UKC

Photos Help Page

The UKC Photo Gallery is a place to exhibit, view and be inspired by some great photographs related to climbing and mountaineering.

  1. What photos can I upload?
    The UKC Photo Gallery is a public gallery, not an online deposit to put your holiday snaps - there are plenty of other private online galleries for this kind of thing. Please view your photos as part of a collective gallery which is for the benefit of all users of UKClimbing. It goes without saying that you must have copyright, or permission to use, any photo you upload.
  2. How do I upload photos?
    Go to this page and follow the online instructions.
  3. How long does it take my photos to appear?
    The UKC galleries are moderated by volunteers who check the upload queue every day. Usually most photos will be verified within 24 hours but occasionally it takes a little longer, especially at weekends. If it takes longer than this then contact us.
  4. How do I remove or replace a photo in my gallery?
    Make sure you are logged on to UKClimbing. Click on the photo in your gallery, and then click on the button in the top right-hand corner that says 'Edit photo details'. The replace button is in the middle of the linked page and the delete button is at the bottom of the page.
  5. How do I improve my gallery ranking?
    The easy way is to remove all the low-scoring photos and your ranking will go up. The hard way is to take better photos!

Technical Issues

This very useful article covers how to prepare your photos for the Internet in great depth.

  1. Should I prepare my photos for upload?
    In most cases you don't need to prepare your photos for upload however the process will take a lot longer if you try and upload photos as they come off the camera. Often it is best to do some preparation - read this article for some great tips about preparing your photos, and enhancing them before you upload.
  2. How big should my photos be before I upload them?
    You can upload photos straight off the camera, but if you choose to resize them yourself for better control and faster upload, then we suggest a file size of between 150kb and 250kb, and 950 pixels wide or 800 pixels high.
  3. Should I change the dpi of my photos before upload?
    The short answer is, no, you don't need to touch the dpi.
    Dpi (dots per inch) is a resolution setting used by printers. All computer screens have a resolution of 72 dpi hence it doesn't matter what you choose for your dpi, it will have no impact on how the image is displayed on a computer screen. The quality of a photo displayed on a computer screen is governed by its pixel dimensions, which dictate how big the image is, and the quality of JPEG that you save the image at - see below.
  4. What quality image setting should I use?
    Most cameras take different qualities of image, often called something like 'fine' or 'super fine'. In most cases either of the top two settings will be adequate for photos for the Internet. You can simply upload these images straight off your camera if you don't have any image processing software. Make sure you always set your camera to take the biggest images though. This setting is different from the quality setting and is usually denoted by something like a file size - 9M, 6M, etc. - or a pixel number - 3600, 2800 etc. - choose the biggest!
  5. What JPEG setting should I save my processed photos or slide scans at?
    When you save a scan or a processed image, you should always save it in JPEG format. Most software will then give you the opportunity to select a quality level for that JPEG at the point you save. This is usually indicated with the words 'High', 'Medium' and 'Low' quality; or as a percentage, where 100% is very good and 0% is terrible; or as a number where 12 is excellent and 1 is rubbish. If you try and upload a photo which has been saved as a low quality JPEG (percentage less than 40%, less than 5 quality setting) then it will be blocked and you will get the error message that 'the image is too blocky'. To get around this, go back to the original image and save it at a higher quality.

Problems with the UKC Photo Gallery

  1. My photo has been rejected by the moderators?
    This could be for a number of reasons. Most likely is that the photo isn't suitable for the UKC gallery. Check the categories below to see if it fits in one of them. Please don't make your judgement based on other photographs already in the gallery, our moderation system is done by volunteers and it isn't perfect and there are images in the gallery the probably shouldn't be there.
    Another common reason for blocking a photo on upload is that the photograph isn't properly captioned, in particular, it is missing any location information. The UKClimbing Gallery is an information gallery as well as a places for great images. It is important that images have proper crag/mountain/location information so that people know what they are looking at, and where it is.
  2. My image won't upload because it is not the right format.
    Images need to be in jpg format. This is the standard format for most digital cameras. Read this article for more help.
  3. My image won't upload because it is too 'blocky'.
    It is possible to save JPEG photos at different 'qualities'. This is usually measured in a graphics package with the words 'High', 'Medium' and 'Low' quality; or as a percentage, where 100% is very good and 0% is terrible; or as a number where 12 is excellent and 1 is rubbish. If you try and upload a photo which has been saved as a low quality JPEG (percentage less than 40%, less than 5 quality setting) then it will be blocked and you will get the error message that 'the image is too blocky'. To get around this, go back to the original image and save it at a higher quality. This article describes in great detail how to go about preparing your photos efficiently.
  4. My photos have all been given a 1 vote by someone
    If your photos all suddenly receive a lot of '1 votes' then there is no need to worry, the vote calculating software can spot consistent negative voting and it will ignore it in the end and delete the bad votes. If you suspect that your photo has received some deliberate malicious voting and these votes haven't disappeared after a week, then contact us.
  5. My photo has appeared in some UKC editorial content.
    Occasionally we use photos from the UKC database to illustrate News Items and Articles. We do make efforts to contact people for permission first however it isn't always possible before an item/article is made public. If you find a photo of yours being used and don't wish it to be then please contact us and we will remove it.
  6. I have some old photos that say they will be deleted!
    Unclaimed Photos are from registered users who have let their account expire. If you have re-joined the site using a different user name, please claim your old photos using the 'Claim as my Photo' button before they get deleted.

