Date: 5/10/25 9:28 am From: Charles H Mills <00000218c727d931-dmarc-request...> Subject: Birds of AR photo page on AAS website
I’m posting this message on behalf of Steve Warmack who was unable to post it to ARBirds yesterday.
Any responses or photo submissions should be sent to him at the address provided below.
Charles Mills
Texarkana TX 75503
Sent from my iPhone
> From: Steven Warmack <SteveWarmack...>
> Date: May 10, 2025 at 11:13:28 AM CDT
>
> Hey everyone,
>
> Michael, (with the "help" of auto-fill) accidentally forwarded a conversation we were having (about photos for the AAS website) to the whole list... so if you don't understand what in the world was going on in his post.. that's why. :-)
>
> Charles Mills has recommended, that, since I don't post very often on this (or any) listserv (for reasons that might be clear now), it might be a good idea for me to introduce myself and let you know what all that was about, and what Michael and I are up to.
>
> A few years ago, Charles asked me to be on a three-person group that consults with each other on what photos of each species are used on the "Birds of Arkansas" section of the AAS website. We basically try to find and secure permission to use the best photos of each species we can find that are, preferably, taken IN Arkansas BY Arkansas Photographers and, if possible, members of the AAS.
>
> This constantly evolves, as there are a number of good (and improving) bird photographers in the state and new photos are being taken all the time.
>
> Charles has since stepped down from this group in order to rejoin the bird records committee, and Kelly Chitwood and I have tapped Michael Linz to take his place as the third person involved in the project of voting on which photos should be used on the page. When we see a new good shot pop up on an ebird list or on one of the Facebook pages, we will contact the photographer and ask for permission to use said photograph.
>
> But we are also happy to take submissions if YOU have a great shot of a particular species you would like us to consider. Images sized at 1000X1000 pixels seem to work best most of the time.
>
> We are looking for images that have good lighting, sharpness, (natural perch preferred), and show identifying field marks that will fit a square crop (a limitation of the current website), etc. We also try to showcase a number of different photographers work on the page.
>
> Some species are so rarely seen and so rarely photographed in the state that we don't really have much to choose from and must occasionally use images captured (preferably by Arkansas photographers) in areas outside Arkansas where these species normally occur... other birds are so common and easy to photograph that we can be overwhelmed by the number of good pics we could potentially use.
>
> Additionally, some people like the "shooting" part but don't like the "image editing" part... we can handle that too, correcting color and lighting issues and optimizing the image. RAW files like .NEF or .NRW (Nikon), .CR2 or .CR3 (Canon), .ORF (Olympus), .PEF (Pentax) or .ARW (Sony) make this correction process a lot easier and more accurate. Ultimately, all images, whether shot in RAW or JPEG format, and used on the Birds of Arkansas webpage are uploaded as JPEGS. The increasing quality of camera sensors and lenses has meant they can produce some very high quality images right out of the camera. Submitting RAW images still offers more flexibility but is not required, especially if you have a great shot of a rarely photographed species.
>
> So if you look at the "Birds of Arkansas" page of the AAS website and think "I have a much better picture of a certain species" then please shoot me a message and we will be happy to take a look at it.
>
> - Steve Warmack
