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Contribute Photos

Thank you for your interest in submitting images to OrchidWiz.  By contributing your photos, you help share the knowledge and appreciation of orchids.

Note: if contributing photos please sign this disclaimer (click link) and scan and email to us; or mail it to us at the address listed below on this page.

Each year OrchidWiz receives between 10,000 and 15,000 orchid photographs from volunteers for publication.  To date, several hundred photographers have volunteered.  Because of the sheer volume of photos, we rely on computer programs to automatically adjust and add them to the database.  Simply, these can be described as follows:

  • Computer program extracts the orchid names from the photo file names.
  • Computer program sizes each photo to OrchidWiz requirements.
  • Computer program adjusts all photos for clarity and contrast.
  • Computer program converts all photos to Jpeg (JPG) format.
  • Computer program adds all photos to the OrchidWiz database.
  • OrchidWiz employee compares each new photo with those existing prior, and deletes redundant photos of lesser quality. Employee selects the default photo, which shows up first in the program. This step cannot be automated and takes weeks of manual work.  For this reason this is done only once a year, typically starting in May, in anticipation of the September release.

We ask that you submit photos with the name of the orchid as the file name.  All photos should be submitted in a single folder if possible.

Examples of valid file names:

Cymbidium Glittering Gold_1.JPG
Cymbidium Glittering Gold_2.JPG
L purpurata var. coerulea.jpg
Ctna_Why_Not_’Lebasi’ 4N - plant owned byJohn Smith.jpg
Euph. petersii ’Desert Flower’ CCM-AOS 85 points.jpg
Gongora Gagrodon (grossa x galeata).jpg
aurantiaca X Bro. sanguinea.jpg
L. milleri - in situ at Federal National Park.jpg

Examples of invalid file names (these photos will be automatically discarded):

IMG_0002.jpg
Epidendrum species.jpg
MIOS Exhibit.jpg

Photos submitted by April 30 of a given year will be released in September of that year.  Those submitted after April 30 will be released September of the following year.

Photos can be submitted using one of the following procedures:

  • By uploading to Dropbox (preferred method). Email us at  and we'll create a Dropbox folder and email you an invitation to join.  You can then copy and paste the images into that folder from your computer.
  • By disk. The contributor burns a CD or DVD with all the photos and mails them to OrchidWiz, P.O. Box 270592, Louisville, CO 80027, USA.
  • By email. This method should only be used for a few photos contained in a single email.  Please try not to email photos more than once every three months as it clogs up our Inbox folder with dozens of emails.  Remember, we only publish new photos once a year.
  • Using Flickr. In this case the user uploads all photos to a single folder on Flickr.  OrchidWiz has a computer program to automatically download photos from Flickr.
  • In the case of large and precious photo collections, other input methods will be considered. For example, photos may reside in acrobat files, Excel documents, other database programs, or physical slides.  We will do our best to accommodate such cases when the volume and importance of the collection warrants an exception.

Watermarks are acceptable.  Please note that even without watermarking, all photos will be credited to you the photographer or volunteer contributor.

Thank you again for your participation.  If you have questions, please contact us via email at .