Photo Guidelines
Every upload is reviewed by a screener before it goes live. This page explains exactly what we check, so you know what to expect and can get more of your photos accepted.
File requirements
These are enforced automatically — uploads outside them are rejected instantly.
Before you upload
Run through this list — it catches most avoidable rejections.
- ✓The aircraft is sharp and in focus, especially the nose and registration
- ✓The horizon is level and the aircraft isn't cut off at the frame edge
- ✓Exposure is balanced — the fuselage isn't blown out and shadows aren't crushed
- ✓No heavy noise reduction, over-sharpening, or oversaturated colours
- ✓No borders, frames, timestamps, or your own watermark — we add credit automatically
- ✓The photo is your own work
What screeners look for
The aircraft should be crisp at full size. Slight motion blur on propellers or rotors is fine and often desirable — blur across the fuselage is not.
Aim for natural colours and detail retained in both highlights and shadows. White fuselages blow out easily in bright sun; underexposing slightly and lifting shadows afterwards works better than recovering clipped highlights.
Keep the horizon level and leave a little space around the aircraft. Avoid clutter across the subject — poles, fences, and antennas crossing the fuselage are common problems.
Subtle is better. Over-sharpening creates halos along the fuselage edge, and aggressive noise reduction leaves a waxy, plastic-looking surface. Both are easy to spot at full size.
Registration, type, airline, and airport must be correct. Screeners verify these, and a wrong registration is a rejection even when the photo itself is good.
Photo information
Fill in as much as you can. This data powers the aircraft database and search, and it's how people find your photos.
Categories
Standard shots of an aircraft — the default for most uploads.
Wide shots of aprons, terminals, or the airfield, where no single aircraft is the subject.
Flight deck interiors and cockpit views.
Common rejection reasons
- ✕Soft focus or camera shake
- ✕Heavy JPEG compression artefacts from over-compressing the export
- ✕Blown highlights on the fuselage or crushed, detail-free shadows
- ✕Tilted horizon
- ✕Aircraft too small in the frame, or clipped at the edge
- ✕Over-processing — halos, waxy surfaces, unnatural colours
- ✕Dust spots or heavy sensor dirt in the sky
- ✕Incorrect registration, type, or airline
- ✕Duplicate of a photo already in the database
If your photo is rejected
You'll get a notification with the reason. Rejections aren't personal — screeners apply the same standard to everyone, and most experienced photographers here have had plenty.
If you believe a rejection was a mistake, you can appeal from the photo page and a screener will take another look. If the reason was technical, reprocessing from the original file and re-uploading is usually the better route.
Copyright
Upload only photos you took yourself. You keep full copyright — uploading grants us permission to display the photo on the site with your credit attached, nothing more.
Every accepted photo gets a credit badge with your name in the corner. Uploading someone else's work results in removal and, for repeat cases, account suspension.
Ready to share your shots?
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