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 DOG PHOTO CONTESTS Schedule, Prizes Enter a Contest View/Vote for Finalists Get Contest Updates Register Contest Rules DOG PICTURES Winning Dog Pictures Dog Picture Galleries Contest Entry Gallery My Photo Gallery Featured Photographers Find a Dog Picture Dog Picture Archives DOG VIDEOS Dog Video Gallery Featured Filmmakers Submit a Video SHOP Bark-it-place  puts a picturein your gallery  e-mails it fetches info
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Frequently Asked Questions
Any Tips for Winning? Click here. I forgot my password. What should I do? Click here to go to the "I've Forgotten My Password" screen. (Or, click on Sign In at the top of any screen, which takes you to a sign-in screen. Click on "password forgotten" on that screen to go to the "I've forgotten my password" screen.) Enter your email address on the "I've forgotten my password" screen. A new password will be sent to you by email. How do I change my password? Sign in using your email address address and your password, or a password that was sent to you. Click on My Account. You'll find "My Account" in the list of links on the left side when you're signed in. If you're not signed in, you'll see a "Register" link instead. Then click on "Change my account password." Enter the current password and then a new password. How do I enter a contest? Simple. Click on Enter Contest and fill in the online entry form. You'll be able to browse and select digital images stored on your computer from that form. I uploaded a picture, but I don't see it anywhere. Where is it? We approve all pictures before putting them onto the site. You will receive an email notifying you when the picture is on the site. I entered a picture in the Popular Vote contest. Why isn't it on the voting page? Dog Pix and Flix members pick Popular Vote contest winners by voting for finalists. The finalists are selected from all the contest entries. How can I get contest finalists' and winners' announcements? Click on Get Contest Updates. If I register, will my personal information be shared with anyone? Absolutely not. What file format do you require? For still photos, JPG or GIF. For videos, Windows Media (AVI) or QuickTime. Video must be in NTSC format. Why do I have to register to enter a contest? Three reasons: We need to record the copyright holder, we might want to contact you if there is a problem with uploading or resolution or who knows what, and if you win a prize, we need to know where to send it. Can I send a picture directly from my digital camera? Most digital cameras have proprietary file formats. If your camera outputs jpg, you can send the picture. If not, you need to open it in an image editing program and save it as a jpg file. What size image will you accept? Larger than approximately 400 x 500 (600K), up to approximately 800 x 600 (1.5Megabytes). Can I send a print? No, sorry. Can I enter a black and white picture? Yes, if it's digital. Can the image be cropped? Yes. We want to see photos with good composition. Can I enter a picture that I didn't take? Yes, if you have permission from the copyright holder. The copyright holder is always the photographer unless the photographer has specifically assigned the copyright to someone else. Can I enter a picture of a dog that isn't my dog? Yes, if you have permission from the dog's guardian / owner. What is a model release? A model release gives you permission to use the likeness of someone or something owned by someone. You can access our model release form here. Why do I need permission from the people in my picture? Because this country is litigious and you never know who will sue someone for what. Also, of course, if someone doesn't want his or her face on a website, we want to respect that. Can you make a custom product from a picture of my dog even if it wasn't entered in a contest? Yes. Please contact us for more information. When will you have a video contest? Soon, we hope. Stay tuned! If you sign up for Contest Updates, you'll know as soon as we do. Meanwhile, if you know of any great dog videos that we should feature on the site, please contact us. Can I make money from my photographs? Yes, it's possible. We would consider selling any of the photographs that are finalists in our store and would also consider using the finalist photographs on custom products. You would, of course, receive a royalty on those sales. Please contact us for further information. Were do the photos on the site come from? We display approved contest entries in the Contest Entry Gallery. In addition, photographs in Dog Picture Galleries will sometimes include special topical collections - incredible photos from a lure coursing event, an agility match, or a search and rescue team at work, for example. The Home page features photographs from professional photographers and occasionally other non-contest photos that we have seen and fallen in love with. The Featured Photographer page showcases photographs taken by professional photographers, many of whom are contest judges. We do not accept general submissions for Dog Picture Galleries or for the Home page. The easiest way to see your picture on the website is to enter a contest. How do you pick your judges? We ask for recommendations from friends, from photographers, and from you. Contact us if you know a good candidate for a contest judge. The judge must be a professional photographer, photography instructor, director of photography, art director, cinematographer, or other professional in the field. How do you pick featured photographers? We ask for recommendations from friends, from photographers