Guidelines for Submission of Images to PLANTS
We would very much appreciate your contributions of digital
images or line drawings of U.S. plants to the PLANTS project.
At this time, we can only accept batches that meet the following
criteria:
- Batches of 100 images or more.
- Images must be accurately identified by scientific name.
- Batches must be accompanied with the necessary Metadata
(see below ) so that they can be easily processed.
The images in PLANTS are free for scientific and educational
uses provided that users properly credit the photographer,
institution, and The PLANTS Database. If you contribute your
images, you will be properly credited at the PLANTS Web site. Some
of the images in PLANTS are copyrighted. We prefer
that you relinquish copyright privileges for your submissions,
since it simplifies matters for everyone. However, if you
do retain copyrights, we will put potential commercial users
in touch with you to negotiate permission through the email
address that you provide in the image metadata. A simple
cooperative agreement, reproduced below and
here as a PDF document, governs your submission.
Cooperative
agreement (48Kb)
Please check out the images now in PLANTS to see what we
have and how your submission will contribute. Please email
us at plants@plants.usda.gov at
the National Plant Data Center (NPDC) for further information
if you have a batch of over 100 images that you would like
to contribute.
Quantity: Submitting groups of 100 or more images will let
us capture economies of scales during processing. We are
unable to process small, unsolicited sets emailed to us.
Quality: It's not easy to take great pictures of plants,
so we've developed a checklist that
may improve your image submission to PLANTS. Our primary
recommendation is to please use a tripod.
Digital Camera Images:
Please submit high-resolution photographs taken with a good
quality digital camera. Ideally your submissions would
conform to the following standards:
- Use at least a 4 megapixel digital camera.
- Images should be taken at the largest size and best
quality settings that the camera is able to produce.
- The preferred file format is uncompressed TIFF, provided
your camera is capable of producing TIFF files.
- If your camera produces only proprietary RAW files or
JPEG, please carefully convert the RAW files to uncompressed
TIFF for submission, or submit the best quality JPEG photos
your camera can produce. Very good quality can be obtained
in high-resolution JPEG files (6 megapixel or higher),
however, a few guidelines for JPEGs should be followed:
- JPEG uses a compression scheme that degrades the image
each time it’s saved. Do everything possible
to avoid repeatedly saving the file before submission.
- If you edit, crop or enhance the JPEG photo in an
image editor such as Photoshop, be sure to save the image
at the highest quality possible. Try to do all
of your work at one time to avoid repeatedly saving the
file.
- Retain a copy of the original file from the digital
camera in case you need to start the editing process
over again.
- Crop and rotate the images as required.
- Provide image information as outlined in Metadata below.
Line Images: You can submit high-resolution line images
for inclusion in the PLANTS Image Gallery. Our line
image standards are:
- Provide the images in uncompressed TIFF format at the
highest practical resolution.
- If the images are pen and ink drawings containing only
black and white, scan the image as black and white (1 bit)
TIFF images.
- If the images contain gray or color washes, scan the
images as grayscale or color TIFF images as appropriate.
- Provide only line images that are in the public domain
or drawings for which you hold the copyright.
- Crop and rotate the images as required.
- Provide image information as outlined in Metadata below.
Metadata:
Supporting information about your images will ensure they
are used to greatest advantage by the thousands of PLANTS
users. We recognize that preparation of a database with the
following information can be time consuming, but we would
appreciate your efforts to provide as much of this information
as possible. Some of it relates to the scientific value of
the images, and some is necessary to ensure photographers
receive proper credit for their work; all is important. However,
we would rather have your images and a minimal set of these
data than not have them at all! With that said, please develop
a database or spreadsheet for your images that includes as
many of the following fields as possible, where appropriate.
An empty copy of our image database in Access or Excel format
is available to help you build the metadata. Please use Access
if possible.
Empty Image Gallery Microsoft Access Database Template (204Kb)
Empty
Image Gallery Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Template (17Kb)
Field
Name |
Description |
Symbol |
This is the alphanumeric
Symbol for the Scientific Name for data management
purposes (available in PLANTS). |
Scientific Name* |
Plant scientific name;
can be either Accepted or Synonym name; no authors;
this is the name associated with the original image. |
Incoming ID* |
File name of image; each
file name (Incoming ID) will be unique within the submission. |
Image Type |
"Photo", "Line
Drawing", other as needed. |
Image Location |
Locality of image if provided; enter
Country, State, County, Narrative, Elevation (ft./
M), Latitude and Longitude coordinates in that order
as "USA, CA, Mariposa Co., Yosemite National Park,
Bridalveil Falls, 4100', Latitude: 37.750 Longitude:
-119.729" |
Image Date |
Date image taken such as “12-Oct-1999”.
Expressed as a 4 digit year. |
Artist* |
Name of photographer or
illustrator. |
Copyright Holder |
Holder of copyright, if
any. Enter only if there are copyright restrictions,
and if the same as Artist enter that name again. |
Copyright Date |
Year
that image was copyrighted, if any. Expressed as
a 4 digit year, such as 2002. |
Image Citation |
Publication citation for
book or journal; Author (et al. for multiple),Year,
Title, Publisher or Journal Citation, Volume, Pagination)
(no ending period) |
Contact |
(Person’s name).
Enter Contact Person’s name in all cases even
if it is the same as the Artist and/or Copyright Holder. |
Contact Info* |
Contact URL, email, address,
or phone—enter only one. |
Institution |
The name of the institution,
no ending period. |
Institution Type |
Is it the Institution of "Artist", "Copyright
Holder", "Contact". "Citation", "Other". Enter
the first institution type from the order given here
that applies to Institution. |
Institution Info |
Institution URL, email,
address, or phone—enter only one. |
Owner |
Person who physically has
the slides, drawings, or images. |
Notes |
Quality control/Identification
notes. |
*minimal data set
Upon making arrangements with the NPDC, digital images
can be sent to shipping address provided. Please package
the submission as securely as possible. We’re
sorry we cannot assume any responsibility for lost or damaged
images, but we will be happy to ensure traceable shipping
by providing you with a FedEx # billed to the NPDC. Information
about your submission (see Metadata above)
and a Cooperative Agreement (see below) should accompany
the images. A
PDF format version of the Cooperative Agreement is also
available.
Cooperative Agreement between the National Plant Data Center
and
__________________________________
This agreement is developed between the USDA Natural Resource
Conservation Service, National Plant Data Center, (hereafter,
NPDC) and ____________________________________________ (hereafter,
the Contributor). The agreement covers the submission and
use of slides, digital photos, or line drawings for inclusion
into the PLANTS photo gallery of the PLANTS Web site.
Description of Submission:
The NPDC agrees:
To provide full credit to the photographer and his/her institution
whenever the image is displayed in any way, and also to provide
an indication of copyright if this applies. The NPDC reserves
the right not to use or display any image.
The Contributor agrees:
To provide the NPDC with accurately identified images of
plants from the United States of America, its territories,
or protectorates that are supported by as much information
as possible as outlined in Metadata above.
To grant the NPDC the right to modify and display images
and make them freely available according to the PLANTS Conditions
of Image and Data Use.
____________________
NRCS |
____________________
Date |
____________________
Contributor |
____________________
Date |
NPDC fax: 225-775-8883
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