1. Site’s objectives:
PhotoLight World is a website that was created for photographers at all levels, pros and amateurs alike. The site includes an active forum for expressing opinions/studying/reviews, and the conducting of competitions for photos and authors.
An additional goal of the site is to simulate competition between authors as it occurs in a realistic setting. We recommend that you explore the site, learn the possibilities, read a few comments and only then start uploading your photos. Another goal of this site is to raise the general level of photography by learning from comments and criticism made by fellow site members, and by the transfer of knowledge that every member can share with others. When you upload a photo, you must pay attention to the rules of the category that you are uploading to. A photo that is not applicable to the definitions of a particular category – will be moved to the "miscellaneous" category.
Photos with inappropriate content will be removed from the site without warning.
The viewing of photos in the “Nude” category is restricted to viewers who are 18 years of age or older.
Pornographic photos or content of any kind will be removed from the site without warning. Members who upload pornographic material will be barred from the site.
2. Copyright:
Members uploading photographs to this site will be solely responsible for their copyright status and the burden of proof pertaining to their copyright status will fall solely on the photographer. The site will not bear any legal standing on copyright issues and will not be party in any legal issues or claims.
All photos uploaded to this site will be fully owned by their creator and no other person will be allowed to use them in any form or way. This site will not be a legal party to any legal matters and/or copyright violation claims.
The use and publishing of uploaded photos is enabled to PhotoLight World and form a natural and integral part of all internal and external pages of this site.
For your attention: Photos that were chosen for “My opinion”,”Photo of the week”, and/or displayed in “Archive of photos of the day”, cannot be removed. Any other use of the photo requires written permission from the copyright owner.
The owner of this site solely owns the copyright to this site and of the manner in which its pages are viewed and presented on the internet, and on the site’s design. No person/ commercial body/ electronic media or any other entity will have the right to copy any photo or page of this site. Copying of pages/ photos from this site is deemed to be a one-sided violation of copyrights regulations.
A member who uploads a photograph that doesn't belong to him must obtain the agreement of the author of the photo.
Members with model/make up status must give credit to the photographer (by adding the photographer's name) under the name-heading of the uploaded photo. A photo that will be found without a credit in the name-heading will be removed without any explanation (credit provided in the photo description will not be accepted as valid credit).
For example: Photo’s Name (Photo by: ROBERT). If the photo is self taken: Photo’s Name (Photo by: ME). If the name of the photographer is not known: Photo’s Name (Photo by: UNKNOWN).
It is forbidden to post links to sites that offer illegal downloads. This constitutes a copyright violation and theft. Users who will post such links will be blocked as stipulated in section 11.
3. Uploading photos:
Every photo that is uploaded to this site falls under a general legal agreement which is binding to all members and to each photo, and which is defined in the chapter: Rules” or “Site rules”, which stipulates that the member is the owner of the copyright of the photo. In the event that the photo was taken by other person, it must be clearly stated in writing. The burden of proof regarding permission to upload the photo falls solely on the person uploading it. PhotoLight will not be a legaly liable for any and all matters and claims. PhotoLight will not be legally responsible for any matters and claims made in regards to photos of under aged children, and the responsibility falls solely on the photographer/user/person that uploads the photo. In any event, uploaded photos of under-aged children will be subject to the consideration of the website owner who may at his own discretion decide to erase any such photo without being required to provide an explanation.
Photolight enables members to remove an uploaded photo from the site at any time, with the exception of the photos that were selected to “My opinion”, “Photo of the week”, or photos displayed in the “Archive of photos of the day”. All erased photos are kept in the PhotoLight Worlddatabase along with the accompanying comments for any time that the member will want to restore his photos. Uploading a photo requires an active email address. PhotoLight World allows the uploading of photos no larger than 950 pixels height or weight. Uploading a photo will refer to the member’s status or user’s account.
A free account includes: Personal gallery with unlimited size, direct link to the personal gallery, ability to grade and write comments to other member's photos, ability to participate in the different forums, receiving of updates via email, ability to download PhotoLight World Agent and the ability to participate in PhotoLight World competitions.
