Photography
UConn Photo Database
One component of the UConn brand is photography that captures the essence of UConn pride. When selecting photography, consider utilizing high-definition shots that showcase our proud history and strength as a top public research university. Some examples are below for your reference; these and other University photographs can be downloaded from Media Share.
Merlin Training Resources
Media Share is transitioning to MerlinOne's digital asset management system. The following videos give an overview of MerlinOne:
- Logging In
- Options Menu
- Configuring Your Workspace
- Searching and Saved Searches
- Working with results
- Downloading and Sharing Content
- Working with Metadata
- Collections
- Approval Workflow
- Tools in the Toolbar
- Edit Options
- Versioning Content
- Linking Content
- Views in Merlin
- Cropping
- Using Audio and Video
- Uploading Content
- Editing Metadata
- Deleting Content
- Logging Out
Image and Icon Resources
Prior to using an image found on the internet, please determine if and how you can use the image without violating copyright. The consequences of violating copyright can be serious, even if the violation is accidental. More information can be found of the Copyright Laws website. A few suggestions for image and icon resource websites:
Metadata Guidelines
Photographic metadata is information stored in the image files that allow users to sort and find images. Information such as the file name, date the image was taken, and keywords can make photographs much easier to find.
File Name
The most basic element of an image's metadata is the file name. Filenames can store a surprising amount of information by following a simple naming convention. UConn's file name convention consist of four parts:
Embedded Metadata
Embedded metadata is information that is included with the file and is then searchable in Media Share. In addition to information from the camera such as shutter speed, aperture, and sometime GPS coordinates, photographers can add information in photo editing software to make their images easier to find in Media Share.
Some metadata fields are mandatory when uploading assets into Media Share. Please note, if you add metadata in photo editing software, any fields left blank in the Media Share upload form will default to the existing metadata in the file. Likewise, any fields that are filled in will overwrite the metadata in the file.
These are the metadata fields that are mapped to fields in Media Share:
Caption
The image caption is stored in the "description" field in the image's metadata. A caption consists of a few lines of text explaining or elaborating on a published image. They offer an opporunity for photographers to provide information about their photography in prose that can be difficult to capture in other fields.
A caption should answer each of the "W" questions (who, what, when, and where) including the date taken and a photo credit. Refer to the photo processing document for information on other photo metadata fields.
The style of a photo caption is different than the published caption in order to facilitate database searches.
It is worth taking the time to properly caption images, even those that are not intended for publication. Captions are often the most useful fields when doing photo research or trying to determine a image's relevance years after the fact. Well-captioned images are easier to find and more useful.