How to Become a Contributing CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY Photographer

Thank you for considering contributing your photographs to CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY.US . The information below is relevant. Please read it carefully.

NEW - How to Contribute Pictures to Cloud 9 Via the Internet--Fast

If you are a good photographer who uses sharp lenses who wants to contribute your pictures to CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US, and, if you authorize Peter J. Mancus, Cloud 9's owner, to use your pictures commercially, do this: Send Peter an email at pmancus@comcast.net; tell Peter you want to contribute your pictures to Cloud 9 and tell him you give Peter your permission for him to use your pictures commercially. Give Peter your name and email address. Peter will email you a Username and a Password with instructions regarding how you can use the Internet to transfer an unlimited number of very large digitalized pictures, from your computer, to Peter, in an easy, cost-time effective, manner.

1. Reasons why you benefit by becoming a contributing CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY photographer.

1. You get to show off your pictures to the world--for free--without having to pay for a webmaster or an Internet site. Free hosting and publishing of your pictures, at no charge to you.
2. You get the personal satisfaction of knowing that an objective neutral third person made the decision that your photography was good enough to make the “final cut” to be posted on the CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US Internet site, which has rigorous high standards.
3. Getting posted on CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY is excellent free publicity for you, your name, your photographs, and your photographic skills and talent.
4. CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY.US is primarily, but not exclusively, an airplane pictures oriented Internet site. When a Google search is done for “airplane pictures” CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY.US consistently ranks high on Google’s first page for that search. Many people visit this site. You have excellent exposure to people who like to look at, need, or buy airplane pictures. If your pictures are good enough, the odds are decent that you will earn recognition and maybe some cash.
5. You get the satisfaction of knowing your excellent pictures are appreciated by many. You give a precious gift to many–joy arising from seeing your picture(s). You selflessly share your pictures, and that makes you feel good about yourself.
6. Once you share pictures good enough to make our “final cut”, we save them on a hard disk; therefore, you, at no cost to you, have a “back-up” to your precious picture(s) in case anything happens to your original(s). You spread and reduce the risk of loss.
7. You get an on-line photo credit, and you will always be given the photo credit printed on every CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY print made from your picture(s).
8. If you send us enough zingers [excellent pictures that command attention], we will give you your own on-line dedicated slide show, with up to fifty of your own images, for you, your loved ones, your friends, and others to enjoy. That is an accomplishment you could rightfully point to with pride.
9. If you send us pictures on film which are good enough to make the “final cut”, we will scan your film and convert it to a high resolution digital image. We use a true, professional quality, dedicated film scanner to do this. Our film scanner costs $22,000.00! It will scan all standard film sizes from 35 mm to 4x5, inclusive, in color [positive or negative] or B&W [negative]. 35 mm film will be scanned at 8,000 DPI. We do not use any solvent on the film. Mounted 35 mm film, however, must be removed from the mount. We have done that thousands of times, without a problem. All loaned film will be returned in good condition. All mounted 35 mm film will be returned remounted in commercial grade clean, blank, white paper mounts or unmounted in a protective clear archival sleeve, whichever you prefer. We will also return your loaned film with a duplicate of our high resolution scan of your film, if you so request. The reasonable fair market value of our high end film scans is approximately $50-150, per scan! For each film image good enough to make our “final cut”, we will give you a duplicate scan 100% free. We do this to communicate our appreciation for your cooperation, for your sharing, and to motivate you to cooperate.
10. Once you get a CD or DVD of our scan of your film, you have an excellent archival of your image. You can use this extreme high quality scan yourself to make better prints of your pictures. You can also store this disc in a location different from your original film, which gives you an additional prudent back-up of your pictures to spread your risk of a devastating loss due to fire, theft, or natural disaster.
11. We do not know what motivates you. Some people want only recognition and personal satisfaction. Others want money. If you want money, we will pay you one third of the gross selling price–exclusive of shipping, handling, and taxes--of each print, if any, sold from any and all pictures of yours that we use at CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY. We will promptly send you a check for that percentage after the time period for the customer to ask for a refund has expired.
12. If a picture buyer wants to use one of your pictures in a way other than a print, if you authorize us to sell your picture(s) in other ways besides prints, we will also give you one third of whatever a buyer pays us for the use of your picture(s), and we will pay you promptly by check made payable to you soon after we are paid.
13. A quality-oriented approach and a chance to participate in same.
14. Your name and nation will be added to a list of contributing CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY photographers, which is formal recognition that you were good enough to make “the final cut”.
15. Protection of your images by a watermark superimposed on same before being posted to CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY.US , to keep them from entering the public domain and to protect your copyright to your pictures.
16. Copyrighted protection of your images when on the CLOUD 9 site or when printed and distributed by CLOUD 9. You keep the copyright on all photos you send to us. However, by sending your pictures to us, you authorize and license us to use your picture(s) that you send to us, commercially, and you do so irrevocably. By “license”, we mean this: You retain [keep, still own] the copyright but you divide that copyright up and give us your permission, via your license of a part of the copyright to us, to use your images commercially. This license shall include irrevocable worldwide commercial distribution rights for your pictures, without limit, unless otherwise agreed to in writing signed and dated by you and CLOUD 9's owner, Peter J. Mancus. By “licensing” us to use your picture(s), you retain the right to commercially use your pictures, also, but you also give us that right, too. By “irrevocably”, we mean this: Permanently and forever. It must be this way because we cannot afford to waste our time with anyone who blows hot and cold, who gives us permission and who then might try to take away that permission, after we have invested our time and money to promote, improve, and sell pictures.

2. Basic guidelines for what type of pictures to submit to CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY.US.

If you want to become a contributing CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY photographer, you must follow the guidelines stated below.

