I have always accepted material from others for my WEB site. This document outlines the process and will assist those wishing to submit material. Because this is my site, I reserve the right not to use submitted material.
REMEMBER, IMAGES SUBMITTED ARE PLACED ON LINE WITH YOUR NAME. I'm sure you'll want to place your best efforts on line. The images need to be of a quality to help modelers or for historical research.
I will NOT accept any material that is marked with a copyright mark, restricted rights or commercial vendors. The only exception would be if the material has a WRITTEN approval to use the material signed by the copyright owner. Material submitted via email attachments from the owner of the material is assumed to have permission to use the material on line. However, a statement included with the material indicating that I have permission to use it online would be appreciated. Note - the submitter retains the copyright.
It is assumed that submitted original slides can be used. These slides, even if they were not taken by the submitter, are assumed to be acceptable as part of a collection. Large black and white prints are normally not used as they are assumed to have been purchased through a dealer. If submitted, they MUST have written permission from the vendor. Duplicate slides will NOT be used because the original slide may be copyright. Note - I check both sides of submitted slides for any indication of copyright marks under magnification. Because of possible copyright issues, I will not use slides that have no markings or have marked out areas. Slides that appear to have been reframed will NOT be used.
All submitted material will have credits to the submitter as the photographer or as part of the collection of the submitter. If the original photographer can be identified, they will be given credit.
Any material that is placed on line and is then questioned about a copyright, the material will be removed as soon as possible and not replaced, even if permission to use later granted. Any time a copyright issue is raised, all material from the person will be removed and no further material from that source will be used. Currently I have five names on the black list.
February 7, 2002
Search engines can display "thumbnails," but not full-sized images of copyrighted works on their Web sites, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
Setting parameters for copyright infringement on the Internet, the court found that reproducing photographs to create thumbnail images is a fair use of the material, but displaying full-sized images violates the copyright owner's exclusive right to publicly display his works.
But the court found that displaying the full-sized images through linking and framing was not transformative and harmed the market for the original photographs.
"While it was necessary to provide whole images to suit Arriba's purpose of giving users access to the full-sized images without having to go to another site, such a purpose is not legitimate," Judge Thomas Nelson wrote. The 9th Circuit sent the case back to the district court to determine damages for copyright infringement and whether an injunction is necessary.
"This is a fascinating case," said Annette Hurst, a partner at Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin in San Francisco. "It's basically going to do away with linking or framing without permission."
The above ruling means that you must have permission to link to image files on my site. If you request permission to link to a photo(s) on mu site, I will forward your request to the person who submitted the image.
I accept slides, prints and negatives from others. Since I really have a full time job, I work on submitted material as quickly as possible. Before submitting material, please check with me to determine how long it will take to return your material. Submitted hard copy material will be returned with a CD containing large TIF files and the JPG image placed on line. I may not use all of your submitted material.
I do accept paper material like operator manual, annual reports, Book of Rules, etc. However, because of the amount of time required to OCR the text and then add the images, rapid turn around is not possible. These items also are returned with a CD.
Because of copyright issues, I will not scan duplicate slides unless I have WRITTEN permission from the owner of the original slide.
While not necessary, to help me keep moving, please submit a file with the following items. I may edit remarks if they are too long. I will add the credit information.
(road id) (type) (number) (location, city-state) (date) (remarks)
EL SD-45 3604 Cleveland OH 12/12/74 at Riverbed yard
I normally create these files if I can find the information on the media if not included. If you don't know the AAR for freight cars, I'll add the data.
Slides and prints processed by Seattle Film Works normally don't have the quality necessary for good sharp scanned images. I have found that only one in ten images is acceptable using this film.
My standard image size for online use is 800 pixels wide. However, the sizes may be 750, 800, 900 or 1000 pixels wide depending on the image format. I also try and keep image file sizes to 60K to speed downloads. For these reasons, I would like to receive image files that are at least 800 pixels wide. These files should have a size of at least 75K. I normally work on all images, cropping or doing other enhancements.
I will reject images that I determine do not meet the standards that I have established. I reserve the right to crop the images to the format I use online. This means that copyright notices placed on images near the top or bottom may be removed.
Images taken using digital cameras must meet the above standards. It is suggested that well lighted images be submitted. Remember, the submitted material will be credited to you and you want to look good. I have noted that some submitted images have reduced colors, which produces large block color areas rather than smooth transitions. Photos taken with digital cameras should be taken at the highest quality possible on the camera. This will limit the number images that can be stored on the memory stick.
Note - Because of email limitation on my system, please limit the amount of material submitted at any one time to less than 5Meg. It is recommended that you submit a few test images to determine the suitability of the files.
Currently, I am using a Canon Elan 7 SLR body with a Canon 28-135 image stabilization lens. Although I have used many types of cameras, this set up has yielded the best "bang for the buck" of any I have owned. I use slide film almost exclusively, although during the heat, haze, and incredible humidity of the summer months in the Southeast, I occasionally use negative film. Fuji Astia and ProviaF (both ISO 100) are my slide films of choice for scanning. I have never been able to get good scan results from good ole Kodachrome 25, but I still use it - when displayed with a good quality projector, a Kodachrome slide will knock your socks off with almost 3D sharpness. George, if you've any advice in this area, let me know. I've been frustrated many times trying to get my Kodachrome scans to look like the slides they came from.
As far as scanning goes, I have used Kodak's PhotoCD service for a number of years but the cost and inconsistent results have led me to invest in a Nikon Coolscan IV ED film scanner for most of my scanning needs. Kodak still does a better job with those Kodachromes, in my opinion. The Nikon is a great little scanner but it is slow as Christmas. As to software, I use both Adobe Photoshop and Corel's Photo-Paint for basic scan processing.
If you wish to submit update material for the model section of any railroad, I will need the information in either and Excel or Lotus spreadsheet, it in columns. The data must conform to the columns in the current tables. Data submit not in this format may be insert as time permits.
Thanks,