However...........  I'm having a problem that seems to be with just about every entry I receive: I'm not getting the original photos! I'm getting edited, rotated, cropped, color-adjusted and/or sharpened photos. 

So, I guess I should clarify "edited images":
     - If you open it, rotate it and save it... that's editing.
     - If you open it, crop it and save it... that's editing.
     - In fact - simply opening the file and re-saving it, that's kinda editing (if the file is a JPG.)

We need the original, out-of-the-camera photo if at all possible.  I won't get into all the details, but we're working with JPGs (for the most part) and these photos are going to be printed at a high resolution.  All this tweaking you guys do to your photos is taking its toll on the quality of the picture.  Every time you save a JPG it loses clarity, so simply opening it and saving it will reduce the quality of the photo. Again, this is for our printed publication - you can pretty much get away with saving a JPG a time or maybe even two for web photos.

So PLEEEEEAAAASSSSE don't make me have to run you guys down to get the original.  Remember, I have hundreds of entries to sort through, and if I have to "pull teeth" to get the proper photos, I won't get to see my kids for a while... :(

Okay - venting done - read on...!

Since the deadline is getting close, I thought it might be helpful to touch base with you guys with some common questions that I've been receiving.  If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me.  We want our artists to be happy, and that's my job ;)

First, if you have trouble reaching me at julie@fergiebeads.com (a common problem with our international entrants), you may email me at fergiebeads@yahoo.com

Here are a few tips/clarifications:

• Unedited photos
  This seems to be the point that concerns our artists the most.  Sending an original photo seems to send chills up people's spines, so that's why we've allowed artists to also send edited photos for our reference.  (You'd be surprised at some of the photos we receive!) Just try to trust me and know that sending the original for me to edit from is necessary to help keep consistency throughout the book.  Remember, I've been there; I'm a bead artist too, so I completely understand your concerns and will work closely with you to get the correct representation of your bead(s). As I said, we want our artists to be happy! 
  
  If you send an edited photo along with your original, consider saving it as an uncompressed TIF rather than a JPG.  Every time you save a photo as a JPG, it loses some of its clarity; saving as a TIF will avoid lose of photo quality. 
   
• Multiple bead views
  A few artists have wondered if they can send a front & back or front & side view of their beads.  If you think it will help represent your bead better, then you can send an alternate shot of your bead.  It may or may not be used in the publication, but it will probably make you feel better having covered your bases!
   
• Photo size
  To ensure that your bead photo will be large enough for our purposes, crop a copy of your photo the way you think it should be done, then check the size.  You will want to concentrate on total pixels, not inches or cm.  Since most of our artists have been photographing exclusively for the web, they are used to photos at 72 dpi.  We print at 300 dpi, so a 3" wide photo at 72 dpi would be less than an inch in our publication.  (Does that help?)
   
• Uploading
  Artists using Safari rather than Internet Explorer have had problems uploading via YouSendIt.com.  (We have not heard any problems with other browsers.)  If you experience difficulties uploading, you may email your photos to me (after payment).  If your photos are large (more than 1MB each), you may want to consider sending one per email.  And don't forget to send your documentation!

I guess that's all for now!  Again, contact me with any additional questions you may have.  I'm here to serve!