These guidelines will be strictly enforced; therefore, if your submitted picture(s) are not posted on CLOUD 9 PHOTOGRAPHY.US, please do not be offended. Please do not complain or whine or challenge a decision to reject your pictures, with or without an explanation.

By submitting your pictures to CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US, you are up against stiff competition. Our standards are high. We are interested in only pictures that satisfy our high standards and can be printed large, to exacting standards.

We cater to people who have a discerning eye for great images that can be printed large and still look good.

1. Contribute only pictures that you took. [This is important because you, by taking the picture, automatically have and own the copyright.] Note: There are two exceptions to this guideline: (1) If the picture is in the “public domain”, such as it is a U.S. government or military picture, it is not copyrighted and you can submit that without violating any copyright rule or (2) If you have permission from the person who took the picture(s) submitted. Note: Sending us pictures that you do not own the copyright to probably violates United States or international copyright laws, or both, which risks a fine or incarceration or both.
2. Submit only your best images.
3. Submit only images that are sharp, correctly exposed, and in good condition. Note: If there is blur in the picture which functions as an indication of motion or beauty that artistically enhances the picture, that lack of sharpness is acceptable.
4. For film images, submit any film that is 35 mm to 4x5, inclusive, in color positive, color negative, or B&W negative.
5. For digital images, submit your largest, highest digital capture files, at least 6.0 megapixels and, preferably, 8-10 and higher megapixels.
6. For digital images, submit either large “RAW” [if taken with a late model Canon digital camera] or a digital file that is a “PSD” or a “TIFF” file.
7. Large [8 MP or higher] JPEG files are acceptable but we strongly prefer large TIFF or PSD files.
8. Digital images that you have already manipulated or have not yet been manipulated. Note: If you submit a digital image that you have manipulated, we might use it as is or we might re-work/re-crop it and use our tweak of it instead or in addition to your submitted version of the image. You will be given the photo credit for any version of your image(s) re-worked by us.
9. Film or digital images that are in, or close to, the following aspect ratio proportions: 3:2, 4x5, or square.
10. Anything different, rare, newsworthy, beautiful, colorful, full of clouds.
11. Aviation related subjects, e.g., military, airliners, warbirds, helicopters, and bizjets, etc. Note: We want only clutter free images of the entire airframe or esthetically pleasing tight cropping of the airframe.
12. Non-aviation subjects, without limit.
13. Extremely high quality, large, digital files of scanned film images.
14. Pictures that plug up a big hole in the CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US images data base.
15. If you have a special, rare picture that has one or more technical or physical problems with it, please submit it. We might be able to salvage it, improve its appearance, and make it commercially useable.

3. How to get a preliminary decision about your pictures.

If you want to get a preliminary decision about your pictures before you mail anything to CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US , you have these options:

1. Compare your pictures to the ones at www.cloud9photography.us , keeping in mind that the ones on this site are rich in lush detail and will print well in large size.
2. Email JPEGs of your pictures to CLOUD 9's owner, Peter J. Mancus, for his review, at his email address: pmancus@comcast.net
3. Mail Peter small prints of your pictures, B&W photocopies of your pictures, or a CD or DVD disc with JPEGs of your pictures

4. Where to mail your pictures.

Please mail your submitted pictures to:

Peter J. Mancus
Victorian Square
876 Gravenstein Ave. So., Suite 3
Sebastopol, California 95472
U.S.A.

Note:

1. Please include your return address on the outside and in the inside, please package your pictures carefully, and please write legibly.
2. If you mail us film, if you loan us the film to evaluate and to scan, we will return it to you packaged securely. If it is mounted 35 mm film, please let us know if you want us to return it remounted or in an archival plastic sleeve. Remember: To scan mounted 35 mm film, we must remove the mount.

5. Time it takes for a decision if your submitted picture(s) will be accepted or rejected.

Peter can probably give you a response within 48 hours, via email, about 80% of the time; within 96 hours about 15% of the time; and within 1-3 weeks about 5% of the time. Peter will always let you know as soon as he can.

6. Most common reasons for rejecting submitted pictures.

The decision to accept or to reject a submitted picture is often complex. This decision is most often based on an interplay of subtle subjective factors and how the picture(s) compare to what CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US has posted already or has that will be posted. We do not have the time or the desire to explain with individual specificity why each picture was rejected and not posted. A specification of the most common and probable reasons for rejecting a submitted picture is stated below.

1. Too blurry.
2. Too dark or too overexposed; blown out highlights.
3. Primary subject of interest is too small and cannot be enhanced to high standards.
4. If film, too much grit or in too bad a condition to salvage or not good enough to justify the time investment to salvage.
5. Too common.
6. Too similar to what we already have.
7. Has technical or aesthetic problems that cannot be overcome on a cost-time effective basis.
8. Not aesthetically pleasing.
9. Too small a digital file.

We do not favor or single anyone out. Selection and rejection is based exclusively on perceived merit of each picture.

7. How many pictures you can submit.

There is no limit as to how many pictures you may submit.

8. Required information to accompany submitted photograph.

We need the following from you before we will post your picture(s) at CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US :

1. A signed, dated, legible statement by you that gives us your first name, your middle initial, your last name, your email address [if any], your mailing address, and your telephone number, so we can contact you;
2. A signed, dated, legible statement by you that you took the picture(s) and you own the copyright; and,
3. A signed, dated, legible statement by you that you irrevocably [for all time, permanently] authorize Peter J. Mancus to use your picture on CLOUD9PHOTOGRAPHY.US, commercially, consistent with the terms of use as stated here.

Note: If you want a form that states this, CLICK HERE to get a suitable fill in the blanks form.

9. Requested additional information to accompany submitted photographs.

The following information is not required but is desirable:

1. Date picture was taken.
2. Location of picture.
3. If there is an interesting story about the picture, a short statement about the story.

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