Species-Specific Albums

[Zonda]

Good luck Pete, that's some task.

[Pete Eeles]

Hi all - as I've mentioned recently, I've been intending to implement species-specific photos albums that allow members to upload their photos into an area that will form (I hope) a comprehensive image library of the butterflies of the British Isles. These albums are now available under the "Gallery" link. A full explanation of the intent is given at http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/gallery_guidelines.php and I'd appreciate your feedback. So - please get posting!

As a result of the policies that have been agreed by the UKB team, I'll be heavily-pruning my own contribution

Cheers,

- Pete

This is more of an announcement than anything else, and I'll send out a more-general announcement tomorrow to the mailing list. So ...

First off, thanks for all of the contributions into the species-specific galleries. We've been absolutely overwhelmed with the contributions! Rather than sift through the 2000+ contributions, figuring out which should be on the main species pages, we've decided (well, Gary and I !!!) to move all contributions "en masse" into the locked albums and will, over time, remove the below-par images back out. But at least I've been able to implement a clean "cutover" to the new mechanism. So, on the main species pages (e.g. http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... nis%20Blue) you'll now see images that are linked directly from the new gallery mechanism.

Also, Piers (Felix) has been providing aberration descriptions, the first of which are now included too. See http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... l%20Copper for an example. We'll be implementing aberration-specific galleries over time and you should see the aberration images move into the right place as we do that.

As ever - any comments / questions / bugs, please let me know. All in all, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders - to suggest an image for the main species pages, just add them to the species-specific folders and one of the moderators will move them over if appropriate.

Anyway - the mechanism is almost there - and thanks again!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Dave McCormick]

I just checked some of the species pages, this way is a lot better for adding species, but the only thing I noticed that was a bit odd was that some pages appear wider than others sometimes, like large white page appears wider than before on my IE8. Is this because of image descriptions? I know I added them on my images and could that be the reason?

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Dave - and thanks. That was actually a bug reading EXIF data in PNG images. Now fixed.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

I had a good chat with Piers (Felix) last night and have amended the policies for the species-specific albums, as shown at:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/gallery_guidelines.php

I've listed them here so that we can more-easily debate any items that might be unclear or concerning.

1. There is a minimum standard for images appearing in these albums. Before posting, take a look at images already included and ensure that your images are at least of the same standard, if not better. If you're not sure if your images are of sufficient quality, then please contact one of the moderators (and send a sample). An exception is where the image shows something not already shown (such as an aberration, or unusual behaviour). This policy is in place to maintain a sufficient level of quality.

2. When posting, please focus on images that will add something to the images already available. For example, it might be a butterfly photographed from a different angle, or behaviour not already shown.

3. Please post images in the correct album. The species-specific album contains a sub-album per species. Species albums contain a sub-album per stage (imago, ovum, larva and pupa). Sub-albums are also provided for subspecies, forms and aberrations. There are also sub-albums for specific aberrations.

4. If you are unsure of the subspecies then please post your image in the "Imago" folder for that species and one of the moderators will move it into the correct sub-album.

5. If you are unsure of an aberration then please post your image in the "Imago (aberrations)" folder for that species and one of the moderators will move it into the correct sub-album.

6. Images taken outside of the British Isles will be accepted, but normally only for rare migrants since we prefer images taken in the British Isles where possible.

7. Images of captive-bred individuals will be accepted although, given two images of equal standard, the image taken in the wild will take precedence.

8. When posting images of captive-bred individuals please be certain that, if relevant, it is of the same subspecies as one found in the British Isles.

9. Images of a subspecies not found in the British Isles will be accepted, but normally only when there are very few images of the correct subspecies currently available. This applies, in particular, to extremely rare migrants or accidental introductions, such as the Small Apollo. In this case, please post images directly in the "Imago" album for that species.

10. Natural-looking images are preferred. For example, we discourage images of butterflies taken on fingers (unless showing particular behaviour such as a Purple Emperor feeding on sweat).

11. Images that do not meet the criteria above may be deleted. If you would like an explanation for why an image has been deleted, please contact one of the moderators (unfortunately, we do not have time to provide an explanation for each image).

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Just to let you all know that the mechanism for contributing photos has now changed - it's now much simpler and makes greater use of images contributed by members! Main changes are:

1. There is a single "Species-Specific Albums" album (rather than two). So just post your images in there - see gallery/index.php.

2. Those selected for the main species pages will be a subset of these, as identified by moderators.

3. These images will also provide the basis for the main image, male upperside, male underside, female upperside and female underside, as used on the main species pages.

4. These images will also be used for the identification charts (see http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/identification.php).

It will take a few days to identify the images for items 2, 3 and 4, and currently all images are shown (rather than a subset) with regard to item 1. Watch this space!

This change has been made to ensure that images are used ASAP on the main species pages and identification charts once they have been contributed, and to remove me from the loop The aspiration has always been for the set of images used to improve over time, and this will contribute to making this happen!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Paul]

Pete....

any worth in including a section for images of mating pairs in the species specific pages??

[Pete Eeles]

Nice thought - but this would be (I think) a step too far. Otherwise we'd need albums for ovipositing female, courtship, each larval instar, different pupal colour forms, seasonal variation etc. etc. etc.

Perhaps, one day, I'll add a means of supplying "metadata" with each image so that it can be located in several ways

Cheers,

- Pete

[Paul]

hmmmm.. point taken, no worries, excellent as it is!