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by Editor David Williams
We all want to be published and sell our art work. Here are some tips to help you increase your chances of getting published on the greatest online photo site.
Before we get into that, our Head of the Curators team - Peter Svoboda - wrote an interesting article on the reasons of rejection during the screening process. You can read it here.
Here are my tips to help you achieve your goal of getting published. This is a guide to help you, it is not a promise that you will ;)
Originality
1X has amazing photographers to learn from. I say learn from, not copy. Copying someone maybe all good but it doesn't further your creativity or your originality. Also, we must remember the curators have seen a lot of images.
If you see something you like, learn it, copy it and then add your own twist to it before you add it to 1X. Maybe it doesn't make it this time, but you always have the choice to submit it for critique. 1X has an amazing opportunity for the best of us to learn from. This is critique from professional photographers. This is invaluable.
Category
1X has a long list of categories. Make sure you put your image under the right category. This may sound obvious, but photos are put under the wrong category often.
Background
Keep it clean! Black or White background works well with portrait shots (human or animal) It takes away distractions from the subject.
Title
Recently I read an article by Editor Peter Walmsley about using a title for the shot you upload. For those who are interested, click here.
A title has power, it adds mystery, a certain charm. It draws the reader in before even looking at the image. You must have had a story in mind when taking your shot so think what could the title be?
Size and crop
When uploading an image, upload it in high resolution. This doesn’t make a difference in the decision of being published, but if it is published you don’t need to upload the image in high resolution again for selling. Also, in my opinion, low resolution images lose quality which can cause many different things visually.
When cropping an image do we always remember the rule of thirds? Do we think about the aspect ratio? If not, experiment with it, find what suits the image, what pleases your eye?
And finally, in this digital age taking a photo has never been easier. We don’t need to go out and worry about the technical side of it, we can literally just press a button and “fix” it on the computer. There are a lot of opinions on this and I’m not here to argue about them, but my point is there are pictures and there are great pictures.
How do we make the difference?
Personally speaking, to make a great picture it must have feeling, raw emotion. Something that digs into your soul and makes you think about the image. This is art.
Following these simple guidelines may help you getting your photos published.
Good luck...
 | Write |
 | Charlaine Gerber PRO Oh thank you for the great article, yes, it is really a great honour to have a work published...it was intersteing to get this point of view, thank you! |
 | David williams CREW Hi there, Charlaine
My pleasure. I hope it helps you get published :)!thank you for reading and commenting. Always appreciated! |
 | Robert Woodbury Hi David,
While this is certainly a good primer I believe that it also helps to have a large number of followers. While the numbers to seem to bear out the fact that new comers appear to have a roughly 4% chance of being published it's my observation that there's a cohort within 1x who are consistently published. Agreed, their work is of a consistently high standard, it would be my contention that their work (style) is so recognisable (almost to the point of no longer being "original") amongst their followers that it has little risk of being rejected during curation. Indeed as one correspondent has alluded to, the curation process is a black-box. Authors have little feedback understand of how or why their work is rejected - indeed I've had work rejected which has received gold awards. Suffice to say that this leaves one feeling confused about the curation process. Please don't take this as a gripe, just some observations about the process.
Cheers,
Rob |
| David williams CREW Hi, Robert :) I completely agree with you :) the curation process is something we will never know how or why or what. I’ve had work rejected that has been sat in Tokyo art museum so....... What you said about someones style being so recognisable... that is something I do think about also. You have many good points. Again the curation process is like the KFC secret spice as in no one knows except for the actual curators. |
 | Christian Roustan (Kikroune) Great and interesting article, nice work David.
Cheers,
Christian |
| David williams CREW Appreciate it very much, Christian :) |
 | Yvette Depaepe CREW Dear friends, if you want to see the titles in the member curation, you can on your mobile or tablet in a simple way. On the beta version, you can click on the three dots on the top, left side and ask for the "desk top version" by scrolling down to the bottom of the menu that will appear. Login on the desk top version and you will see the titles shown in the member curation whatever the device you use.
Cheers, Yvette |
| David williams CREW Ahhhhh brilliant, Yvette! Thank you so much for that!! |
 | Wicher Bos CREW Thx! |
 | Miro Susta CREW Very fast and constructive response. Everybody must appreciate it. Thanks Yvette. |
| Yvette Depaepe CREW Just handy to know, isn't it ;-) |
 | Knut Sander Good to know, Yvette. Thank you! |
| | Miro Susta CREW Hello David,
you have posted here an interesting and educative article. I am sure that many 1-x members can make a great use of it. You have very well touched a hot subject. I fully agree with you that the photo originality is very important. But what is an "originality"?
This could be discussed in an another article.
You have mentioned Peter article on this subject, very interesting. But what worries me that there is not single response to 1x member's comments from Peter. I have also inserted my comment with some questions, no response at all. In my opinion the curators should work with the members, or I am wrong ?. Any opinion??
