Contributing to the World Wide Panorama:
Rules and Restrictions

Updated July 2019

GENERAL

The idea is simple. Just photograph a VR image (cylindrical or cubic panorama) anytime during the open photography period. Prepare your single best, most interesting panorama, and upload it to the 'contributions' server. You may submit anytime during the contribution/upload period - also immediately after an event (see upload instructions).

REGISTRATION

We would like everyone to join our facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/WorldWidePanorama/, so we can track participation and stay in touch with you. But this is not required.

RULES AND RESTRICTIONS

We need to keep this simple, so we can create the site efficiently. So there are some strict limits on what will be accepted.

One* Contribution per Event. Please take as many panoramas on as many variations of the theme as you'd like. And then select your favorite one to contribute to the WWP. Any extras can be linked to from your WWP page and hosted on your own server.
*) Some Events may host multiple contributions.

JPEG panoramic image as the main source. Sorry, no panoramas embedded in Java, Flash, or Shockwave formats. In the light of ever-evolving playback technologies, we need to be able to simply plug in standardized files and a few text blocks, without the complication of additional external code. We also want consistent navigation and interface. If your artistic vision goes beyond our simple pages, we will provide a link to your site.

Your panoramas must be 360º - the left side of your panorama must match with the right side of your panorama, so the viewer can enjoy a fully immersive experience of looking all around without any visible seams.
The height of your panorama must be smaller than the width (vertical panoramas are not accepted)

Quality - The following guidelines apply to all conventional photographic panoramas:

Enjoyable quality and appropriate content
Fully spherical panorama without any black borders or cylindrical panorama.
Logos, if used, should be small and placed at the nadir (bottom). No big logos or advertisements are allowed. Exceptions: a small logo can be placed on the zenith (top) or very exceptionally elsewhere in the image ONLY if placing it on the nadir would cover an important feature in the panorama.
No holes or black areas in the sky or distorted or badly retouched sky (zenith). You can limit view on the upload page.
No huge hole in the nadir nor distorted bottom of the panorama (nadir) - Exceptions: Shadows, tripods, small holes and small mirror balls are ok but discouraged.
No major stitching, color or exposure errors
The panorama must be level. The horizon needs to be in the center of the image, so it does not look curved or leaning one way or another unnaturally. One way to test this visually is to rotate the image while checking to be sure that vertical lines, like telephone poles or trees, remain vertical as you pan around

Panoramas that are experimental, artistic or intentionally explore the borders of perception and/or technique are also welcome. We do however reserve the right to reject any panorama for any reason if it is not felt appropriate or of sufficient quality for our world wide public audience.

Also see: Dimensions and Files Sizes

Full-screen ready, please. A fullscreen panorama is not a different type of file, merely a panorama image with sufficient resolution to look good when expanded to full screen size. Most source images bigger than 6000x3000 pixels will meet this request.

DEADLINES

Only the shooting needs to be done during the event.

You will need some time to produce your panorama, especially if just beginning with panoramic photography, or if using film. The preparation server will allow submission of final panoramas during the last month of the event. Be sure to join our facebook group to receive information detailing the exact dates. For those who hate facebook there is still the groups.io mailing list where important announcements will be posted, but there is little other traffic lately.

Submission is done with a web browser form. The preparation server allows you to register as a participant, upload your images, and type in the title, place, caption and other data. You can view it exactly as it will appear on the final site and make corrections right up to the deadline.

See: How To Upload and Edit

A preliminary version of the full site will be available for viewing by participants only during the submission period. After the close of submissions, the site will be edited for consistency and completeness. The final site will be announced and available to the public shortly after that.

LEGAL

Each photographer will retain personal copyright of their own work (as specified in U.S. law). By uploading a panorama, you grant us permission to use your work on the World Wide Panorama website (http://worldwidepanorama.org). If you upload audio or incorporate any pictures besides your own in your panorama, make sure that you have proper permission under US or applicable copyright law to exhibit that work. There will be no commercial use at all.

There will be warnings to users about respecting your copyright. The overall site (exclusive of the panoramas) will be copyright by the World Wide Panorama Foundation, a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation.