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Site Tips & Help
Updated April 2012

Topics

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Who can view topics/photos in these forums and galleries? Anyone can view topics, photos and replies. No registration or log-in is required.

  2. Who can post topics and/or photos in these forums/galleries? Only members of the Nature Photographers Network™ can post in the NPN galleries and forums.

  3. Can I sort the order in which photos or topics are displayed? Yes! Photos and topics can be sorted by either (1) the date the original post (2) the date of the last reply. The Sort by Post or Comment toggle function is found the right side of the page just under the green navigation bar.

  4. What is the "All Photos" gallery? A feature unique to NPN, the All Photos link allows you to view all of the photos posted in the various NPN image critique galleries in one place.

  5. May I download any of these photos for my own use? All photos in these galleries are copyright the respective photographers! Please honor these rights and contact the photographer directly to inquire about the use of their photo.

  6. How do I prepare my photos to post in the NPN image critique galleries? There are several sources of information on how to do so. The basic information can be found in the Posting Guidelines and in our How To Prepare Your Images For The NPN Forums Using Photoshop Elements article. More advice can be found here. Still have questions? Feel free to post them in the Digital Imaging Forum.

  7. How long will my photo remain on display in an image crtique gallery? All photos are automatically deleted 35 days after the date of posting. The only exceptions are photos that are selected for the Weekly Picks or Staff Showcase galleries, and photos posted in the NPN Photographers gallery. Photos that you have added to your Personal Gallery are also saved from auto-deletion.

  8. I see "edit" and "delete" links next to my posts, but not next to anyone else's. Is there something wrong? Other than the forum moderator(s) or the site administrators, only you can see your edit and delete links! These links are provided for you to manage your own posts.

  9. Why so many views of my photo with so few comments in comparison?This is due to several facts;

    • The NPN image critique galleries are open to public view - no registration or log-in is required to simply view the galleries and all of the images they contain. However, registration/log-in is required to post comments.
    • NPN is highly ranked in the major search engines, resulting in an average of 90,000 unique viewers/1.5 million page views per month (link opens in new window). In combination with our open galleries, many nature lovers (and buyers of nature photos!) easily find us via search engine and “surf in” to enjoy the excellent photography posted by our members and gallery participants.


  10. How do I manage NPN email notifications? Log in to any forum or gallery and then select the "Preferences" link. On the Preferences screen there are options for controlling email notifications. More info here.

User Preferences

The Preferences page is your User CP (control panel). On this page you can list your website on the NPN Member Sites page, create a link to your PhotoPortfolios.net account, upload a forum avatar, create a signature field, set email preferences, etc.

To access your Preferences page, you must first log in. Once logged in, the link to your Preferences page can be found in any forum or gallery as shown below:

e-Mail Notifications

For help on managing email notifications (including unsubscribe), click here.

Text Decoration and Links

When posting in the NPN image critique galleries and discussion forums, or when entering text in the signature fields on your Preferences screen, the following tags may be used to stylize your text.

To make text italic, use the [i] and [/i] tags as follows; [i]make text italic[/i] will render make text italic

To make text bold, use the [b] and [/b] tags as follows; [b]make text bold[/b] will render make text bold

To place text in quotation, use the [quote] and [/quote] tags as follows;

[quote]When you wish to quote a previous comment, highlight and copy the text, and then paste the text in the message box between the quote tags.[/quote] will render as follows;

When you wish to quote a previous comment, highlight and copy the text, and then paste the text in the message box between the quote tags.

To create a link to another web page (opens in new window), use the [url] and [/url] tags as follows;

[i]  [/i]        [b]  [/b]        [quote]  [/quote]        [url]  [/url]

Posting Photos

Full information on posting photos in the NPN image critique galleries can be found in the Posting Guidelines.

If have questions about posting photos in the NPN galleries:

Personal Galleries

The NPN Personal Gallery feature provides a means for a NPN member to create an online gallery of the photos they upload to the NPN image critique galleries to share with friends, family and other NPN members. In appearance, it will look and function just like any of the regular NPN IC (image critique) galleries, but contain only your photos!

Selecting a photo for placement in your gallery excludes the photo from the server auto-deletion script that automatically deletes photos older than 35 days.

You can have up to 250 photos in your gallery, including those that were posted in the last 35 days and those that have been previously selected for weekly pick recognition.

Photos can be added to your gallery (and saved from auto-deletion) at any time up until 34 days after they were originally posted. To add a photo to your gallery, use the edit link under the thumbnail and check the "include in your gallery" box near the bottom of the edit screen.

Photos older than 35 days can be deleted from your gallery by un-checking the box - the photo(s) will be removed the next time the auto-delete script runs (every 24 hours).

***PHOTO EDIT SCREEN CAPTURE***

To add a photo to your gallery, (1) access the edit screen to the photo, a link to which is found under the photo thumbnail on the gallery thumbnail screen; (2) check the "include in your gallery" box; (3) click the Update Photo button. To remove a photo, follow the same procedure only uncheck the box - the photo will be deleted within 24 hours.

A direct link to your gallery (via the GALLERY icon) is included on all of your forum and IC gallery posts.

You can create a direct link to gallery for use on your website, in email, etc. as follows;

http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/ic.cgi?a=up&pi=USERNAME&ns=1

In the URL above, simply replace USERNAME with your NPN forum log-in name. Once you have done so, you can use the code above with all standard HTML tags to create a direct, customized link to your gallery!

Gallery of the Month

Each month, we select a member's personal gallery for recognition and place it in the GOTM Gallery. The following criteria are used in making the selection;

  1. The gallery must have a minimum of 40 photos
  2. Technical execution
  3. Aesthetic quality (composition, use of light, visual impact, etc.)
  4. Originality
  5. Member participation - we recommend (1) a ratio of at least 5 comments (useful critiques) for every photo posted and (2) at least 500 comments made to date in the IC galleries

Would you like to recommend a fellow member's gallery to us for the GOTM recognition? Send the member's name (as shown under the gallery thumbnails) to editor@naturephotographers.net and we'll add it to the short list!

Need more help? Contact us at editor@naturephotographers.net.