Members Gallery

Uploading Images To The Gallery.


Introducrtion

The Gallery is a very public 'shop window'; anybody with internet access may browse it at will, so it is important that we keep it looking tidy and consistent to be a credit to the Guild. With this in mind, here some guidelines for you to note when submitting images.

Any member who is logged in to the Guild website may upload their images into the Gallery. Remember to tick the box labelled 'TICK this box if you do want your photo displayed in the Gallery' so they will appear there for all to see and enjoy. If you do not tick the box, your images will still be in the Gallery but they will not be on display. The majority of images (more than 75%) in the Gallery are not displayed because they were put there merely to illustrate their postings in the G0G Forum and so may be unsuitable for display.

Although there is some administrative control over the images in the Gallery, by and large the images that are submitted are appropriate and well worth seeing. What has not worked out nearly so well is members' addition of helpful titles and, even less so, the addition of informative descriptions to complement their images. It is frequently pointed out that 'a picture is worth a thousand words' but there are times when a few words can add so much to enhance a picture; uploading to the Gallery is one of these times.

Some Common Issues

The quality of the images in the Gallery varies quite widely and only very rarely do we remove one that is judged too poor to exhibit. If this has been done the reason will appear in front of the description which you can access on the admin page for your photos. Far more common is an image that has been uploaded with an unhelpful title (eg 'Up hill climb') or no title at all but with the instruction 'Enter title' still present. Even more commonly, images are uploaded without any description but with the instruction 'Enter details' still present. Sometimes, if the image has been used in a posting on the Forum and we believe that it merits a wider audience, we have created a title and a description from the information contained in the posting. However it is more likely that we have nothing to go on and remove the image from public display (but we will always write a note in the description box).

Of course, just as we all build our models differently so we describe them differently, which all adds to the character. However, it is important that the Gallery shows some consistency in titles and descriptions so, although there could be many acceptable schemes, we have adopted the following:

The Guidelines



Title
    The title goes in the first box on the upload page, labelled: 'Title: Max 40 characters'.
    The title should describe what prototype the model depicts (eg, LMS Jubilee No. 5663, Jervis or Settle Junction Signal Box) or, for freelance models the title might be [Fictitious Model Name] Station Building
    The first letter of each word in the title should be capitalised.
    No final full stop
Image
    By 'File to be uploaded' there is a button marked either 'Browse' or 'Choose file' depending on which browser you use. Select the image from your computer files
Select Category and Select Region
    In the third and forth boxes, by default, the category is 'Locomotives' and the region is 'UK Post Nationalisation' but the most appropriate ones for your image should be selected from the two drop-down menus. Please do this carefully as it will help members find specific sets of images more easily.
Description
    Write this in the box on the upload page labelled: 'Information about your photo'
    The description should not duplicate any information that appears in the title but might include:
      Scratch-built, from what, manufacturing and fabrication details, how long it took
      Kit-built, whose kit, any particular modifications, added details, how well it went, any particular challenges
      Painting, lining, weathering details (which paints, what used)
      What is depicted in the scene (the 'back story')
      Modeller's, painter's names
      Interesting and special features shown
    You are not paying by the word and there is no practical word limit so write in complete sentences, or at least do not leave words out for brevity; there really is no point, it just makes for disjointed reading.
    End the description with a full stop.
General
    Each image with its title and description should stand alone in the Gallery so that a viewer does not need to refer to other images for information. For example, writing 'Another view of the cattle wagon' is not helpful; if another image is genuinely showing something that an earlier one did not, then the original title and/or description may be used but some modification of the description to bring out the differences is preferable
    Identical titles (and descriptions) are acceptable but do not number them 'Dixter Halt 1', 'Dixter Halt 2', 'Dixter Halt 3' and so on, for example
    Read carefully what you have written, check for typographical errors and particularly the spelling of manufacturers' names, which should be written out in full
    Do not use abbreviations, particularly in manufactures' names (Quainton Road Models rather than QRM), unless they are very well known (eg S&DJR) or are spelt out the first time they are used
    Avoid over-using exclamation marks and superlatives. You may feel strongly about the quality of the kit that you built your model from, and your view will be valuable in the description, but it does not require multiple exclamation marks.
    Overt advertising (for example of a product, a service, a club or a show) is unacceptable. Such 'announcements' are better placed in the on-line Forum and illustrated with images displayed in the Gallery that have appropriate titles and descriptions so that they 'stand alone' just as any other image.
Finally
    Please do look at what you have written, both before and after you have uploaded you image to the Gallery and ask yourself 'If I had never seen the model here before, would I now have the salient points before me?' If not, please go back and add them.

David L O Smith G0G 2430
Gallery Administrator


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