How to contribute your photos to total plant

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We accept high-quality digital photos of native plants using our online web form. In addition to providing the image itself, we will need your name, contact information, the plant’s scientific name, the date the photo was taken, and the location of the photo.

Photos should be sharp and clear. We prefer photos taken in natural habitat, rather than in the studio. The photo should not be obscured by copyright symbols, text, or other watermarks. We also discourage photos that are obviously color-enhanced or are more about people than the plant itself. Unless a plant has naturalized, we do not want photos of horticultural plants. We are especially interested in photos that:

• Fill in gaps of plant aspects (e.g., leaf, fruit) that we do not have a photo of (or that we have a poor photo of).
• Show a plant part that is useful in keying out the plant (e.g., blue stamen, or ciliate hairs on the leaf).
• Show a native plant that is not yet in the Total-Plant database.

Before uploading new photos, please check existing photos in Total-Plant to see if your contribution will expand the information we already have.

Will Total-Plant edit or change my photo?

Each time you submit a photo, you will have two choices. You can allow the editors to crop or focus on a particular part of the photo as needed. Or, you can specify that the editors not alter the photo.

Photos will be publicly available.

We can only accept images that you are willing to have available publicly on the web. We will review your photos and add them to our database if the photos meet the above criteria. Each online photo that we accept will include the photographer's name and year taken. Total-Plant will not provide viewers with your contact information.
All thumbnail photos on Total-Plant may be used for non-profit purposes without permission, per Fair Usage (with photographer and year specified). Anyone wishing a larger version of a photo on Total-Plant must contact us. We will contact the photographer and submit the request. For additional information on Using Photos in Total-Plant, please see our FAQ on “Copyright and Fair Usage.”

What size photo should I upload?

The maximum file size in bytes is 16MB. The maximum photos dimensions are 4096 x 4096 pixels. If you upload a photo that exceeds these parameters, you will get an error message.

Which image formats do you accept?

Photos uploaded to Total-Plant must be in JPEG format.