Writing technical articles for this site - our guidelines

We accept technical photography article submissions and photography guest blogs for the Northlight Images web site.

However we strongly recommend you read this page, look at what else we have on the site and contact us beforehand to discuss the possibility of us publishing an article. Please note - we are unable to pay for articles.

Note - We're open to any suggestions for topics, so if you've an idea, please just ask if you'd like to submit an article. We're also happy to consider ideas for co-authored articles.

The Northlight Images web site has built up a reputation for interesting and informative articles related to photography.

We're keen to expand this, and as such are always interested in blogs/articles submitted by writers with expertise in areas of photography and associated subjects.

So, you're thinking of writing something?

What areas of expertise can you bring to an article that not only makes a good read on the site, but potentially makes people want to find out more about yourself too? Look upon article writing as a way of establishing your expertise in an area.

Our aim is for the site to host authoritative articles, that get cited elsewhere.

Articles don't have to be 100% serious (see the Canon view camera for example) but need a degree of rigour and references to additional information and/or supporting evidence.

If you're new to article writing for the web, we're happy to provide some help and assistance, such as how to produce a web version of a print article you may have written. See this useful article about how users read on the web.

In equivalent terms of scientific topics, think of an article for New Scientist or Scientific American, rather than a paper for Nature or Science. For photography, think of an article in the BJP, rather than 'My first Digital Camera'

Content

Original: Articles should be your own original work.
Unpublished: Articles should not have been published in similar form elsewhere. Thus, a web version of a print article is fine.
Expertise: Articles should demonstrate the author's expertise in a particular technical area and aim to be informative and educational.
No PR: Articles that read as PR material (aka 'Puff') will be dismissed out of hand. We read a lot of press releases and can spot it a mile away...
Made for Search: Articles obviously created for SEO purposes will be declined, unless sufficiently original, authoritative, and transparent with respect to authorship.
Copyright: Copyright will be retained on all articles and images by the author, with Northlight Images licensed to use them on its web site.
Length: Articles should be a minimum of ~1000 words (excluding references), with no maximum, although at much over 4000 words we may suggest creating a series of articles. This page is around 700 words.
References: Articles should ideally contain several references/links to other web or printed resources to enable readers to further explore the topic under discussion.
Style: Articles may be edited for style and clarity, but will always be submitted to the original author for approval of any significant changes.
Language: Articles will be published in English, using UK English spelling
- Note for US authors, we're happy to 'fix' this for you ;-)
Text: Articles should ideally be submitted in the form of plain text with associated photographs and illustrations.
Images: Large images (JPEG, PNG or GIF) should be re-sized to 690 pixel width maximum - we can do this if need be.
Links: If possible, full HTML links should be included in article text content, along with section titles, for linking from the top of the article when in web form.

Authors

Affiliations: Where authors have -any- affiliations with companies, manufacturers or suppliers mentioned in the article, this must be clearly stated at the beginning of the article.
Balance: Articles should be written in a measured and balanced manner.
Your own name: Authors must be prepared to publish in their own name - we will not accept aliases or web pseudonyms.
Comments: Articles can also be linked into the Northlight Photography Stuff blog, where readers can comment on articles - authors should indicate whether they are happy to answer comments in the article text.
Editing: If we don't agree with what you say, then expect some vigorous comments during the editing process ;-)
Preview: We will always allow authors access to the web version of their article before it is published on the site.

Our advertising

Site content is free, and as far as we're concerned will always remain that way.

We do have adverts on the site to help defray some of the costs of running it.

We've specifically decided that Northlight Images will not sell hardware or software directly - our independence is important and we expect article authors to respect this. As such, opinions in articles are the opinions of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Keith Cooper or Northlight Images.

Keith Cooper