the site, you can submit an unlimited number of new photographs beginning 90 days after publication. The photos will be subject to the same criteria and curatorial review as those previously submitted.

Until you have either, a) 45 photographs published on the site, or b) submitted 60 photographs for consideration, submission of each new photograph is free. Once one of those numbers (45 published photos, 60 total photograph submissions) has been reached, upload fees will be determined by your sales performance during the most recent 90-day period. View the formula

Once upload fees apply, you'll be charged only half the upload cost (e.g., 25 cents on a 50-cent upload) for any photograph not accepted by and published on the site. You can upload as many, or as few, photos as you desire. You will have no obligation to remain active in uploading photographs.

Commission rate:

foto38 takes a 40 percent 'commission' on all sales on the site. The 40 percent is added to -- not subtracted from -- the value of your photographs.

So, for example, if a customer purchases a photograph that you've published on the site and you've assigned a $10 value to that photo (see 'Pricing your photographs' above), the selling price for that photograph is actually $14, plus the cost of printing. So whatever the final cost comes to for the consumer, you earn the $10 that you've valued the photograph at.

(This is something to keep in mind when pricing your photographs and devising the sales charge formula detailed above; again, see 'Pricing your photographs.' You might believe your photographs are worth $10 per inch, meaning that a 4x6 photo would have a value of $100, but the actual selling price of the photograph will be $140, plus the cost of printing. If you don't believe that your photographs can sell at such a price, then you will want to revise downward your sales charge formula.)

While we reserve the right to change the commission rate as we see fit, rates may only be revised downward during a 12-month subscription period; rates cannot, and will not, be revised upward during a 12-month subscription period. If you opt to renew your subscription at the end of the 12-month subscription period, a new rate may take effect. (You'll be informed of a commission rate change prior to – not after – a subscription renewal.)

Payment and billing:

foto38 will e-mail you an invoice once every 30 days. Invoices will detail debits to your account (photo uploads and subscription renewals) and credits to your account generated by sales of your photos. If your account shows a net credit for the month, we will promptly make a payment. If your account shows a net debit for the month, we will ask that you promptly make a payment⁷. You will be asked to indicate a preferred method of payment at the time of your registration as a member photographer. Payments can be made by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express), PayPal, and check.

Other considerations

By publishing your images on this Web site you are not granting foto38 any 'usage rights' of your photographs. foto38 simply displays the images online and adds a 40 percent commission (aka 'markup') of any sales the photographs generate. foto38 will not use your images for any other purpose, unless you, the photographer, and foto38 enter a contractual arrangement that explicitly details other uses. You retain the copyright to all images published on the site. You can remove an image from the site at any time you wish to. You can resign from the site at any time you wish to.

While we make no demand that foto38 be the sole venue for selling your photographs, we do ask that your photographs not be available for purchase in any other venue, online or otherwise, at a price lower than is charged on this Web site. We also ask that your photographs not be available online in any downloadable format at a resolution larger than what appears on this Web site: 72 dpi, 675 x 450 pixels.

Transistor Chicago, LLC

foto38 is affiliated with Transistor, a gallery/shop in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood (5045 N. Clark Street) that showcases (and sells) the work, framed and unframed, of foto38 photographers.

Glossary of terms

clearly recognizable individuals
People, or 'models', in a photograph whose identity cannot reasonably be mistaken, particularly by a third-party observer ( e.g., a judge).

digital photographs
Photographs derived from a digital camera. foto38 does make allowances for analog film photographs that have been converted to a digital format but offers no services, instructions or advice in conducting the conversion process. Analog photographs must be delivered as any digital photograph would be and will be evaluated by the same criteria used in evaluating digital photographs.

FTP Web site
FTP stands for file transfer protocol. Member photographers are given password-protected access to the foto38 FTP site for the purpose of uploading photographs.

gallery tour
All images published on the site are available in a gallery tour format. Gallery tour images are no larger than 675 pixels wide and 450 pixels high.

manipulate
Changing an image in some way that fundamentally alters the meaning or content of a photograph.

minors
Individuals less than 18 years of age.

model-released images
When using pictures that contain clearly recognizable individuals, a model release protects you against legal claims by the individuals in the photo. In general, model releases are needed when using pictures of people for commercial purposes, such as in ads or brochures. Standard model releases do not cover defamatory, libelous or humiliating usage. In some cases, a special release could be obtained for such specific use.