Something else, it would be nice to have few more categories, I'd appreciate SPORT, NATURE and FLORA and maybe also TRAVEL and BIRD EYE VIEWS. This would make easier to search photos for new articles.
Once more many thanks for your great contribution. |
| David williams CREW Hey there, Miro
Thank you for reading the article. I appreciate that very much. I hope many 1X members can make use of it also.
What is originality...... what a great question! Shall I keep that in my back pocket for another time... I believe so :)
Peter wrote a great article. I guess he didn't reply as it is a topic that has no answer as such?
I think the curators are too busy to work with members. I believe this is what the feedback is for. I do believe the curators should give a comment when a photograph is rejected or published. I mean there is a space for that but never do they respond I read "because it would take too much time" who knows, the curation process and the curators are like a secret society. Better not to go down that rabbit hole ;)
As far as categories go, I am with you on this one. Maybe something that's planned for the future? I am sure time will tell.
Anyway, thank you once again for reading and commentning :)
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 | Chris Brunner Why doesn't the post for critique function work? Keep getting an error. |
| David williams CREW Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately I cannot answer that. Please do mail support at [email protected]
Thank you :) |
 | Carmine Chiriacò CREW Good article David ! |
| David williams CREW Hey, Carmine :) appreciate that very much! Thank you |
 | Martine Benezech PRO Many thanks dear Yvette. It's an excellent article, who give hope. |
| David williams CREW Thank you very much, Martine. I appreciate your kind words :) |
| | Wicher Bos CREW Thank you for sharing your views! I was looking for a photosite where i was challenged, where not always the obvious and polite replies were given. I joined 1x for that reason. It would be a great victory to have an image published one day, but my joy in photography is independent from that. ;) By the way i fully support Knut’s remark about title not shown... glad you will look into it. |
| David williams CREW Thank you very much for you comment. I will definitely look into the title being shown. Your reasons for joining 1X are the same as mine. I am happy to read that. You will get published, keep pushing! :) |
 | txules PRO I agree over the most important subjects: originality, background... but title and category?, to me is really superfluous, actually one of the chosen pictures for this article is entitle "flamingos", it's a fantastic picture with an obvious title¡¡¡
Anyway thanks for the advices cause many of my pictures are rejectd and I still have a lot to learn
my best
My best |
| David williams CREW Thank you very much for reading the article :) you will of seen the article written on the importance of a title. I believe it also touches on using a single obvious word.
Category, I am not 100% sure and this is my personal thought, but the curators must have a system as there are thousands of images a day they have to go through. So if an image is in the wrong category, maybe and I say maybe it is automatically thrown out? I am thinking aloud here and I could be wrong, but it makes sense to me.
We will never know the curation process so to increase our chance of getting published let’s not give a reason not to be ;) |
| | David williams CREW Knut, thank you very much for reading the article and I hope it has some value for you. Your point about not seeing the title when curating on the mobile version is a very good point! I will be sure to pass that along for you. I hope that can / does get changed. I appreciate your input very much
Best wishes
David |
| | Knut Sander Dear David, Thank you for this valuable insight. You mentioned how important the title might be "A title has power, it adds mystery, a certain charm. It draws the reader in before even looking at the image. You must have had a story in mind when taking your shot so think what could the title be?". I agree. But when I curate photos in the mobile version I can not see the title of the submitted photo. Can that be changed? Thank you again. Best wishes. Knut |
| David williams CREW Hi there
Yvette posted a useful reply about the titles when using a phone etc. I have copied and pasted it for you in case you missed it.
“On the beta version, you can click on the three dots on the top, left side and ask for the "desk top version" by scrolling down to the bottom of the menu that will appear. Login on the desk top version and you will see the titles shown in the member curation whatever the device you use.” |
 | Eiji Itoyama PRO Dear David, thank you for featuring my pink flamingo shot. I am still being rejected and learning something from unpublished. After almost a year has passed since I joined 1x, I do not feel like discouraged as before. I am getting more sure about what I like regardless getting published or not. I always like to be open minded photographer. 1x is really good stimulation for me to do it. |
| David williams CREW Great to hear, Eiji! We are all constantly learning the craft. Getting published is a bonus and how great do we feel when it happens! If every shot was published it wouldn’t feel great, it wouldn’t be special. Thank you for the comment :) |
 | Marco Antonio Cobo PRO My attitude is to be a student always, in this way I can learn and progress continuously, just as green fruit always has the possibility of ripening ripe fruit, the only destiny that awaits it is to rot.
I do not intend to create works of art, I do not even intend to take photographs, I just need to be able to offer another vision of the universe through my eyes. |
| David williams CREW And we appreciate your vision / version. Thank you for reading and leaving a comment :) |
 | Peter Davidson CREW Good article David, particularly in respect if the tendency to emulate the latest photographic trend or style until it becomes a cliche. Substance first and style will usually follow. Being published should not the sole aim. Creativity and originality, that is the aim. |
| David williams CREW Thank you very much, Peter :) yes, exactly what you said! |