How to Submit Photographs and Reports
Over 100 volunteer “color spotters” (our term for contributors) submit photographs and reports to CaliforniaFallColor.com each autumn. To be one of them is easy.
Email photos and reports, within a week of when you visit an area, to editor@californiafallcolor.com.
Reports and photos received more than a few days later are often superseded by submissions for the same location (particularly popular locations) that were received earlier that week. We do not publish undated photographs and rarely post photos older than a week.*
Please edit and send only your best photographs as .jpg files, eliminating duplicates. We rarely publish more than ten photographs for one location by a single photographer in a given week.
Photos can be sent as an attachment to your email or linked to a photo sharing app, such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
Submitted photos should identify (within the email by file name):
- The photographer’s first and last name,
- date each photo was taken and
- the location where each photo was taken.
CaliforniaFallColor.com is unable to compensate photographers for use of their images, though we attempt to always credit the photographer for his/her work.
In addition to bragging rights, many contributors have had their photographs republished leading to broader recognition/exposure, enhanced resumes/reputation, paid compensation from media and/or retail sales, not to mention bragging rights.
Each Thursday from the first day of Autumn through the Thursday prior to Thanksgiving Day, we send to leading California print and broadcast media for republication or broadcast (with selected photographers’ permission) a selection of photos deemed by CaliforniaFallColor.com to be the Best of the Week.
This selection represents both the highest quality of fall color photos take in the previous week and the most representative of the extent of fall color being seen across California.
Photographs and reports from lesser-known or photographed areas have an advantage in being included, because of our interest in showing the breadth of autumn color being seen across California.
California’s most-visited (popular) fall color locations generate the most photographs submitted to this site. Many photographs, including duplicates of the same spots, come from popular areas such as Bishop Creek Canyon, and June Lake.
We attempt to publish at least a few pictures submitted from each color spotter, but occasionally cannot do so because: the pictures arrived too late, similar photos appeared previously or because too many from a given area were submitted.
A tip to getting published is to: 1) send the photos as soon as possible, 2) send only your best photos, 3) send images that other photographers may not have taken, and 4) well-documented photos have a better chance of being published than those that miss identifying the location/subject, date or photographer.
Only high resolution photographs sized to at least 300 dpi or larger than 1,000 kb are eligible to be considered in the Best of the Week selection. **
Quality camera phones (Apple, Samsung, Google) take pictures of sufficiently high resolution for images posted on this site, though digital SLR cameras take the best photos for republication. Set your DSLR to Fine, .jpg.
Submitted reports should identify:
- % of color change for the location being reported (e.g., North Lake, Bishop Creek Canyon) – not for a specific tree or shrub (expressed as: Just Starting, 0-10%; Patchy, 10-50%; Near Peak, 50-75%; Peak, 75-100%; or Past Peak),
- the name of the location, roads (e.g., take Rock Creek Rd. east from US 395),
- date visited and
- any helpful information (e.g., “The trail is steep for the first 500′. but then levels out for the two mile hike to the lake. A grove of peaking aspen is found at the western side the lake trail.”).
If you know the foliage seen in the photo (particularly if it is unusual or wouldn’t be evident to us), please describe it (e.g., quaking aspen, bigleaf maple, black oak, silver willow, etc.). If you do not know the plant, we will attempt to identify it.
We will make every effort to publish your report, particularly if it is from an unusual or lightly reported destination.
When multiple photographs are received from heavily visited locations, we are able only to publish the first received, the best or the most unusual report. Occasionally, we will post a portfolio of historic photos, but often only when fresh images have not been received. Photos may be cropped or adjusted for best presentation.
CaliforniaFallColor.com’s style is vivid and photojournalistic. Images that tell a story or that show human activity in relation to autumn are best.
Reports and photos can also be posted on CaliforniaFallColor’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. Though, emailing photos and reports to editor@californiafallcolor.com is the best way to get them on this site, and the only way to get them considered as among the Best of the Week.
Thank you and happy fall color spotting!
* Historic photos, like Michael Beatley’s shot of Spanish Creek (seen above), are published – on occasion – days or even years after they were taken, but only to illustrate an article that is not time-sensitive. Fall color reports only use photos taken during the previous week, in order to present what can be seen at that location.
**A high resolution photo is one that is 300 dpi (dots per inch). A photograph of 1 megabyte or larger is usually large enough to be considered to be high resolution. Please don’t hesitate sending a photograph just because it isn’t 300 dpi. Pictures taken by camera phones often get included in our reports. Small (72 dpi) images – the common setting for websites and devices – are too small for reproduction in print media, though they might be selected to be posted on this website.