Frequently Asked Questions - Onward Project
We appreciate that many people may like to contribute, but are not sure how or are not wizards at scanning old photographs. The Onward Project would like to make it easy as possible for photographs to be submitted for inclusion, so have developed the FAQ below to hopefully answer most of your questions.
What is the preferred method of submitting photos to Onward?
We prefer photographs to be submitted electronically i.e. scanned and then emailed to us. You can either email us directly at onwardnzef.book@gmail.com and attach your photographs, or submit via our submissions page here.
I don't have a scanner, but I do have a photograph!
Original photographs can be sent in the mail to us, and we will scan them for you. We have an archival quality scanner and the necessary tools to ensure your photo will looks it's best for the book. We appreciate the level of trust required to send precious photographs via NZ Post, but our policy is to scan and return photographs in the shortest possible time, whilst taking the best possible care of your photographs. Please post photographs to the address shown onb our Contact page here.
A valid alternative to scanning is to take a digital photo of your original and email that to us. It just has to be taken in good light, focussed and with a 12Mp (or similar camera). Photos taken with mobile phones, iPad's etc are not usually good enough for our purposes.
I do have a scanner, but I'm not very good at this sort of thing.
The Onward Project understands that not everyone is a whizz on the scanning and manipulation of images. Many people do have a scanner, usually an all-in-one scanner/copier/printer device. All scanning devices have similar basic functions, which should suffice for obtaining a good image off your photo. Here are some tips:
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Most scanning software will have resolution options - select 600dpi wherever possible. 300dpi is a minimum.
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Select only the image on the scanner, rather than whole scanning surface. Your scanning software should have a drag selection tool to select just the bit you want scanned.
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Don't be afraid of large file sizes - unless you're on dial-up! A 600dpi scan should be several Mb in size.
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Please do not crop images after scanning. We have a specific cropping technique, and sometimes cropping and saving your scan can reduce image sizes to unusable levels.
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Contact us if you're unsure what to do, we can offer any technical assistance required. Drop us your phone number and we can call you, if necessary - we appreciate that image scanning is not always easily understood!
I have a photograph, but not in uniform
Whilst we prefer photographs to have the subject in uniform, there is no problem with a photograph in civilian attire. Many photos in our volumes are like this. The only caveat we place on it is that the photo should date from around the First World War period.
How do I know if you've already published a photo
We have published the index for the first four Volumes on our homepage, or you can download it as a .pdf here. Please note that we will reprint new, better-quality images of previously-published photographs. If an image you have is better quality than what has appeared in the Onward volumes, please get in touch with us.
Who owns the copyright to the photos in the Onward publications?
Fair Dinkum Books makes no claim to the copyright of any original photographs supplied to us. That remains with the owner of the photograph itself, usually indicated by the source indicated in our volumes. The only copyright assertion we make is to the reproduced photo as it appears in our books.
Why is Onward limited to those who served overseas with the NZEF?
It is true that thousands of New Zealanders enlisted in the NZEF, but did not serve overseas. Many of these were posted to the last few reinforcement drafts (44th through 50th Rfts were mobilised but not embarked). Many others died in training before they could embark. We have made a decision to only include those who served overseas as there are fairly complete records as to who these people were. Identification of those who enlisted but who did not embark is a much more daunting task, and is beyond the scope of our resources at the moment.