Information for Contributors
Be sure to read the following before submitting your photos
* Please submit no more than 50 photos, and allow us to go through those (we will either approve or fail them) before submitting more of up to 50, and so on. This is to ensure that we are not inundated with thousands of submissions in one go, being that we're a small family run business.
This website offers high resolution photo downloads for artists to use a reference for their artwork. When you submit your photos, it is understood that you give your permission for your photos (if accepted) to be downloaded/purchased by artists to use as reference for their artwork. You, as the original photographer, always retains the copyright to your photos. You must only submit photos which you have taken, for which you own the copyright for, and not photos taken by anyone else. For more information about usage and restrictions which artists must abide by when purchasing photos, please visit our Terms of Use page.
Can anyone contribute their own wildlife photos to sell on the site?
Anyone is welcome to submit their photos, but these are not automatically offered for sale on the site. All photo submissions are reviewed by our administrators who decide whether or not a photo is suitable to be added to our database and offered for sale. We pride ourselves on our quality control to ensure that our members get the best experience.
If your photos are approved, they will then be added to the site. Members will be able to start downloading them and you can start earning from them.
How much do Contributors earn if their photos are accepted onto the site?
Contributors earn 50% commission on all downloads of their photos. For individual downloads, contributors will earn £2.50 per download. When a photo is downloaded as part of a subscription, contributors will earn £1.40 per download.
How are Contributors paid for the download sales of their photos?
Contributors are paid monthly by Paypal for sales which total £10 or more. If your sales are under £10, it will be held until it reaches that amount. Payments are sent on or around the 15th of each month, be sure to add your Paypal email address to your account so that you can receive the payment. To do this click 'Edit Account' and then scroll down to 'Contributor Settings', then on the right click 'Edit'. Here you can enter the email address that is associated with your Paypal account, then click 'Save'.
All payments to contributors are made in US dollars. If your Paypal account isn't up set accept payments in US dollars, you may need to manually claim/accept the payment for it to go into your Paypal account. If this is the case, please be sure to claim the payment within 30 days or it will get sent back to us. You can also edit your Paypal settings so that you can automatically accept payments in US Dollars.
How do I submit my wildlife photos to the site?
If you are new to the site, you will first need to create an account by clicking 'Create an Account' in the top right of the site. In order to submit photos, you will need to select the 'Contributors Membership'. With this membership plan, you are able to submit your photos and also download/buy photos if you wish to.
If this is your first time submitting photos to us, we recommended submitting no more than 20 to start with. Once we have gone through those, you will get a better idea of the standard and the type of photos we will accept. It will save your time by avoiding sending photos which are not likely to be accepted.
If you already have an account with us under the Basic Membership and wish to submit your photos, there's no need to create another account. Simply log into your account, click 'Edit Account' on the left and under the Membership section click 'Edit'. Here you can change to the Contributors Membership, where you are able submit your photos as well as buy photos.
- It is very important that you own the copyright to all of the photos that you submit. Please do not submit photos which were taken by someone else.
- Photos need to be clear, sharp and high resolution - between 1mb and 12mb in size. Photos under 1mb or over 12mb will not be accepted.
- Photos must be in JPG/JPEG format.
- Please do not include watermarks.
- Please do not submit photos which show any kind of logo, trademark, or a person's face.
- Take the time to edit your photos so that they look the best they can. Whether that's upping the contrast a little, brightening or altering the colours. It could be the difference between making a sale and not making a sale.
- Add all of the details (as described below) - Titles, Keywords, and Gallery. Any photos missing these details will not be added to the site until all of the details are there.
Select 'Add New Media' followed by 'Add Files' then select the photo/s that you would like to submit. Once you have added all of the photos that you would like to submit, click 'Start' in the bottom right. The uploading process may take several minutes depending on the quantity and size of the photos.
