Why was my photo not accepted?

The quality of the photos that we put online is a direct reflection of the overall quality of this site. With this in mind we have guidelines regarding accepting photos. Photos that do not fit within these guidelines are not used. We do occasionally make exceptions but they are few and far between. For example, once in a while, when there are no other photos for a particular animal and the photo in question is poor quality but does have some educational value, we will use it until we receive a better quality photo.

When we reject a photo it is usually because of one or more of the following reasons and an email is sent to the person who submitted the photo explaining this. Below is a list of reasons and the explanation and criteria for each.

Some photos qualify to be displayed in high-resolution versions. We have also listed the criteria for this below.

We accept photos saved in the following formats: jpg, tif, bmp, and gif. When saving .jpg files, use little or no compression. The .jpg format uses a compression scheme that is referred to as 'lossy' compression. This means that information is permanently removed from the photo. Generally speaking, the greater the compression, the poorer the quality of the photo. When possible, please send files with little or no compression (higher quality). Both .tif and .bmp use lossless compression schemes that does not result in degraded photo quality. In addition, .gif files also use lossless compression but the color palette is limited to 256 colors. As a result, .gif format photos generally have poorer quality. Very few .gif format images are good enough to be accepted.

One more item, the animal must be large enough to take up the majority of the photo after it is cropped. If the animal is a small portion of the photo, it may be too small when the photo is cropped or resized to fit in our pages. In addition, the animal must be obvious in the photo.

We do appreciate the efforts of our visitors to contribute content that helps to educate and inform others. If your photo was not accepted, please feel free to try again with a different photo.