and other professionals in the field, and from you. Contact us if you are a professional dog photographer or know a dog photographer we should consider including. Why doesn't the envelope icon appear under all the pictures? If there is no envelope icon, the photographer hasn't given permission for the picture to be e-mailed. How can I see former contest entries that weren't finalists? Once the entries have been archived, you can retrieve a contest entry by using the search engine at the top of every page, or go to Find a Dog Picture. Enter the photographer's name, dog's name, the picture title, or something else you remember about the picture. If you can remember only the dog's breed, enter that in the search engine to see all the pictures in the database of that breed. Where can I find pictures that were on the Home Page? Use the search engine at the top of every page and also accessed from Find a Dog Picture. Enter the photographer's name, dog's name, the picture title, or something else you remember about the picture. If you can remember only the dog's breed, enter that in the search engine to see all the pictures in the database of that breed. Who do I contact about advertising on the site? Please email Pam Kerwin. Our policy: We don't accept advertising from companies that sell puppies and dogs. That's why you won't see "Ads by Goooogle" on our website (sigh) until they stop accepting ads from puppy brokers and puppy auctions. If Google's lack of screening bothers you, too, please contact Google. Are there any cooperative marketing opportunities with HQ Dog? Absolutely. We're happy to discuss affiliate marketing programs, mutual link exchange, product placements in our store, and other appropriate marketing programs. Please contact Pam Kerwin What is HQ Dog? HQ Dog is a company formed by dog lovers who want to help other dog lovers provide and find high quality and easily accessible pictures, data, stories, and info about dogs on the web. For more information see About Us. A Few Photo Tips. Some of you have asked how to take a better dog picture -- and how to make the pictures you've taken look better. We've gathered a few tips that might help. But first, a special request from one of our judges: Please don't put a date stamp on the picture. Now, the photo tips: 1. Focus. For 99 out of 100 pictures, make sure at least part of the picture is sharp and in focus. Be sure that your subject - or the most important part of your subject -- whatever you want us to focus on -- is crisp. One exception might be action shots. For these, sometimes the background is sharp and the subject is blurred to dramatize the motion, but the technique doesn't always produce a good picture. Look at sports pictures for good examples of action shots. Usually the subject is sharp and the background blurred. 2. Eyes that sparkle. Look at the winning Best Pictures. Notice how most of the dogs' eyes have reflections or little spots of light in them. If you look at pictures of models in product ads, or photos of people on the cover of magazines, you'll see that same sparkle in their eyes. When you're taking a picture, move around until you see those reflections, that sparkle in the eye, and then snap the shutter. 3. Use light. Notice where the light lands on your dog and in the scene. If you move to the right or left a touch, or up and down, how does it change the picture? Light coming from the side is more dramatic, so often the most dramatic pictures are taken early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Cloudy days make the light soft and are good when you don't want high contrast - but those photos must be very sharp and it helps if there's a bit of a sparkle in them -- as in this picture by Lenny Deets. The picture is alive because it's so sharp and because there's a sparkle in the dog's eye. Here's another soft picture by Ray Salmon. Notice that the eyes are perfectly in focus and sparkling. These pictures were the third and second place winners in the March Best Picture contest. 4. Look at what's in the background. A good thing to do right before you snap the shutter is to look at all four corners of the picture in your viewfinder and see what's there. If the background is ugly or distracting, throw it out of focus if you can, or move around your dog to change what the camera sees. If you've already taken the picture, crop out as much distraction as you can. Sometimes, an action or expression is so amazing or irresistible it overcomes a distracting background. But, given two photos with equally compelling action or expression, the judges will lean toward the best composition or the one with the least amount of ugly stuff in the background. 5. Look especially for white in the background. People's eyes are drawn to white, even tiny white spots and white or nearly-white lines. If you can crop the picture to eliminate any white areas in the background, try it and see if that improves the picture. Chances are your eye will then focus on the subject of your picture instead of the background. Of course, if you're shooting a black dog against a snowback, that's a whole other story! 6. Don't fiddle with the photo too much in a photo editing program unless you have a very good eye. If contrast and color corrections make the photo look artificial -- colors get shiny, highlights burn out, the picture gets a kind of gray-ish cast to it -- go with an unaltered picture. Same for sharpening the picture, which can look artificial. The edited picture might look OK alone, but next to several natural photos, it will look like something is not quite right. |
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