FAQ

Can I contribute an image to Pick a Picture?

• Yes. Images contributed to Pick a Picture will be entered into a contest and voted on. The top winners will be added to the Pick a Picture digital image collection.
• See FAQ#How_to_choose_images_to_add_to_a_Pick_a_Picture_image_collection for some properties of Pick a Picture images that might give a sense for the kinds of pictures that have been chosen for this curated collection.
• Contributing images
  • Contributing a photo that you took yourself
    • The preferred method for contributing an image is to first add the image to the Wikimedia Commons media file repository. Click here to be walked through how to contribute an image to Wikimedia Commons. Then, email the link to the Wikimedia Commons page for the image to Leeann at info@pickapicture.org.
    • Alternatively, you can send the image as an email attachment to Leeann at info@pickapicture.org along with an attribution for the image.
  • Contributing an image that you found - You can search for images, preferably in Wikimedia Commons, and email Leeann at info@pickapicture.org about the image and the attribution for the image.

What you need to do to use these images outside of Pick a Picture

• Images that can be freely reused and shared
  • Creative Commons and Public Domain
    • For these images, you will find the attribution for them near the upper left hand corner of the image. Copy and paste this attribution along with the image when using the image or sharing the image with others.
  • Source unknown
    • If there is nothing near the upper left hand corner of an image and the image's filename doesn't begin with "shutterstock_" or "iStock-", then the source of that image is unknown.
• Images for which you need to purchase a license
  • Shutterstock
    • If the image's filename begins with "shutterstock_", then you need to go to shutterstock.com and purchase a license for the image. To find the image on their website, copy the number that's in the filename into the search box that you'll find at the top of Shutterstock's webpages.
  • iStock by Getty Images
    • If the image's filename begins with "iStock-", then you need to go to istockphoto.com and purchase a license for the image. To find the image on their website, copy the number that's in the filename into the search box that you'll find at the top of iStock's webpages.

How to choose images to add to a Pick a Picture image collection

I'm hoping I'll inspire others to make their own Pick a Picture collections, be they digital ones or physical ones. I've been asked about what I look for in selecting the pictures. Here are some properties that images that I have added to my Pick a Picture collection might have:

• tend to have no text
• has elements that can be seen differently at different times or by different people
• something you could look at for a long time
• has children engaged in doing something where you can imagine yourself as the child
• has people in it that are from more diverse backgrounds than are represented in the collection.
• has a mood or feeling that could go with it
• makes you smile
• are abstract, but not too abstract
• evokes a strong image
• has motion, light, or interesting facial expressions
• can give others a sense of how you experienced something

How long is a Pick a Picture session?

• Two hours was a generous amount of time for a group of four people total. Everyone knew each other, and having two hours provided time for there to be a large amount of interaction.