Photography Guidelines

Photographs are submitted to Wildbook as Sightings to identify Individual Animals. Here are the guidelines to follow for a successful identification:

  • The Animal in the photo is distinguishable (i.e. free-standing or clearly in the foreground).
  • The Individual takes the majority of the frame with decent resolution.
  • The Individual is located near the center of the photograph.
  • The Individual is in focus.

Here are what you need to AVOID for a successful identification:

  • The Individual is part of an overlapping herd or group of animals.
  • The Individual is relatively small.
  • The Individual is blurry and out of focus because of being too far or too close to the camera.
  • The Individual is located around the edges of the image.
  • The Individual is occluded more than 25% by other animals or objects.
  • A part of the Individual is off the edge of the frame.

Wildbook caters to multiple species. For best results, visit their Wildbook platform and navigate to Learn > How to Photograph.

Image Formats and Sizes

  • Wildbook accepts photographs in a variety of formats, including .jpg, .jpeg, .png, and .bmp. (Note: Raw image formats are not supported)
  • Avoid using photographs of more than 1600px and less than 480px.
  • When running detection and identification, photographs smaller than 480px are sized up, which may cause blurriness.
  • A compression ratio of 90% is enough.
  • Uploading photographs with more than a higher compression ratio will not influence the identification process.
  • Photographs with bigger sizes put a strain on the server and cause identification to take longer.