We expect Unsplash+ contributors to make a curated selection for each shoot and not to upload your entire camera roll as a submission.
We won't accept more than 50 images in a set, even for a large shoot. Keep in mind that uploading more images doesn't necessarily mean earning more. We place more value in carefully curated sets that tell a story.
Curation steps
Go through your shoot and remove all images that are blurry, too dark, too bright, or are not technically viable for submission.
Go through the shoot again and choose the strongest images from the shoot with variety, technique, and composition in mind (see below).
From that selection, curate again. Remove similar images and keep the shoot narrative in mind, keeping only images that are necessary to tell the story.
You should be left with a set of strong images that are visually appealing, tell a story when viewed together in a set, while also standing out as a strong image on its own.
Ensure there's enough variety within the set*
Multiple orientations
Multiple focal lengths
Multiple compositions
With/without human element
With/without copyspace
Include detail shots
When we say we are looking for “variety” in a submission, this doesn’t mean we want multiple options of the same image with a slight difference in camera angle or pose. A set should only include images that are unique from other images in the submission.
* Note this also applies to 3D render submissions
Shoot example
The example below shows a curation where 2 images are selected for submission and all other sister images are not included:
Sister images from a set
Curated selection
The example below shows a curated set with no sister images and enough variety for a single submission:
Curated submission
