Upload Photos and Video to NowPublic

Adding photos and video to your story, or any story, on NowPublic is easy. There are two different ways to do this. The first is to start from scratch with a new story that you’ve got some footage for. The second is to add photos and videos to any story you find on NowPublic. The process is the same… it just starts differently. You can get started now if you like or read on for a quick review.

Here’s what’s in store:

Getting Started (Part 1) Uploading Photos and Video

Getting Started (Part 2) Adding Photos and Video to a Story

Protecting Your Photos and Video

Editing the Photo and Video Details

Adding Tags and Seeing your Story

Getting Started (Part 1)

So, let’s start from scratch. Say you’ve witnessed something newsworthy outside your window and have decided to take photos or record video. This kind of thing happens in the NowPublic office all the time.

So once you’ve got these great photos or videos of breaking news downloaded to your computer… what’s next? If you take a look at the top of the right margin on most of the pages on NowPublic you’ll see a handy box that looks like this:

To begin to upload your footage just click on the “Upload Your Photos” link.

OK, remember earlier we mentioned that there were two ways to add Photos and Videos? We’ll let’s let the others catch up; sit tight while we take a quick look at the second way to start to add your footage.

Getting Started (Part 2)

So here is a second scenario: you’re reading through NowPublic and come across a story about the concert you went to last night. You see the story but there are no pictures to fill it out. Luckily for you you’re uncle Max came through yesterday and got you front row center. Nobody’s got a better angle on that last stage dive than you. Excellent work… and definitely newsworthy! You’ll notice on the Story Page a button above the story that says “Upload Photos Video and Audio”. From there you’ll be able to add your footage to this story. Remember, even when you collaborate and add your work to a story someone else has started you retain full rights and possession of your photos, video and audio. OK. Let’s rejoin the group that started from scratch.

Now that we’re all back together again, let’s see where we end up; in both cases you’ll see this upload page:

Look familiar? It looks much like the page you’d write your news story in, or like a blog entry or email. This makes things pretty easy from here on out.

First things first: You need a good headline. Write your photo’s title here, something that reflects the event you’ve managed to capture. Be creative—just like with story headline, a good photo title can grab people’s attention. Sometimes, a good title can do almost as much as the photo itself.

Tip: If you captured photos or video on your camera phone and want to go straight from your camera phone to NowPublic see here for our Mobile Upload tool.

Getting the Photo, Video and Audio Files onto NowPublic

Clicking one of the handy “Browse” buttons will allow you to find your photo or video amongst your computer’s files. After locating it, click “Open.” Voila! Your file is added to the list of photos, video or audio files to upload. You can upload up to 6 files at a time. You can also upload zip files. Most formats are accepted, but there are some limits, we’ve included a handy guide just to the right below the “browse” fields.

How do I protect my photos and video?

NowPublic uses Creative Commons Licensing to protect your photos and video in your terms. There are several licensing options available; you can find out more about them at www.creativecommons.org. Use the License options menu to select the license you would like to grant to your files. The same license will be applied to all of the files you upload. You can change each file individually at any time after they are uploaded. Our handy Thumbprint Technology makes sure your files stay safe on our site.

Editing the Photo and Video Details

Here’s where you can get creative. Whether it’s one or more files you are uploading, there’s a story in there and this is where you get to tell it. Think of this space like a photo caption in a newspaper or magazine. People will read it if they’re interested in your photo. Keep that in mind, and you’re sure to think of something insightful or clever to say.

Pretty amazing dog… good story! You’ll also notice we’ve shown the category menu open. Make sure you pick a category that fits your story… but there’s more: the category only part of how people will find your story.

Adding Tags and Seeing Your Story

So how will people find out about this amazing dog story? NowPublic stories can be located in a flash using search terms known as tags. To make it easy for people to find your story add a category and tags that describe your photos and the story they are associated with:

In this case we’ve chosen the Emergencies category and added a few tags: dog, man, rescue. You could also add tags that tell us where it happened and who was involved. When you’re satisfied with your headline, story details, category and tags, all that’s left to do is click the big orange “Upload” button. Go on, you know you want to.

Once you’ve uploaded your photos and video they show up on the story you chose. They’re also stored in your member page so you have them close at hand if they become newsworthy again. Other members can use them too, if you choose to let them. You’ll see our upload status page, and once all of your files have been converted by our thumbprint technology you’ll see this summary page:

And there it is—now you can take a good look at the spoils of your efforts. Look good? Click “Go to Story” to see the photo in action with the news story or go back and upload more files. So let’s go to the story page:

Looks pretty nifty, don’t you think? If you ever want to make changes to your story you can do so by clicking on your photo and then clicking the “Edit” tab above the headline field. The details you added mere moments ago are not static—they can be changed at any time. And since your photo’s yours (because you didn’t steal it from the internet, right?) then you are free to change or remove your photo at any time. You can arrange all of the photos, video and audio files by clicking the “moderate” or “edit media”tab.

There you have it: uploading in a few easy steps. Now, go forth and add those photos and videos!