When your photos have finished uploading, a new box will appear entitled 'Add Media Details'. The first category 'Album' is optional, and enables you to create albums in your account for your photos, if you wish to. These would be your personal albums for storing your photos, and you have the option of making them visible on your profile.
The second category 'Galleries' are the galleries that feature on the main website. This is very important as any photo not in a gallery will not show up on the site. If the photos that you have uploaded are all of the same subject and can therefore all go in the same gallery, for example Leopards, then please select the appropriate gallery. If your photos are of different kinds of animals, leave this section blank for now but please make sure you add the photos individually to the appropriate galleries as soon as you have submitted the photos, by clicking on the 'Edit Details' icon under each photo in 'My Media'. If there isn't a gallery that your photo belongs in, please select the 'Miscellaneous' gallery. For adding bird photos to galleries, please do not put them in 'Birds' as on the site this is where the different bird galleries are shown. There are some galleries to choose from which are listed under 'Birds', for example 'Birds of Prey' and 'Waterfowl'. If your bird photos don't belong in the galleries listed, please add them to 'Miscellaneous Birds'.
The next category 'Details' enables you to add the title and keywords for your photos. Again, this should only be done at this stage if the photos that you have submitted are all of the same subject. For this reason, and for adding to the site's galleries, it is better to submit photos of the same subject together. For example, if you have 10 tiger photos, 10 lion photos and 10 cheetah photos, we would recommend submitting them in batches of the same subject so that you can add them to the appropriate gallery and then add the title and keywords at the same time (and then go back to edit any specific keywords after submitting).
For the title, this must only be the exact species of the animal and please use capital letters at the beginning of the subject words. For example, African Elephant instead of african elephant. Please be specific where necessary - If you have a tiger photo for example, write which species of tiger it is (Amur Tiger / Bengal Tiger / Sumatran Tiger etc). Or for example if you have a bird or butterfly photo, find out the exact species and if necessary do some research to ensure that you don't label your photos incorrectly. For the description, you could add a brief description to accompany the photo/s but this is not compulsory. For example, if the animal was photographed in the wild you could mention this, and state the location in the wild. Some artists prefer to use photos which have been taken in the wild, so if yours have then this would be worth mentioning.
Keywords are really important. For the keywords, enter a few words that are relevant to your photos including the type of animal (separate keywords with a comma) then click 'Add Keyword'. Keywords are important as they help potential buyers find your photos. If someone searches for the word otter, and otter isn't in your keywords, it won't appear in their search results regardless of whether otter is in the title. For lioness photos the keywords would be: lioness, lion, big cat, africa, predator and anything else relevant to your photo. For lion cub photos, the keywords would be: baby, lion, lion cub, infant, young, juvenile, big cat etc. Please write more descriptive keywords where necessary, to help members find your photos more easily. Words such as drinking, growling, running, water, baby, flying, flight, sleeping, mother and baby, looking up etc, depending on the type of photo. Or for photos which include movement, be sure to include keywords such as movement and action. Basically any words you can think of to describe a photo, words which someone may type in the search bar if they're looking for something in particular. Also add your name to the keywords so that members are able to find your photos by entering your name in the search bar. Then, for 'Media Types' on the right, select the box for 'Photos'. The final category, 'Pricing', doesn't need to be altered as this is the same for all photos on the site. Don't forget to click 'Save' when you have added all of the above details.
Your photos have now been sent to our administrators and will appear as 'Pending Approval' in your account. If your photos are approved by our administrators, the 'Pending Approval' notice will disappear from the photos when viewing them in 'My Media'. This means that your photos have been added to our database and will shortly be offered for sale on the site.
Any photos which have not been accepted will appear in the 'Failed Approval' section. Please don't be dis-heartened if your photos are not accepted, it just means that they are not suitable for this particular site which is aimed at providing quality reference photos for artists. You are welcome to continue submitting photos. Don't worry if after a few days your submitted photos have not yet been checked by our administrators. We receive hundreds of submissions but be rest assured that your photos will be seen.
