2007-2008 Rules for Registering Photographs

1) Photographs must be taken in any city, county, state, provincial or national public park, wildlife refuge, forest or trail (all public lands).

2) Photographs must be registered at a minimum resolution of 800x600 pixels and in .jpg format. Photos are displayed on MPP and Partners at approximately 700x525 only and reviewed at 800x600 by professional judges for greater clarity during the contests.

Registration of Photographs

An unlimited number of photographs may be registered, however, photographs may only be registered once, and similar photographs or photographs in a series of three or more photos must be restricted for display in the member's personal photo gallery.

Students, Full, and Lifetime members may register an unlimited number of photographs per month.

Partner Members may register up to 1 photograph per category, per property, per month.
(approximately 16 photos per month, per property) Partner photographs are placed into the member's personal gallery and property galleries only and are not eligible for the various contests.

Student Members
The scholarship competition shall consist of a 250 word minimum article and three corresponding photographs pertaining to the subject of the article, one article per property maximum. Students may write more than one article for the competition on various properties. Each article and corresponding three photographs will be judged as one body of work with points given to the photographs according to Focus, Composition, Lighting, Technical Superiority, Impact, Creativity, and Storytelling, and the article will receive points according to grammar and storytelling in conjunction with the photographs.  All individual photographs are a part of our POTD and POTY contests.

To be eligible for the tuition scholarship photography contest students must be:

13 - 25 years of age;  Parental approval is required for students under 18 ~ View Form Here ~
A high school or home school student at time of registration; or Currently enrolled at a technical, art or photography school, two-year or four-year college or university at time of registration (or will be enrolled during the Fall semester/quarter following the end of our yearly contest each August); and a beginning or amateur photographer.

(School name and main school phone number must be provided at time of registration for school verification)

3) MyParkPhotos.com reserves the right to crop registered photographs for display purposes, if necessary, and for other needs as required.

4) Parental Release: Photographs of children (when recognizable in the photograph) must have a written and signed consent by a parent or legal guardian of the child or children "on file" with MyParkPhotos.com before the photograph may be displayed.

5) In the event that ownership of any photograph submitted to MyParkPhotos.com is contested in any manner, MyParkPhotos.com reserves the right to remove and disqualify the photograph from the member's gallery and any contests.

6) By registering your photographs with MyParkPhotos.com, you agree to the following:

Release by the Photographer

I warrant that I took the photograph(s) submitted here (collectively, the "Photographs"), that I own the copyrights to the Photographs, and that I have authority to enter into this Release;

I understand that MyParkPhotos.com has entered and will enter into agreements with various Public Lands, to include Parks, Wildlife Refuges, Forests and Trails and non-profit organizations supporting interests in nature and wildlife (“Partners”) for the purpose of displaying certain Photographs on the Partners’ websites.

I release MyParkPhotos.com and Partners from any liability whatsoever that arises from the use of the Photographs except for uses that violate the terms and conditions of this release. I agree to work in good faith with MyParkPhotos.com and Partners to promptly resolve any problems or disputes that may arise due to my registration and the use of the Photographs.

By registering my Photographs with MyParkPhotos.com, I grant MyParkPhotos.com and Partners the royalty-free and non-exclusive right to use my Photographs as follows: (i) on Partner and MyParkPhotos.com websites; (ii) for Partner and MyParkPhotos.com advertising and brochures; (iii) in Partner and MyParkPhotos.com electronic emails. I waive the right to inspect or approve the final use of my Photographs by MyParkPhotos.com and Partners for the above uses.

I understand that MyParkPhotos.com and Partners will request permission from me before using my Photographs for purposes other than listed above. I understand that my Photographs will not be otherwise distributed to any third party or sponsors without my permission.

This agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Florida.

I agree that if any portion of this Release is found to be void or unenforceable, the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect. Void where prohibited by law.

7) For consideration into our POTD and POTY contests, members must register each non-personal photograph into one relevant category.

Our Contest Categories for 2008:

Contest Categories
  Architecture
  Birds
  Black & White, Sepia and IR (Infrared)
  Close Up
  Events/Programs
  Flowers
  Landscapes
  Plant life
  Seasonal
  Sunsets/Sunrises
  Waterscapes
  Wildlife

Non-Contest Categories for Display Only
  Camping
  Portrait
  Recreation
  *Personal (See Note)

For more information about categories and which images to place into a particular category, please visit our FAQ for categories.

MyParkPhotos.com reserves the right to determine and change a photograph's category at any time.

8) All images that include captive birds or wildlife should be identified as such. This may be done by putting a (C) at the end of the photo caption. This applies to any animal or bird restrained by a fence, cage, pen, cage, tether, wing clipping, or any other method, and includes wild animals temporarily captive during rescue and treatment pending future release. Animals freely roaming wild in parks would not be so identified.

Registering Photographs into the POTD and POTY Contests

9) Photographs must be registered no later than 11:59 PM Thursday, July 31, 2008, to be included in the community's last month's contest and the MyParkPhotos.com annual contest of 2008.

10) Judges base their decisions on the following qualities for the daily and yearly recognition contests:  Focus, Composition, Lighting, Technical Superiority, Impact, Creativity, and Storytelling.

11) Daily, Yearly and Scholarship Contests:

A. Daily Photo Contest: One photograph is selected each evening to be displayed as the POTD from among all of the photographs registered over a 24-hour period.  The POTD is placed at the top of all pages in a filmstrip for community recognition.

B. Yearly Photo Contest: All photographs registered between August 1, 2006 and July 31, 2007, will be judged by a three-member panel and winners will be announced in August 2007.

C. Student Scholarship Contest: All articles and set of (3) corresponding photographs registered between August 1, 2007 and July 31, 2008, will be judged by a panel and winners will be announced in August 2008.  A tuition scholarship of up to $500 will be awarded to one student in two $250 installments during the Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters.

12) Photographs eligible for the various POTD, POTY and Scholarship contests must adhere to the following rule regarding photo modifications:  Minor digital enhancement for cropping, red-eye removal, filters, corrective functions and legitimate manipulations such as burning and dodging, brightness and contrast, color adjustments, saturation, stitching and cropping are permitted, but not images that have been judged to be significantly altered.

Significantly altered: Pertains to photos that have had significant portions of the photo altered to display features or subjects that were either created with the use of a clone tool or in cases where elements of the photo were changed from the original view by the photographer. I.E. cloned features such as birds in flight, flowers in a field, etc. and altered skylines or foregrounds/backgrounds.

Additional Types of photography allowed and encouraged: Infrared (IR), Underwater, Black & White, and Sepia.  Photographs should show a scene as natural as possible working in the respective medium.

Please do not place borders, frames, or dates on your images. Photos with these elements will be removed from the various contests and placed into the member's personal gallery.

Signatures, watermarks with signature, and copyright notices are allowed and may be placed on the photograph by the owner.

13) Photographs that fail to comply with the contest rules may be disqualified and removed from the contest galleries and displayed in the member's gallery as a personal photograph.

14) Beginning with the 2007 POTY contest, members are limited to winning one yearly category.

15) The decisions of the judge(s) for the daily, yearly and student scholarship contests are final.