First of all, to all writers who submit photos to illustrate their work: Thank you. You do terrific work, and the magazine looks great because of it.

We do require that photos accompany all stories if at all possible. We no longer accept slides. We accept digital photos in .jpg, .eps, or .tif formats, and photo prints from film.

Regardless of which you choose, please number each photo. Send a cutline sheet along with the images, setting out a suitable caption for each picture. If you send prints, please place a sticker with your name on it on the back of each print to avoid loss. Address stickers are fine.

Please send all the photos for a particular story together, not some now and some later. It’s much too easy for confusion to arise in such a case.

Photographs from film:
In-focus color glossy photographs using film are the easiest images with which to work. Please identify who took each photo, with the person’s entire name, when you send them. Please number each photo to identify which caption goes with which shot; it is the simplest way to ensure accuracy.

Please, do not write on the back of prints with a ballpoint pen, because it makes dints in the photo. Use a soft-tip pen, on a label sticker. If you write in ink on the back of prints, please do not stack them back-to-front, because the image of the second print will soak up ink from the back of the picture in front of it. Always send prints front-to-front and back-to-back to avoid spoiling the pictures. Only write on the sticker and attach it to the print, because otherwise permanent markers seep through to the front side and sometimes show up in the printed version. Please do not send negatives. We cannot use them.

Digital photographs:
Printouts from an inkjet or laser printer are never acceptable. They use many tiny dots to form a picture and when we scan them, the resulting dot picture of a dot picture produces an image that looks like it was shot through a chain-link fence.

Pictures taken from Web sites on the Internet also are not acceptable, ever. Aside from the question of who owns the copyright to the images, they are reproduced in such low resolution that there is literally not enough information available to render them in print.

HLB currently uses the InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator programs for its layout and reproduction needs.

Digital photos can always be reduced in size but never expanded, a fundamental difference from film pictures. Therefore, please send the unaltered “raw” file from a camera of at least 4.5 mega-pixel capacity.

We print all pictures using a density of 300 dots per inch (dpi). In other words, each square inch must contain at least 300 pixels to avoid that pixelated chain-link look mentioned earlier. In many photo programs, the photographer can designate how large the finished picture should be and how many pixels per inch are needed. The dimensions entered when you save and name your photo determine the largest size it can ever be. We almost never use photos measuring 3 by 4 inches or smaller.

The easiest solution would be to submit photos that are 300 dpi, sized at 9.25 by 11.5 inches; a digital photo can always be made smaller. Experience has shown us that 800 or 900 kb (kilobytes) is the smallest useful photo file size. Bigger is definitely better.

Several contributors have mentioned a program, from Photoshop, that purports to increase the size of photo files. It does not do so, because NOTHING can increase the number of pixels of a .jpg or .tif once it has been saved. The best it can do is place a “fuzz” of the same color around already existing pixels. Please do not use this program.

The more megapixels a digital camera has, the bigger the photo can be in print. For HLB’s purposes, a 4.5 mega-pixel camera is the smallest amount of power that will produce a photo of sufficiently high resolution to render a usable 7 1/2-inch by 5-inch picture. For full-page photos, including possible cover photos, please use at least an 8.4 mega-pixel camera.

Cover photos:
HeartLand Boating  pays extra for a photo if it is selected as the cover photo. For a photo to be considered for a cover, it must be vertical or easily cropped to vertical dimensions. Photos should be of the highest quality, well composed, with clear, vivid colors. They must picture water; we prefer photos with boats in them.

EDITORIAL AND PHOTOGRAPHY MATERIALS:

Ms. Lee Braff, Editor
HeartLand Boating
319 N. Fourth St., Suite 650
St. Louis, MO 63102