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The ZAPP Images Format Problem |
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call me if you have any questions - 412-401-8100 |
| April 2010 update. ZAPP is changing the wording on the image formatting page and adding visual examples of how your images will project smaller if you upload smaller images to your profile. But I still don't understand how they can let artists upload smaller images to begin with. |
| Every artist needs to be made aware of the image formatting issue before uploading images that will put them at a disadvantage in the system. The problem is that the artists that need help the most won't read this page and should be made aware of the situation. And artists that don't have the skills to prepare their images correctly aren't optimizing how they appear to the jury. Just formatting images is not the solution. The best jury images are color corrected, cropped and formatted properly so your work can compete with your competitor's work. |
| Your jury slides are the most important asset you have and are the only thing that can get you accepted to the shows you apply to. If I've prepared your images, they have been done correctly and will always look the best to the jurors no matter how they are seeing them. |
| Recently new image specifications have been
added to the ZAPP web site. The new size they are specifying will put
artists at a disadvantage in the jury room. DO NOT FOLLOW THE NEW INSTRUCTIONS The original ZAPP size of 1920x1920 pixels (with rectangular images masked in black) will always best present your images to the jurors. Especially since you'll be competing against over 500,000 properly prepared images already in the system. And make sure your jury slide photographer provides you with 1920x1920 pixel square ZAPP images because you'll need them to apply to other shows not using ZAPP but asking for that image size. Otherwise horizontals view larger than verticals - not fair for any artist jurying with images of vertical artwork. |
| Every day I get phone calls and e-mails from artists asking about the new image format, and unfortunately also get calls from artists who have already gone through all their images removing the black borders, not realizing that ZAPP will be adding them back and resaving their JPEGs when they apply to the shows that project the images. I even got a phone call from a ZAPP show asking about all the different size images they were receiving because they were having trouble creating their program in which they show an image from each artist. |
| In December, ZAPP flew me to Denver to consult with them about ways to improve both the web site and the ZAPP system. After spending an afternoon observing the Cherry Creek jury, I met with the ZAPP people the next morning and was able to address the image format problem first hand, because I had seen some images that had projected smaller in the jury room the previous day. |
| There are only negative consequences of using the new image format. The most important is that if you size your images smaller than 1920 pixels long dimension, ZAPP will add black 1920x1920 pixel borders, leaving your images smaller, and your images will be resaved as a JPEG and project smaller than your competitor's images if you apply to any of the shows using digital projectors, which are the top shows in the country. When I observed the Cherry Creek jury, I saw examples of this first hand, as did the other artists in the room who were also observing the jury. I've heard from a number of show directors that they didn't notice the different size images in their own juries, but the show directors have no stake in you having good looking jury slides. I compare this to the art shows that offered to scan slides for artists and didn't make any attempt to color correct them, which resulted in artists having bad looking images in the system. Your jury slides are the most important asset you have and are the only thing that can get you accepted to the shows you apply to. For monitor jurying, there is virtually no difference because the black borders were never seen by the jurors because they viewed the images on a black web page background. Therefore there is no need to not upload black bordered images or take the black borders off your existing images, which some artists have done because of the confusing wording on the ZAPP web site. |
| The last consequence of the new image format is that you'll have the wrong size jury images on your computer for the many shows not using ZAPP but asking for the 1920x1920 pixel images on CD. We've spent years campaigning the shows to adapt the 1920x1920 pixel square jury image format as the only fair way for shows to view both horizontal and vertical images exactly the same size because, like 35mm slides when rotated, the opening stays the same. This is especially important as monitors are getting more wide screen and horizontal images will could have an even larger advantage if shows stop asking for the square image format. |
| Please contact every artist you know and tell them about the ZAPP image formatting issue. If you need help, call me (412-401-8100) or use the free ZAPP image format processor on my Jury Images web site. |
| Shows that project
the images *shows that have open juries |
| Fort Worth* Lakefront Scottsdale Cherry Creek* Des Moines* (video) Ann Arbor Street Art Fair Coconut Grove* Broad Ripple* Long's Park State College Columbus* ArtiGras* Uptown* Fort Myers* (video) Krasl St Louis The Plaza Riverwalk (OR) Winter Park St James Court Art Colony Bayou City Art in the Pearl Mount Gretna If I've missed any shows that project or have open juries, please let me know |
| Here's a comparison of image size differences when projected if you upload images based on the new image size. |
 left - 1920 pixel image squared with 1920 black borders. right - 1400 pixel image squared with 1920 black borders. |
| If I've prepared your images, they have been done correctly and will always look the best to the jurors no matter how they are seeing them. And I send everyone a CD so that they have the correctly sized images on their computer also to apply to other shows. |
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All photos on this site are available for stock or
fine art sales |
| Slide scanning for ZAPP and other digital jury systems |
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1970s ABA and NBA
Basketball photographs |
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Web site content © Larry Berman |
Larry
Berman
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