I need some answers!

What is The Big Picture?
The Big Picture is a West Midlands wide photography project. You don’t need to be a skilled photographer to be part of The Big Picture – we want to see your image of your region. Throughout 2008 a number of art galleries will be holding Big Picture events but you are taking part just by uploading your photos to the website. Keep coming back to the website to find out more, take part in photo challenges and to win Big Picture prizes.

What is Flickr?
www.flickr.com is a reputable photo sharing website and online community. The Big Picture team recommends that you sign up for a free Flickr account – this is the easiest way to share your photographs with The Big Picture community. Upload your favourite photographs and tag them bigpicture2008. Once you’ve done this come back to The Big Picture website and log in – you will be re-directed to Flickr and asked whether you agree to The Big Picture accessing your account – click yes! – all your Big Picture tagged photos will then be fed to The Big Picture site. It’s really simple!

To find out more about Flickr you can Take The Tour or watch this video.

Do I have to upload my photo to Flickr to have it featured on the website?

No! There are plenty of other ways to submit your photos. Email them to [email protected], or you can post them to our freepost address (either your actual photos or a disc – please note we can only return photos if you provide a self addressed envelope).

To add a photo by MMS send it with BIGPIC first in the text of your message to 60300.
You can add a title if your phone gives you a Subject: field, and tell us a story in the text of your message (even leave your name).

Texts cost your network operator’s standard rate. We may in the future use your number to send you free information about The Big Picture - you can text STOP to 60300 to stop those.

What is a tag?
Tags are handy labels that make finding and sharing on the Internet easier.

Flickr uses tags to help search the photos people add. You can search your own photos or those added by anyone else. A photo can have more than one tag (on Flickr up to 75!), and it’s a good idea to have as many as are relevant to your photo.

So if you’ve taken a picture of a tree, with a man in front of it who is smiling, you could add “tree, man, smiling” as tags. That way, if someone searches for any of those words on Flickr they will find your photo.

When you add the tag “bigpicture2008″ to one of your photos on Flickr, your photo will automatically be picked up on this site and collected together with all of the other images that have the same tag.

On Flickr you can add tags to other people’s photos too – if they allow it.

If you’re interested in the types of tags people use on their photos, try looking at this article written by a Flickr user.

I don’t own a digital camera – can I still submit a photo?
Yes! If you have a mobile phone with a camera you can either email your photo straight from your phone or very soon you will be able to send us your photos by MMS message. We will then upload your photos to the site on your behalf. If you wish you can also email digital photographs direct to The Big Picture team and we will make sure that they get added to the website.

We can also accept actual photographs. Please post them to this address, we will scan them in and add them to the website. If you wish for photographs to be returned please include an SAE.

I’ve added my photos, where are they?
With thousands of photos on The Big Picture site it can sometimes be difficult to find your own – but don’t worry we can do it!

It may take a few minutes from adding or uploading for the photos to appear in our galleries, if you’ve just done that, go and have a cup of tea and check back in a little while. If you’ve emailed them to us we may take 24 hours to add the, by post a while longer – but they’ll get there eventually.

When you’re ready to look for your photos there are two main ways:

  • One is to browse the albums. Start at the Photos page and choose the album you put your photo in when you added it. That may be a regional one, or you may have added a tag for a “themed” album - like ‘love’ or ‘mum’. Use the Previous Page link to go back though the pages of photos.
  • The other is to search. The search box at the top right of every page allows you to search all the content on the site – photos and articles – type in a word or words and off you go. The words that are searched through for photos are the title, the description (the story you added when you uploaded), and any tags you added. If you used the Add One Photo option on our site, they your name will be in the description.

Why do you keep asking me to complete a survey?
We want to find out about the people contributing to The Big Picture and would therefore really appreciate it if you could complete our survey. The information you give us is completely confidential and will not be passed onto third parties for marketing purposes. If we like your photo we may contact you by email to ask your permission to feature it in publicity for The Big Picture or to feature the photograph and/or your story on the BBC Where I Live website. The Big Picture will not use anybody’s photographs without prior consent from the owner.

What should I do if I see something unsuitable or offensive on The Big Picture website?
If you spot anything unsuitable or offensive we ask that you contact us straight away at [email protected]. We will always endeavour to remove any reported images as quickly as possible. We rely on our users to act responsibly when selecting photos to be uploaded. The Big Picture is a website for everybody so please only upload images which you would deem suitable for family viewing.

I have an idea for a feature or competition. Who should I contact?
We would love to hear your feedback and ideas. Please email us at [email protected]

Can I upload more than one photo?
Yes! The best way to upload more than one photo is to open a free Flickr account. Remember to tag all your Big Picture images with the tag “bigpicture2008″ to ensure that they are added to The Big Picture site.

What’s this I keep hearing about World record attempts?
The Big Picture team want to do something really special with the photos that are contributed to the website. This summer we hope to use all the photos submitted to break the record for the World’s largest photo mosaic. We need 95,000 photos to break the record – so start adding your contribution today and be part of something really big.

If I want to use a photo from The Big Picture website, how do I get permission?
Photos on The Big Picture website and on Flickr.com are the property of the photographer. We would suggest contacting the photographer directly via their Flickr account. The Big Picture team strongly advises against copying and using any photo that appears on this website without the prior consent of the photographer.

Why do you ask for the story behind the photograph?
The Big Picture is an online community and we feel that there is a story behind every image posted on the website. If we like your story then we may want to feature it in the press or on BBC Where I Live websites. Don’t worry, we will always ask for your permission if we want to do this.

Who will be able to view my photograph once I have uploaded it to The Big Picture website?
A photograph that has been uploaded to The Big Picture website is available for all our website visitors to see. The most recent photographs are displayed on the home page and are then placed in our photo galleries.


How do I remove a photo I have uploaded from The Big Picture website?
If you have a Flickr account then all you have to do is remove the “bigpicture2008” tag. If you have submitted your photo by other means then please email [email protected] and we will remove the photograph for you.

How do I add a comment to a photograph?
To comment, leave your message, your name (you can use a nickname if you like!), and an email address in the boxes below a photo. You may also leave a website address, maybe of your photos, if you like.

Comments are moderated, meaning the Big Picture team read them first, so they can sometimes be a short delay between posting and your comment appearing on site.

How do I find out about Big Picture events?
There’s a lot of stuff going on between now and June. To find out more visit the What’s On pages.

I’ve never been to an art gallery before, what is it like?
Following your visit to the Big Picture website you may wish to visit one of our participating art galleries running Big Picture events. If you’ve never been to a gallery before this may be daunting experience but we would highly recommend giving it a go. The galleries we work with are not the stuffy places you may expect, all the galleries welcome small children and families, don’t mind a bit of noise and have fantastic facilities. Additionally, all the Big Picture galleries have disability access.

What is Audiences Central?
Audiences Central have developed and created The Big Picture. Audiences Central is the audience development agency for the West Midlands region. To find out more visit www.audiencescentral.co.uk

Help! I’m really stuck – can you help me?
If you are really stuck then we will be happy to help. Just drop us an email at [email protected] and we will get back to you within 24 hours.