A note from the Editor

Dear Prospective PT Contributor:

Thanks for inquiring about the submission guidelines for PHOTO Techniques magazine. We’re perhaps the most technical photography magazine on the newsstand, and cover both traditional and digital photography. Our readership is comprised of advanced amateurs and working professionals. As the name implies, many of our articles focus on the techniques that help produce exceptional photographs. We also focus on the science of photography. We’ve closely examined, for instance, the numbers behind the superiority of 16-bit imaging, and the techniques behind the manipulation of light, the interaction of photochemicals, and useful tips for processing and printing photographs. Many of our articles have featured experiments that readers can perform at home and duplicate the results for themselves.

Many of our readers are students of the Zone System, created by photographer Ansel Adams and others. Many are well-versed in Adams’ work and teachings, and several contributing editors specifically address the Zone System on an ongoing basis. Many readers are largely or solely digital. Articles on digital photography should cover the hows and whys of some aspect of the process of creating quality digital prints, rather than illustrating what one can do with various wacky Photoshop filters. Our readers also enjoy technical articles, scientific tests and guides that we present. “How-to” articles backed by concrete examples and good photographs are always welcome.

Before you submit, we ask that you first pick up an issue or two to get a good feeling for the magazine’s content. You’ll see that most of our published photographs appear in stories about using a given photographic technique, so article ideas (or a full article, if you’ve written it) generally should accompany submitted photographs. Photographs with no article idea can only appear in our portfolio section, which makes the odds of selection long (portfolios will need an accompanying essay, in any case, if they are chosen).

Portfolios

We’re always looking for interesting images for our cover or portfolio section. Having said that, we publish only six portfolios, six covers, and less than a handful of “one-pagers” each year—and half of those are solicited privately. As with other photography magazines, the odds are long. We say this not to discourage submissions, but so that potential contributors will realize that this is not a contest: acceptance or rejection of your work is a judgment not of its ultimate quality or merit but merely of its suitability to our current needs.

We need images that go together well. Portfolios which try to show the range and adaptability of the photographer by including disparate types of standard pictures are unlikely to be accepted. Think of a one-person gallery show—most offer bodies of work on a theme or two, not random assortments of “this and that.” The exception to this is if you choose to send two groups of pictures, different from each other but each internally coherent.

To be chosen, work must go beyond competence; generic work in any category isn’t interesting. For instance, we get many, many portfolios of landscapes that aphotographer shot while on vacation, so before sending in images of waterfalls or Monument Valley, ask yourself whether the images truly show a fresh view of an often-depicted subject or whether you’re better off covering less crowded territory. No subject matter is excluded, but work that diverges radically from the norms of public taste begins with a strike against it.

We pay $400 for a four page portfolio (usually four to eight images), plus we can provide extra copies of the issue in which your work appears.

Submitting

Work must be original and not previously published. Please include your e-mail address, and home and work telephone numbers on both your manuscript and illustrations. Upon acceptance, we’ll first edit and lay out the article, then fax it to you to check for errors. Articles generally pay $100 per published magazine page.

You can send text and images via e-mail attachments. (Please, however, do not imbed your graphics into your Word documents.) Send your work to: jgordon@phototechmag.com

If sending text and images via U.S. Mail, include a disk with your article in Microsoft Word format. Items submitted via U.S. Mail must be accompanied by a return envelope (and packing) with return postage. Please package your work well, and ensure that it is easy to handle and re-package.

Text: Articles should be less than 2,500 words. Text should be submitted in double-spaced format. Please include any diagrams, illustrations or photos to be used with the article, along with captions. Captions should include type of camera used, type of film and any other technical information—including camera settings, how you processed it, type of developer, type of paper, etc.

Images: Send 8–20 prints; 8x10s are best; anything larger than 11x14 is strongly discouraged—they’re difficult logistically and hard to scan. If sending slides please enclose between 15-25 images for us to review, along a description of what’s in the photographs, where you shot them, the type of camera/lens set-up used, and type of film. Slides should be good dupes: DO NOT send valuable or irreplaceable originals without specific consent. Please indicate if digital images are comprised of more than one “negative.”

You can also send photos as JPEGs attached to e-mail, not totalling more than about 1 MB. Please send no more than 10 at a time, and the absolute minimum size 320x240 pixels (640x480 is better) so that we can see all the fabulous detail in your images. You can burn images (as JPEGs or TIFFs) onto a CD and mail it (a good option for sending more or high-resolution images).

A Division of Preston Industries, Inc. 6600 W. Touhy Ave., Niles, IL 60714-4516 U.S.A. Phone 847.647.2900 | Fax 847.647.1155