How to start

To participate in this Web you need to register. Registration is free and open to all (this is an institutional, educational and non-profit Web site). The registration window contains both required and optional fields; if you do not enter all required fields, the registration will not be completed. In registering, you will need choose a user name (login) and password. Each time you access the page, the system will ask you to identify yourself by logging in with your username and password. This will enable you to send images.

How to participate

Once you have logged in, you should enter in one of the four sections available on our site: Photodialogues, Drawings and Invited Artist. If you wish only to view images, simply click on a specific photo for a larger view of it and to be able to access the comments the author has made about it. If you wish to participate by sending images, consult the next section.

How to send images

The first time (and only the first time) you access a section and try to respond to a photo, the system will ask you to first respond to the opening image of the section. The opening image is that which appears at the top of the page. Once you have started your own dialogue of images with the opening image, you will then be able to use your images to respond to any other photo in the section. If you click on an image, a new window will open with a larger version of it. Below it will also appear a link to continue this conversation and a link to open a new conversation based on this image. This dual option enables someone to respond to the same photograph or drawing with different images. If you click on “continue this conversation” or “open a new conversation based on this image” a window will open for sending images. In this window you can search for the file you want to send in your computer; you can also include a comment about your image and have the opportunity to make other observations. You should also select at least five of the criteria listed below and the press the SEND button so that the system can upload your image. This will immediately appear on the page.

The “Criteria” you select are intended to define how you understand your image to be related to the previous one. They can help those who visit your dialogue to better understand how the images are related to one another. You should select at least FIVE criteria from the list and you should select as many as you think relevant to your image. If you think there are OTHER CRITERIA which are not listed, you can include these by marking the box labeled “COMMENTS”. These comments will appear below your image. The box “OBSERVATIONS”, however, is used for other commentaries which you would like to make but do NOT want to have appear next to your image.

Your dialogue will open with your login at the top of it. This way, you will be able to identify it and continue the conversation by sending subsequent images. If someone responds to your dialogue, to the image that you have sent, you will receive an email message notifying you so that you can continue your dialogue of images. When the dialogue of images has reached 10 images (5 of which will be yours) it will be considered closed. However, you can always continue the dialogue if you open a new conversation based on the last image of the closed dialogue.

On this Web, we are not responsible for the content of the photographs which you send. However, photos whose content may be considered offensive or illegal will be removed by the administrator without prior notification. Do not include photos which are not your own. Any copyright infringement will result in the image’s removal.

Navigating the page

If your Web browser includes a toolbar to BLOCK POPUPS, deactivate this so you can see the enlarged images.

Format of the images

You should send your image files in the JPEG format. Normally, the system will automatically change the size and resolution of the images which you send in order to optimize their visualization on the Web. However, to ensure that the files upload quickly, you should send the images with a resolution of 72 pixels per inch and no greater than 800 pixels in length. If you are not sure how to reduce the size of your images, you can consult the tutorials we suggest below. The system will accept files of a maximum size of 4 megabytes (remember that this has nothing to do with the number of megapixels in your camera; file size and camera resolution are two distinct things).

Photodialogues

This section is dedicated to photography. We consider photography any process of image creation based on optical processes. Logically, the majority of the images you see in this section will have been taken with a digital camera. You may, however, also scan an analog print photo and send that.

A bad photo cannot be fixed by retouching it. Apart from this, some retouching we may call “artistic”, far from helping us to learn, actually compromises the integrity of the original shot and the photographic language. However, if you are a person who appreciates extreme photo retouching, you should enter the section titled “Drawings”. We consider the use of color filters and variations on the values of the image better suited to this concept than that of photography (which literally means to write/draw WITH LIGHT, not manually).

Nowadays it is easy to retouch photos using image publishing software which manufacturers provide with the camera. Keep in mind that this section is dedicated to photography; as such, try not to have retouches be an important part of the final image as this will detract from the integrity of the photo.

Paper Crafts

This section is dedicated to collage and other artistic expressions which treat images in a fragmented way, texturizing and painting on top of them with paper materials and techniques. At this time, the work exhibited in this section was produced by students in the “Paper crafts, sceneography and its didactics” course at the University of Granada; the same work was recently exhibited in the Educational Sciences Department.

Drawing

This section is dedicated to any form of creation in images in which the direct intervention of the creator in the final image is predominant. If you are a painter or illustrator, this is your section. Photographs whose retouching has significantly changed the photographic image should also go here, since these may be considered more drawings than photographs.

Invited Artist/Temporary Exhibition Space

This section is our Exhibition Space. Here we will display work by an important artist. This consists in a series of photos taken by him or her which may help us learn. In this way, you will have the opportunity to converse with photographers, illustrators or painters whose work is of a high technical caliber and coherent aesthetic. The contribution of the invited artist will be a series of related images and thereby “closed”. Since the series sent by the artist will be “closed”, you will not be able to “continue a conversation” with them; you can, however, “open a new dialogue based on this image” in order to interact with the invited artist and allow him or her to see what the images say to you.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Criteria: These are aesthetic concepts (formal, visual and poetic) which try to help anyone who sees your images to understand the way you see them as related to the others. In sending us your images, it is important that you read these, that you reflect on them and that you include those which, in your opinion, are present in the image that you are responding to, as well as in your response-image. That is, include those criteria which are shared by both images. If you don’t find those image criteria you feel most appropriate for your image on the list, write these in the “Comments” field before sending your image. These will appear alongside your image and will be added to our list so that other participants may use them.

Dialogue: On this Web, a dialogue is no different than anywhere else. To converse means to express your ideas and listen to those of another. It is through dialogue that we communicate. Within dialogue there may be discussion, debate, explanation, suggestion, negation or reaffirmation, and even changing of the theme. Given the length of the dialogues contained here, a maximum of ten images, you should try to ensure that your contribution in each case is the richest, most complete as possible. Don’t be satisfied with the first picture your take. Likewise, before acting, carefully observe the image to which you are responding. In her there will be a theme represented, as well as a way of expressing, a technique, a framing, a tone, a type of coloring, etc. An image contains many decisions which the author made which define what he or she is trying to communicate. Try to understand all of these details so that your dialogue does not become two monologues. Try to take a part of what the image says to you and contribute something more in your response. In visual dialogues, miscommunication is easy, which is why we ask you to be succinct but profound. Don’t include things that nobody else but you would understand and try to use images which become a means of communication.

Opening image: In each of the four sections of the Web you will see a small image at the top of each page. This is the opening image of the section. All participants should respond to this image at least once in order to be able to then respond to other images in different dialogues in the section. That is, all new participants must at least open a dialogue with the opening image before being able to participate in other dialogues.

Login: This is an English term which means “identification”. To avoid undesired intrusions in this page, it is necessary that participants be identified by the system. You can choose any name you wish as your login if you are an external visitor. However, if you are a student at the University of Granada, you should put your real name(s) and surname(s) so that you can be identified for the evaluation of your work.