PhotoLight World management reserves the right to move any photo from one category to another if the moderator decides that the photo has not been placed in the correct category as defined in the category rules. Photos that are not applicable to the category rules will be moved to the "miscellaneous" category. The author will be allowed to move the photo to any category that he thinks his photo belongs to but not to the category that the photo was removed from.
Members uploading a photo must write keywords that relate to the photo. Any user who uploads photos with irrelevant keyword will be warned and the photo will be removed.
Free account quota:
Members with >Beginner< status are allowed to upload up to 5 photos per week, no more than 200 Kb per photo, no more than 1 photo per day.
Members with >Advanced< status are allowed to upload up to 7 photos per week, no more than 250 Kb per photo, no more than 2 photos per day.
Members with >Master< status are allowed to upload up to 9 photos per week, no more than 300 Kb per photo, no more than 1 photo per day.
Members with >Photo guru< status are allowed to upload up to 14 photos per week, no more than 350 Kb per photo, no more than 2 photos per day.
PhotoLight World accounts: Silver, Gold, and Platinum – Accounts were created for users who wish to have more options and possibilities then the free user.
After an account has been purchased it is impossible to remove it or get a refund. It is possible to upgrade an account by paying the difference between the cost of each account. If a user wishes to be removed from the site he will not receive payment refunds.
Account quota:
Silver: up to 14 photos per week, up to 3 per day, up to 400 Kb per photo.
Gold: up to 20 photos per week, up to 3 per day, up to 500 Kb per photo.
Platinum: up to 28 photos per week, up to 4 per day, up to 600 Kb per photo.
Models/Make up must choose their status while registering and will be allowed to upload up to 7 photos per week, one photo per day, no more than 300 Kb per photo. In addition every photo published on the site by the model/make up must credit the photographer in photo name. A photo that will be published without credit in photo name – will be erased.
Note: Site management reserve the right to make changes to the regulations listed here at any time.
4. Explanations about member’s status:
• Beginner: Every member on the site will receive this status when first registering. This is not the actual status of the photographer; this is member’s status on site only.
• Advanced: Every member who receives a certain number of status votes will receive this status. This is not the actual status of the photographer; this is the member’s status on site only.
• Master: Every member who receives a certain number of status votes will receive this status. This is not the actual status of the photographer; this is the member’s status on site only.
• Photo guru: Every member who receives a certain number of status votes will receive this status. This is not the actual status of the photographer; this is the member’s status on site only.
5. Guidelines:
- Every member is allowed to register only once with one valid email.
- Every member is allowed to vote/grade a photo only once.
- Members that will be found using several accounts will be removed from the site without explanation.
- Photos that include nudity of any kind belong in the "Nude" category. In any case, every nude photo published on site can be removed any time by the decision of a moderator without any prior warning or explanation.
- Pornography of any kind is prohibited; photos with pornographic elements will be removed without notice or explanation.
- PhotoLight World site, it's owner, the server on which the site is stored, site moderators and administrators will not be legally liable or parties to any matter or claim resulting in mental, emotional or financial damage that may be caused by any existing or user added link.
- PhotoLight World site, it's owner, the server that the site is stored on, site moderators and administrators will not be legally liable or parties to any matter or claim resulting in mental, emotional or financial damage that may be caused by sudden or gradual closure of the site, or server action and availability.
- PhotoLight World site, it's owner, the server that the site is stored on, site moderators and administrators will not be legally liable or parties to any matter or claim resulting in mental, emotional or financial damage that may be caused by viruses, Trojan horses, or any other bugs or malfunctions that are spread through the internet web and might damage user’s or any other computer.
- PhotoLight World site, it's owner, the server that the site is stored on, site moderators and administrators will not be legally liable or parties to any matters and claims resulting in mental, emotional or financial damage that may be caused by any published photo with advertising content and/or elements. All responsibility in this case will fall on the member that uploaded the photo.
We recommend filling in the technical data for every photo you upload.
The main purpose of uploading a photo is for getting comments/critique and votes/grades.
Members must be respectful to all other persons, and use only fair and non abusive language.
The comment/critique to a photo will be objective and fair. The comment/critique will address the photo only and not the photographer or the model.
Users that use abusive language or make personal insinuations in public towards other members, owner of the site moderators or administrators – will be removed from the site (Ch. 11).
