Contributor Guide

The Cities/Buildings Database is always on the lookout for new sources of images. If you have slides you have taken which you would be willing to have scanned into the database please contact us.

When contributing please be aware that turn around time can be slow. We rely on a small team of student volunteers to scan and Photoshop the images and have been known to get backed up at times. If you can supply us with scans in a TIFF format at 1350 dpi or higher, and a fully processed JPG, then so much the better. Please observe the scanning and Photoshopping guidelines given below.

When preparing batches of slides please keep them in manageable sets of 20 to 40 slides each. When editing a batch please keep in mind how they are being used. They need not be beautiful from a photographic standpoint but must present useful information for the architectural researcher. Please, no posing tourists. Label each slide numerically on the left hand margin beginning with number 1. If there is any doubt about which side is up, please indicate this on the slide (preferably with a red dot in the lower left corner).

Please supply as much of the following information for each image as possible.

• Title:
• Site:
• Detail:
• City:
• State:
• Nation:
• CE Date of Construction:
• BCE Date of Construction:
• Object/Building Name:
• Architect/Builder:
• Materials:
• Type:
• Style:
• Other terms:
• Notes:
• Slide Number:
• Photographer:
• Date of Photograph:
• Source:
• Copyright Holder:

Please supply the above data with the slides and, if possible, as a plain text file attached to an email. Also include a signed note stating that you are the copyright holder and you are giving the Cities/Buildings Database permission to use them.

Database Photoshopping Guide

For every image we use in our database we need a backup TIFF and a medium (level 3) JPG that has been straightened, cropped, cleaned of specks and scratches, color and lighting corrected, resized, and given a copyright tag. The basic details/steps are:

1. Scan the slide as a TIFF at 1350 dpi or higher, LZW compression.
2. Save the TIFF as a Quality level 3, Baseline standard, JPG.
3. Level the horizon if needed.
4. Crop the edges.
5. Zoom in and clear the image of specks and scratches.
6. Adjust color balance, levels, curves, and brightness as needed.
7. Resize: Landscape format 550 pixels wide, Portrait format 512 pixels tall.
8. Add copyright tag: Times New Roman, 11 pixels, Bold, Anti-Aliased.
9. The copyright tag should use black font, and be set in lower right corner if possible.
10. Use symbol, date, name format. That is: © 1999 John Doe.

For more information contact:
Meredith L. Clausen
Professor Architectural History
University of Washington
mlc@u.washington.edu

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