Photo Categories

  1. Biking - biking in the hills/mountains. Photos of people biking in the hills or mountains, which might include road cycling in a mountain area.
  2. Bouldering - bouldering on rock. Photos of people bouldering, although soloing a route should probably go in 'Rock climbing'. There should be at least 1 person climbing in the photo. Landscape shots of a boulder/area should go in 'Crag Shots', or 'Landscape' if they are pretty rather than functional.
  3. Crag shots - photos of crags and faces for illustration purposes (no voting). Photos illustrating crags or faces for purposes of illustration rather than photographic quality. Photos with route lines on them and simple topos.
  4. DWS - Deep Water Soloing.
  5. Expedition & Alpine - mountaineering photos featuring climbers. Mountaineering photos, probably outside the UK. This can also include mountain landscapes without people in them.
  6. Hillwalking - people hillwalking. People hillwalking. Close-up photos of walkers without any mountain context should go in the 'People' category. Shots without people should go in 'Landscape'. Hillwalking in wintery conditions (snow, etc) should go in 'Winter walking'.
  7. Historical - mountaineering or climbing photos with general historical significance. Photos which are of significant historical interest to the wider UKC audience. Old shots that are only of interest to the gallery owner and their friends should be put in other categories. There is no concrete date limit on these photos but consider pre-internet and digital camera age as the rough cut off date - around the mid 1990s.
  8. Indoor wall - photos of indoor walls, with or without climbers. Photos of people climbing indoors, or photos that show off an indoor climbing wall/centre. This also includes home training walls, etc.
  9. Landscape - general scenic shots with a mainly mountain/climbing theme. Photos of climbing/mountaineering areas, which can include people, but the photos are mainly about the location. This can include sunsets, etc. so long as they are vaguely connected to climbing areas. If there are people climbing, then move the photo to one of the climbing categories. Please refer photos of flowers, cars, etc. to the Photo Editor (by choosing Category->...refer to Photo Editor).
  10. People - photos featuring people in a mountain or climbing environment (no voting). Group photos and photos of people in a climbing or mountaineering environment or at least linked to a UKC meet. Photos of climbers in action where the climber expression is much more significant than the route they are climbing.
  11. Running - running in the hills/mountains. Photos of people fell/trail running in the hills or mountains.
  12. Scrambling - climbers on graded scrambles/via ferratas. Photos of people climbing graded scrambles (ie, easier than VDiff climbs) and via ferratas. With or without ropes. There should be at least 1 person climbing in the photo.
  13. Sport climbing - climbers on bolted rock. Photos of people sport climbing (ie, ropes, bolts, etc). There should be at least 1 person climbing in the photo. Landscape shots of a route/area should go in 'Crag Shots', or 'Landscape' if they are pretty rather than functional.
  14. Trad climbing - trad/aiding/soloing climbers on rock. Photos of people trad climbing (ie, ropes, nuts, cams, etc). There should be at least 1 person climbing in the photo. Landscape shots of a route/area should go in 'Crag Shots', or 'Landscape' if they are pretty rather than functional. Climbers on a graded scramble should go in the new 'Scrambling' category.
  15. User Profiles - your user profile picture (no voting). Photo of the user. Doesn't have to be climbing - can be biking, walking, just sitting around, etc. No cartoons, animations, celebrities, etc!
  16. Wildlife - in a mountain or crag environment, no pets please (no voting). Photos of animals or plants in a mountain or crag environment, no pets.
  17. Winter climbing - winter ice/snow climbing on routes. Winter ice or snow climbing on a graded route. Often UK mountaineering, and ice climbing abroad. Use the new 'Winter walking' category for people who aren't climbing routes. Shots without people should go in 'Crag Shots' if they just illustrate current conditions, or 'Landscape' if they are pretty rather than functional.
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