PhotoLight World incorporates a forum named “Boxing match” in which a member can invite other members to verbal duels in order to resolve issues and problems.
6. Private messages:
Every PhotoLight World member owns a private message box. Members are prohibited from publicly publishing any part of any message that was sent to or by them without the permission of the recipient and/or the writer. Every violation of this rule will cause a removal of the abuser (Ch.11).
It is absolutely forbidden for members to use private messages in order to solicit votes for status or votes for "Photographer/Critique of the week" status, or voting/grading of photos. Any member that violates this rule will be removed from the site (Ch. 11)
7. Member’s status:
Members may vote for the status of other members by pressing on one of the blue squares in the member’s gallery. Voting is allowed only once a month. Voting calculations are made by an automatic program. Any user can go up or down in status.
Status explanation:
Full blue square: meant for member whose work is on professional level.
¾ blue square: meant for member whose work is very good.
1/3 blue square: meant for member whose work is at an amateur level.
Empty blue square: meant for member whose work is at a beginner level.
8. “Photographer/Critique of the week”:
Under every upoloaded photo there is a button called “Vote for me as Photographer of the week”. Members can vote for any photographer once a week only. Once you have voted for someone, you cannot vote for someone else until the next week. The photo of the winner of “Photographer of the week” will be displayed on main page of PhotoLight. Any photographer can be voted “Photographer of the week” only once a month. The same rule applies to “Critique of the week”.
9. PhotoLight World index registration rules:
Registration and payment for the index is for one year from the moment that payment is accepted. You can remove your business at any time but without any refund. If you purchased “Bonus” or “Bonus +” and you have chosen less categories than specified, your rotation on site’s pages will rise. For example: If you purchased “Bonus” and chose only one category, then your rotation will rise by 3. Rotation can be modified after the purchase. PhotoLight World will not be responsible for details of businesses in the “PhotoLight index”. PhotoLight World’s management reserves the right to change the category of a business. In the event that PhotoLight World’s management decides to remove your business from the index you will be refunded. After payment is accepted your business will be added to the index within 24 hours.
10. Closing your account:
Closing your account on PhotoLight World will erase your personal gallery but the comments you wrote for photos and forums will remain. additionally your account will not be erased from our server in case you may want to restore it. To close your account, go to your personal info page (http://www.photolight.co.il/personal.php) and press the “Delete PhotoLight account” button. After this an email will be sent to you in which you will need to confirm your decision. Pressing on the link in the email will close your account.
11. Penalties:
- Copyrights violation, theft: permanent removal
- Swearing, offensiveness and use of abusive language: 30 days removal
- Double accounts: 30 days removal
- Publication of private messages: 30 days removal
- Unauthorized advertisement: 30 days removal
- Spam: 30 days removal
- Uploading pornography: 30 days removal
- Disregard of administration decisions: up to 30 day removal
- Offence of site administration(including moderators): Removal by decision of administration.
- Private messaging for status voting: 14 days removal
- Private messaging for photos voting: 14 days removal
- Private messaging for recommendation for “Photographer/Critique of the week”: disqualification and 14 days removal
- Publishing links to illegal downloads: 14 days removal first time, 30 days removal second time.
PhotoLight World's administration reserves the right to accept or remove members to/from site, edit/erase photos from member’s galleries, edit/erase content from forums and photo’s comments, edit/erase/lock/unlock topics and themes in forums, move photos from categories, all this without the obligation of notifying members.
It is forbidden to advertise on PhotoLight World without permission of the administration. It is forbidden to upload a photo that was erased by a moderator or to reopen a topic that was locked/erased. All the above-mentioned offenses will result in removal from the site for a certain period of time.
All the above-mentioned items are eligible for changes in the future without requiring prior notifications.
All the above-mentioned items will be unconcealed to any member or random person on site and will apply to anyone that is registered on PhotoLight.
By registering on PhotoLight you agree that PhotoLight World can send you emails with information, discounts and event notifications.
Registration on PhotoLight World and use of it services constitute an unsigned agreement to all items that are written in the Site Rules. If you have any questions, please contact us or send a message to any moderator or administrator. Also we suggest you use our FAQ and Workflow help.
Everything written above applies to both males and females.
We wish you a pleasant experience on PhotoLight World.
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