High-resolution photos may qualify for special treatment Some photos are of high enough quality that we put up special versions of them so they can be viewed at higher resolutions. These special photos have a magnifying glass icon below them. Clicking this icon will allow visitors to see the photos in high-resolution. The additional criteria for these photos is below: The subject of the photo must have excellent focus and exposure. The subject of the photo, when cropped, must be larger than 400 pixels tall or 400 pixels wide. There must be some additional educational value in showing a higher resolution image. Here are some examples of good quality high-resolution images (will open in a new window). Be sure to use the menu at the bottom to see the higher resolutions! Green Tree Python Maximilian Pionus Parrot Chinese Praying Mantis Cameroon Red Tarantula German Shepherd Dog Photos must be submitted through our photo submission pages Our server assigns specialized tracking information to each photo when it is submitted. For this reason we cannot accept photos that are not submitted through our photo submission pages. To submit a photo for an animal simply go to it's main page or it's photo page and click the "Submit a Photo" link. If you would like to submit a photo for an animal that we do not have online yet please send an email to content@CentralPets.com asking for the proper URL. We will then send the proper URL to you so that you may submit your photo. Once that animal appears online, your photo will appear with it. Missing Photo For some reason the upload failed and we did not get the photo or we did get the photo but it was in a format that we could not use. The most common causes of this are below: Not waiting until the window refreshes after the upload is complete. Not browsing to the image file on your computer. The photo must physically reside on your computer in order for it to be uploaded. Improper file type. Acceptable file types are .jpg (including .jpeg and .jpe), .bmp, .tif (including .tiff), and .gif. If your file was of a different type such as .art or .zip then it is likely that this is the reason the upload was not successful. Please note that html pages and URLs to photos will not work. The size of the file was too large. Be sure to check the maximum allowed size on the upload page. If the photo fila is larger than this it will fail. Spaces or other unusual characters in filenames can sometimes be a problem. Try replacing spaces in the name of the original file with an underscore ( _ ) and avoiding characters that are not a-z and 0-9. Photos must be in focus Blurry or grainy photos do not show enough detail to be educational and often the true attributes of the animal are obscured. This is the most common reason that photos are rejected. If a photo is blurry, it is highly unlikely that we will accept it. The details and features of the animal must be clearly visible If the specific features of the animal are not clearly visible the photo has little educational value. If the detail and features of the animal are not clearly visible it will be rejected. In cases where there is no photo for an animal we sometimes make exceptions depending on the quality of the photo. Wrong Animal Each animal must be submitted from its own specific submission page. For example, Beagle photos submitted from the Poodle submission page will be rejected. To be sure you are using the correct submission page just go to that animal's main page click the "Submit a Photo" link. No response to our request for more information. Many times we have questions about photos that users submit. Most often they are either "Is this really your photo or did it come from somewhere else?" or "Is this the correct animal in the photo for the animal that it was submitted for?". Due to the number of photos in the queue, we must receive a response back within 1 week. If we do not get this response we must reject the photo. We try to avoid photos of animals behind cage material We try to avoid using photos that depict animals behind cage enclosures. This is because it obstructs the view of the animal and also because many people are bothered by this. This is a judgment call on our part and the decision varies depending on the type of animal and the type and amount of enclosure visible. Often it is not easy to photograph some cage birds without the cage obstructing part of the view. We will accept some of these photos provided the obstruction is minimal. For animals where it is easy to photograph them without cage material in the foreground we normally will reject those photos. In cases where there is no photo for an animal we sometimes make exceptions to this rule depending on the quality of the photo. Exposure and colors in photo must be accurate The exposure and colors in the photo must accurately represent the true colors of the animal. When possible we can make adjustments to correct minor color or exposure problems. However, if the color or exposure adversely affects the quality of the photo or if we feel that it might be misleading, the photo will be rejected. Black and white photos, paintings, and drawings are not normally accepted. We do not accept photos copyrighted by others If a submitted photo appears to be copyrighted by a third party we will send an email to the submitter to verify that they have the right to submit the photo to us. If they do not, or if they do not respond, the photo will be rejected. Photos taken from other websites are not accepted If we feel that the photo may have been taken from another website we will send an email to the submitter to verify that they have the right to submit the photo to us. If they do not, or if they do not respond, the photo will be rejected. Duplicate photos are not accepted Duplicate photos are automatically rejected. If your photo has not appeared online after submitting it, and you have not received an email telling you why, please do not submit it again. All photos stay in our system until they are either published online or rejected. In either case you will receive an email letting you know the final results. The subject of the photo should be 200 pixels by 200 pixels or larger 200 pixels by 200 pixels is the size of the photos on our animal pages. If your photo is smaller than this, or if the subject animal is too small, it will probably be rejected. Whenever possible the photo should be submitted at the original resolution. This allows us to crop and reduce it and use the best possible portion. The animals should be in natural poses and behavior In order to best educate our visitors we do not usually use photos of animals that are dressed up, or other photo effects applied. Do not add lettering, frames/borders, etc. While many of these photos are cute, they do not meet the educational standard that we have set. Multiple photos that depict essentially the same thing will not be used In the cases where multiple photos are submitted that depict essentially the same view of the animal, we will select the best one for use on the site. The others will not be used. Certain categories only allow one photo of each animal In the case of photos submitted for the mixed breed categories, only one photo per animal will be used. This allows room for more people to submit photos of their pets. When multiple photos of the same animal are submitted, we will select what we feel is the best one and reject the others. There is a limit on the number of photos allowed for any one animal Obviously if we did not place limits on the number of photos for a particular animal, there would be thousands for each one. There would be so many photos that visitors would never be able to view them all. As a result, once the limit is reached, you will see a notice when submitting a new photo. From that point on we will only accept very high quality photos and we will remove poorer quality photos to make room. This means that the quality of photos will evolve into the best possible selection. The photo rating system is one method that we use to determine which photos to delete. The additional criteria for these photos is below: The photo must quality to be a high-resolution photo (see above) and have excellent focus and exposure. The subject of the photo must show something that is both educational and be significantly different from the other existing photos. Occasionally we will remove poorer quality photos from animals that have reached this limit. This will allow photos to be submitted subject to the normal restrictions again. No specific reason, we just decided not to use it In some cases we will decide not to use a photo for reasons that are not as obvious as the ones above. Perhaps the overall quality of the photo combined with its educational value was just not high enough. Or perhaps the particular view of the animal was not appropriate or may mislead our visitors. Sometimes the photo just loses too much detail when reduced to fit (to 200 pixels by 200 pixels) on our pages. Many times it is a combination of reasons. This is purely a subjective decision made by our staff. Back to Top