Terms



1.Photo Forum is a site for its members’ authentic photography and a forum for photography technique and content commentary. Only photos with the appropriate copyright ownership will be published. By registering, members agree to follow standard practices and regulations as governed by Bulgarian, EU and international copyright law.

2. Individual members are entitled to one user registration only. Registered users have the right to publish their own photos in the photo-forum.net galleries, leave comments, vote and take part in the contests organized by the owners and administrators of this site.

3. Registered users have the right to upload 20 photos per day in their individual profile gallery. Users, who don’t have 3 pictures with 25 or more B-rate points, have the right to post 2 photos every 5 days for voting only in categories “Debut,” “Humor,” “Pets” and “Family Album” and also in the ongoing Contests galleries. Photos from categories “Debut”, “Humor”, “Pets” and “Family Album” can’t be seen in the “Selected photos” album, but they do take part in the common rating. Users, who have 3 pictures with 25-49 B-rate points, can post 2 photos every 5 days to the “Selected photos” album and any of its categories. Users, who have 3 photos with 50-100 B-rate points, can move 3 photos every 5 days to the “Selected photos” album in all categories. Users, who have 3 or more photos with 100 B-rate points, can move 4 photos every 5 days to the “Selected photos” album in all categories.

Calculation of the points is based on the author’s photos that have been uploaded within the period of one year from the moment of checking the status. Users, who have 3 or more photos with 50 B-rate points, are protected from going back to the main category “Debut.” Any user who doesn’t have the right to post images in the “Selected photos” album yet can send his/her portfolio to the site administrators for individual evaluation. Evaluations are done twice a month and are carried out by leading photographers and active members of this site. This process was initiated as the means to speed up climbing up the status thresholds.

Each user, who has 3 or more photos rated over 150 B-rate points, will be considered for gaining B vote casting rights. Renewal of B vote casting rights is done once a week, after inspection of the profile by the site administrators. All profiles, with photos rated at 150 B-rate points or higher, will be carefully analyzed. B vote casting rights will be granted to accomplished and peer-recognized authors only. There should be no doubt about the authenticity of their images and all copyright related rights should belong to the respective member. Users are prohibited from creating multiple profiles and/or in any way manipulating the common vote. Failure to comply with these rules will result in withdrawal of B vote casting rights. The site administrators retain the right to remove photos from the “Selected photos” gallery at their own discretion. If a photo is removed by the site administrator, the author of the photo loses his/her quota of images that can be posted for voting for that particular week.

The purpose of category “Debut” is to showcase photos of new members, who aim to receive the right to upload photos to the “Selected photos” album. A-rate votes in category “Debut” are displayed as equal to all the other categories. Authors can post their photos for voting (within the limits of their current voting quota) using the “up” arrow symbol under the photo thumbnail.

4. The 'Rating A' collection consists of photos with more than 20 A-rate points. The 'Rating B' collection consists of photos with more than 10 B-rate points. You can only vote for photos in the 'Selected photos' album. Photos which are not in the 'Selected photos' album do not display an index rating below their respective thumbnail. This makes it clear as to which photos are currently up for voting. The rate index is activated immediately after a photo enters the 'Selected photos' album. 'Rating A' is defined by the votes of all registered members of Photo Forum. 'Rating B' is defined by the votes of carefully elected members only, i.e. people who have participated in the Photo Forum exhibitions, etc.

5. The acceptable file format is JPEG. Files can be no larger than 350 KB and no longer (or wider) than 950 pixels at their longest side.

6. Photos better suited for pornographic sites or pathological anatomy/forensic medicine books will be deleted without prior notice. Obscene phrases or opinions, which lack civil tone and consideration for others, and can be found offensive to other members of the Forum will also be deleted without prior notice from the comments sections of the site, as well as the main discussion forums.

7. Double publication of the same photograph is inadvisable. A photo that has been published a second time can be taken down by the site administrators at their own discretion and with no prior notice.

8. Photo Forum ‘s owners and administrators do not approve of and will not tolerate images whose character is potentially criminal by the standards of the law as established by the appropriate government body in Bulgaria. Adverse action will also be taken against images which contain threats to human life or inviolability; which call for violence or racial, ethnic or religious enmity; which violate the rights or the lawful interests of a third party; which contain trade or business secrets or other confidential information; which are protected by copyright; which intentionally contain false information or calumnies. The web administrators retain the right to remove these materials and provide available information about the violator(s) to the affected party and/or the appropriate government bodies such as the Police. Photo Forum and its administrators also retain the right to deactivate the violator's profile without prior warning.

9. It is strictly prohibited to publish materials whose aim is to advertise an independent product or service without the explicit permission of the owners or web administrators of Photo Forum.

10. All photos on this site are protected by copyright. Nobody can copy, use or reproduce them without the written permission of their authors. The owners and administrators of Photo Forum retain the right to use the images posted on its domain for general promotional purposes of the site; for organizing exhibitions, as well as for Photo Forum print and online advertising materials (this includes but is not limited to publications in local and national newspapers and magazines, as it pertains to and furthers the development of Photo Forum). The opinions published in the forum are owned by the site and can be used or quoted in other media at the sole discretion of the forum’s owners and administrators. These opinions can be published with or without the explicit permission of their authors.


Regulations for entering the contests

1. The traditional contests on a given topic will continue in the future. Every registered user can enter the contest, if they send their own photos and note in the form for upload that they want their photos to enter the contest and to be evaluated.

2. The organizers have a right to demand a negative, an initial file or a copy 20x30cm of the awarded photographers. The organizers have also a right to use the prize winning photos for advertisement of the site (including their publication in other media) and in the final exhibition of the contest.

3. The prize winning photos, as well as the photos that have taken part in the exhibitions organized by Photo Forum, remain in the history of the site and their authors will not be able to delete them. The organizers of the site specify the photos that take part in the exhibitions. Paper copies which are sent for the exhibitions will not be returned to their authors.

4. The prizes will be presented at an official ceremony in Sofia. The date of the ceremony will be published on the site after the corresponding contest is over. If the author cannot attend the ceremony and cannot send a representative to receive the award, it will be kept by the organizers for half a year. The organizers will not take the responsibility to send the awards to other built-up areas.

 5. Photos which are taking part in another contest at the same time or photos which have been already awarded in previous contests will not be accepted.

6. Every registered user has a right to vote only once for every photo that has been marked for evaluation.


How to use some features from the site:

Subscription for comments under photos

Every logged in user can subscribe for comments under photos. There is no limit for the number of subscriptions. The subscription is valid 14 days after its creation. After this time limit, information will not be sent even if there are new comments. If a subscribed user subscribes for a given topic once again, the result is that their subscription is renewed for another 2 weeks. The subscribed users receive e-mail only if there is a new comment on one of the topics that they have subscribed for. There are three check-ups for new comments - between 9h and 10h,  between 12h and 13h, and between 17h and 18h. The subscribed user can unsubscribe and stop receiving information.

Free zone (a forum without moderators). This is a place for topics which are not connected with photography. These topics will not be censored or deleted. All topics from the main forum that does not meet the requirements of the site will be removed here.