Our artwork and photography area accepts any image which can be shown in a graphic manner on our website, in a PDF and in a print copy. Non-digital artwork should be scanned or photographed into digital format. Our submission form will allow you to upload the digital images. We only accept submissions in this manner.
Just to give you some ideas, you can submit images of:
* paintings
* drawings
* origami
* pottery
* wood turned bowls
* polymer clay sculptures
* sand castles
* hand woven rugs
* tatting
Because we are family friendly, we cannot accept images which involve nudity.
Let your imagination guide you! Look through previous issues to see the range of submissions we accept.
Entry Details
You may submit up to five graphic works for for a given issue. Each submission should provide two copies of the image. There should be a small-size image of about 600 pixels wide for review. There should also be the full sized master copy for the PDF and print copy use, of at least 1,000 pixels on each side.
Remember to crop your image properly before submitting it. If you are accepted, we will be publishing exactly what you send us. If you have a power line in the bottom right corner of your image, and it distracts from the beauty of your flower, then we will judge the overall image accordingly. Be sure to trim out distracting items from the sides or even PhotoShop them out as appropriate. Adjust the brightness and contrast to best bring out the colors and focus of your image.
Here are some issues to keep in mind, especially with photographs and digital photographs:
Focus
Focus applies in two different ways. First, the image should be in focus. There should not be fuzzy or blurry edges. This can be a real challenge, especially for small or fast moving objects. Take the time to learn the controls on your camera and find the settings to best capture the image you want to get. Many photographers take 20 or 30 photos of a given subject, at different exposures and settings, in order to get that one perfect photo.
Second, focus applies to how the viewer's eyeball reacts to the piece. The photographer controls how the eye views the work based on a number of things. Does the main item in the photo "stand out" from its background? The main item should be of a different color than its background, a different brightness level, or perhaps more in focus than the background. You can set your camera to make the background be deliberately blurry to help the main item stand out more. Practice playing with your camera to learn how to best get the focus you are after.
For the flower image above, the flower is in focus. The background is slightly out of focus. The flower is bright orange, while the background is soft green. Because of these differences the flower stands out well and can easily be seen.
Movement
In some images the movement is obvious - horses are racing along a track, a butterfly is delicately landing on a pansy. In other images, the movement is more about how the viewer's eye moves through the piece.
In this image on the left, the viewer's eye naturally follows the bridge "deeper" into the image, arriving at the Japanese temple. Your photo should have some sense of movement or liveliness to it. You want to get the viewer involved with what you are presenting to them.
The Rule of Thirds
The human brain reacts most favorably to images that are broken out into thirds. Imagine that your image is broken into three vertical stripes, or three horizontal stripes. Try to have a different part of the image in each of those thirds.
Of course rules are meant to be broken, but by and large images that fall within these recommendations are the ones best received by viewers. For example, I'm sure we can find examples of incredibly wonderful images which are slightly out of focus, where that slight fuzz makes them perfect. However, the vast majority of the time an image that is slightly fuzzy simply looks like a poorly taken photo where the photographer didn't use their camera properly.
The key is to take tons of photos! Instead of taking just one photo of that rare junco, and hoping it is "good enough", take 20 photos with different settings and different exposures. This gives you the best possible chance of having the perfect shot in the mix. Nature photographers who create award winning photos didn't do that by chance with one shot. They sat by the spot for hours, taking thousands of photos, and out of those thousands one had just the right combination of lighting, focus, contrast and background.
Good luck!
Artwork Submission Form
Main Submission Guidelines
By far the best way to get an idea of what our literary review is looking for is to peruse our past issues!
Archive of Past Issues
