What we need from you when submitting photos to robertharding
Image Guidelines
- Technical Requirements for Stills - Image dimensions must be a minimum of 5100 x 3400 pixels and saved as best quality jpg, 8bit, Adobe RGB(1998) colour space.
- Mobile Phone cameras - We will accept images shot on mobile phones for our royalty-free collection that has a minimum 18-megapixel camera. Images can be uploaded to our portal directly from the mobile device.
- Images should not be interpolated (upsized) to meet this size as it reduces image quality. Don't reduce file sizes if your camera can produce native files bigger than this.
- Images must be free of sensor dust, digital artefacts, colour blocking, excessive noise and over-sharpening.
- Images must be no older than 3 years.
- Photos must be submitted on an image exclusive basis and not be represented by any other stock agency, this includes sister images or similar's
- Required metadata fields for each submitted photo are caption, country and shoot date, if not embedded in your photos this can be added in our portal
Basic Video Guidelines
- Accepted Formats H.264, 4K or Full HD, QuickTime, Best Quality. We may be able to accept other formats but please get in touch first.
- Frame Rates These options are dependent on frame size, please request our full tech spec document.
- Duration Minimum of 5 seconds. Suggested maximum of 30 seconds. Durations longer than 30 seconds are allowed if the content justifies it.
- Recommended Color Space Rec709 or Rec2020.
- Audio Include ambient sound in your files only if it enhances the file, and is recorded at appropriate levels and with adequate quality.
- All clips must be free from camera shake, judder, rolling shutter, flicker, and silent channels, any clips found to have technical issues will be rejected.
- Each submission must be accompanied by a fully completed submission log
- Video submissions must be uploaded by WeTransfer, so if you are interested in submitting video clips, please get in touch so we can provide you with our dedicated URL, we will also send you full tech specs and a submission log.
Captioning Guidelines
- It is extremely important to accurately caption your images and video clips, customers expect images to be accurately described and our keyword team will use your captions to populate your images with useful keyword tags.
- You should only describe what is visible in the image.
- Use only English characters, our website cannot translate foreign language characters and these will appear unreadable.
- Images and clips featuring animals must include the common and scientific names of the species as well as the location shot. Unfortunately, images of captive animals cannot be accepted.
- Captions/descriptions must be written in the following format – Brief subject description, Location, Country. For example, Samba dancer in the Sambadrome, Rio Carnival parade, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Model and Property Releases
- Photos of recognisable people or taken on private property or containing copyrighted/trademarked material must be submitted with fully compliant model and or property releases or be carefully removed with Photoshop (e.g. license plates, logos, boat names etc.). Please only use our releases which can be downloaded here.
Download Model & Property releases for your content - Releases must be fully completed, images with incomplete releases will be returned or accepted for editorial use only.
- We reserve the right to contact the models or properties to check compliance.
- Unreleased images may be selected for editorial use only if required.
Drone Images and Video
We do accept images and video shot with a drone, these are still subject to having and providing to us any required model/property releases for commercial use. However there are legalities to be aware of when flying a drone to capture stills and video for commercial use, these will differ on a country-by-country basis, for most countries you must be a qualified UAV pilot, have a licence, insurance and permission to fly/photograph over land, property and people, it is the responsibility of the photographer to have the required documents before shooting, we expect you to have full knowledge of where you can and cannot fly and may also request eyesight of any documentation before accepting the submitted work.
Subjects Wanted
Our specialist areas are Travel, World Cultures, Wildlife, Nature and the Environment.
- We are particularly looking for a more diverse range of images depicting culture and life around the world. In particular festivals, local markets, food, traditions, customs, agriculture, industry, local economy, rural and urban scenes, architecture and businesses. There is a particular need for images and videos of travellers exploring and interacting with the local population. All the above are shot in a contemporary and vibrant style.
Intellectual Property Rights
- Intellectual property rights infringements are becoming an increasingly growing subject that many photographers may be unaware of. Intellectual property includes trademarks, designs, architecture, artworks, private property and rights to privacy.
- We regret we are unable to accept images or video of any sporting or concert events where commercial photography is prohibited. Many museums, castles or any property that charge visitor admission fees do not allow photography for commercial use without written permission. Other problematic subjects include graffiti, street art and any copyrighted artwork in a public space.
- Please research ahead of submitting any images but If you are unsure whether a particular place or subject may be an issue please contact us for advice.
If you would like to join robertharding and be part of our team of professional media creators we recommend familiarising yourself with our image galleries for an idea of the standard and subject range our customers are looking for. Please complete our short registration form and upload an initial submission of 5 photos, we will get back to you as soon as we have reviewed your submission. Don't get put off if your submission is rejected as the bar is set pretty high. We will give you help and advice and encourage you to make another submission
If you need any advice on submitting content or are planning a shoot and need a shoot brief, please get in touch and a member of our creative team will assist you.