Please note that if you make any edits to your photo details once the photo has been approved, it will make the photo go back to the 'pending' stage, so that we can approve the edits.
* It is important that you put your photos in the correct gallery, and add the title and keywords for each photo. If you are not able to add these details before you submit your photos, for example if they are all of different animals, then please make sure that you do this as soon you have submitted your photos. To edit all of these details once you have submitted your photos, simply go to your account member area then click 'My Media' and under each photo there is an icon for 'Edit Details' (far left icon). Don't forget to click 'Save' in the bottom right of the box after adding new details. Photos without details will not be accepted until all the details are there. *
How long will it take for my submitted photo/s to be approved/failed?
Hundreds of photos are submitted to us each week and we look at each one individually, so we can't say exactly when your photos will be checked. It could be within the day, or a couple of weeks. Adding all of the correct details to your photos will speed up the process.
How will I know if any of my photos have been downloaded/sold?
To keep track of your sales, simply log into your account member area and on the left hand side click 'View Sales'. Here you can see which of your photos have been downloaded along with when they were downloaded and the commission you will receive for each download. At the bottom you will see the total that you have earned which is split into 'Paid' and 'Unpaid'.
Why were my photos Failed / Rejected?
All of the photos submitted are individually viewed by our administrators, and generally the reasons why photos are not accepted onto the site include:
- Lacking detail or clarity
- Not a high enough resolution
- Too 'grainy'
- Poor lighting (too saturated / too bright / too dark)
- Unappealing pose, expression or angle
- Not a relevant subject (not animals/wildlife/nature)
- Contains people/faces/nudity
We may sometimes give the exact reason why a photo has not been accepted. In your member area you can click on where it says 'Failed Approval' in red text above the photo to see if a reason has been given. We get hundreds of submissions every week and so are unable to give the reasons for each and every photo, but we try to do this for a few.
Photos may also be failed if you have not entered the details (the title which needs to be the exact species, gallery and keywords.) If this is the case and the photo would have been approved with details, we will write that you need to add the details.
Failed photos will be deleted from our database each month, once they have been failed for a few weeks.
How do I access my member area?
When you log into your account, you will automatically be in your member area where you can view everything associated with your account. Once logged in, you are always able to access your member area by clicking on your name at the top right of the website.
How do I add my Paypal account?
Contributors are paid monthly by Paypal, so you will need to add your Paypal email address to your account. To do this click 'Edit Account' and then scroll down to 'Contributor Settings', then on the right click 'Edit'. Here you can enter the email address that is associated with your Paypal account, then click 'Save'. All payments to contributors are made in US dollars, so if your Paypal account isn't up set accept payments in dollars, you may need to manually claim/accept the payment for it to go into your Paypal account. If this is the case, please be sure to claim the payment within 30 days or it will get sent back to us.
Will I have my own Gallery on the site?
Your approved photos will be added to our database and go on the website along with all of the other photos. You will also have your own profile in the 'Contributors' page on the menu bar, where all of your photos can be viewed.
Your profile information
On the website for others to see, your profile will show when you became a member. It is also optional for you to add your company name and location. If you wish, you may also add an avatar/photo to represent your profile (we currently have an issue with the avatar upload process so please contact us if you would like to upload an avatar), add your website and a biography. When adding a website to your profile, be sure to include the http:// (or https://) before your website address, otherwise it won't load. To add/edit any of these details, just log into your account and on the left click 'Edit Account'.
Can I remove my photos from the site?
If you would like any of your photos removed from the site, please contact us and we will do this for you. Before removing your photos permanently, we will make them 'inactive' (not visible publicly but still in our database) for 30 days to allow any members who have already bought them to download them.
Photos which have been failed during the approvals process will be deleted by us each month, once they have been failed for a few weeks. If any photos you wish to be removed have previously been bought, the members who bought them may still continue to use them as normal.