Source: about.com. For a very informative discussion on this issue, we recommend: www.danheller.com/model-release.html.

modify
Changing an image in some way that does not fundamentally alter the meaning or content of a photograph – e.g., color correction.

original
You took the photograph; you own the copyright.

publishing/publication
These terms refer to the electronic publication of photographs on this Web site, nowhere else.

property-released images
A property-released image is based on the same principle as model-released images, only it applies to the 'owner and/or occupier of any property whose permission is necessary or desirable for images incorporating in whole or in part that property to be published in any jurisdiction in the world.'

rights-managed images
After payment of a licensing fee, rights-managed images are rented for a specific, one-time use at a price determined by the scope of that particular usage. Licensed images may be used in advertisements, brochures, catalogs, CD and book covers, academic projects, television and video programs and Web sites.

Price considerations for proposed use on a Web site, for example, include the visibility of the image – the page space it will occupy (half page, quarter page, full page), its placement on the site ( e.g., in the site banner versus the body of site content, on the home page versus an interior page), and site traffic. For proposed commercial use in a brochure or catalog, or proposed editorial use in a newspaper or magazine article, similar considerations apply.

Rights-managed images may also be used in situations where an image increases the value of a product as an essential part of the design (e.g., in calendars, on t-shirts, posters, clocks, mugs and similar merchandising ventures).

Rights-managed images may be licensed multiple times by multiple end-users. Rights-managed images that are not model and property released will be clearly noted as such and generally available for editorial use only.

Electronic use on a Web site will in most (if not all) cases involve the licensing of a low-resolution image. Use in printed material will in most (if not all) cases involve the licensing of a high-resolution image.

royalty-free images
After payment of a one-time licensing fee, the purchasing client is entitled to use the licensed image as many times and in as many ways as he/she would like. Licensed images may be used in advertisements, brochures, catalogs, CD and book covers, academic projects, television and video programs, and Web sites. Licensed images may not, however, be used in situations where an image increases the value of a product as an essential part of the design ( e.g., in calendars, on t-shirts, postcards, posters, clocks, mugs and similar merchandising ventures).

Resale of licensed images is prohibited. Royalty-free images may be licensed multiple times by multiple end-users. Royalty-free images are model and property released.

Royalty-free images are available in four formats:

Some images will not be available in all formats listed. Maximum electronic transfer sizes are determined by the resolution at which the photograph was taken. Photographers designate prices for all resolution formats that apply.

thumbnail
All images published on the site are available in a thumbnail gallery. Thumbnail images are no larger than 158 pixels wide and 105 pixels high.

upload
The process of transferring data from one computer to another computer via the Internet. As detailed above, photographers whose photographs are not available elsewhere on the Internet will be asked to upload their work to a secure FTP Web site.

Notes (hit the back button on your browser to return to your last place on the page)

1. If your camera is consumer-grade, please keep in mind that low-resolution cameras cannot produce large images suitable for printing or licensing. For example, a 4 mega-pixel digital camera that produces 2288 x 1712 pixel photographs cannot produce a 300 dpi image larger than 19.37 cm x 14.49 cm (or 7.63 x 5.7 inches) – for image licensing purposes, medium size A5 resolution.

2. foto38 staff will not store in its internal files or on its server photographs that are not accepted and published on the site. Photos that are published online will be stored in internal files and low-resolution display images on the server. Staff will access 'originals' only in the event of an online purchase.

3. Resolution determines the sizes at which photographs will be available for licensing. Consumer-grade cameras typically cannot produce enough pixels to meet high-resolution demands. (See note 1.)

4. All text content uploaded by users will be subject to review and, where necessary, modification by foto38 staff.

5. In the event of a dead e-mail account, foto38 has no obligation and will not attempt to seek alternative ways of contacting you.

6. Resigning member photographers' portfolios, including 'original' photos, will be stored on a secure server for six months following resignation. foto38 retains these files in the event that the photographer chooses to resume a subscription within the six-month period, according to regulations laid out above. foto38 staff will not access these files for any reason during the six-month period except in the event that a photographer wishes to resume his/her subscription. At the end of six months all materials will be deleted.

7. Unless a prior arrangement has been made, failure to make a payment within 21 days of the date of invoice will result in the temporary removal of your portfolio from the Web site; it will be republished when payment is received. Failure to make a payment within 60 days of the date of invoice will result in the termination of your subscription. If you wish to resume a terminated subscription, you can do so in compliance with the subscription resumption terms detailed above, only after the delinquent payment has been made.