For my first contribution, I had to start by reading the documentation and guidelines for the Photos team. Our mentor had already given us a general idea of the process, but even though I already had the photograph I wanted to use, I still had to make sure it matched the requirements established by WordPress. The documentation felt fairly extensive, but at the same time it was easy to understand. I would say the hardest part was getting the image to meet the required pixel dimensions and file size.
My first contribution came from a photograph I took in my own garden. It shows a rose that my mother had been taking care of for several weeks, and taking the photo actually made me visit a green area of my house that I had not spent much time in for a long while. I waited until late afternoon so I could use natural sunlight and avoid having to edit the image more than necessary.
During the process, I also had to learn more about the camera on my phone. I discovered that the angle, focus, and lighting can help separate the subject visually from the background without having to add artificial effects. In this case, I wanted the rose to remain the main point of attention, and the natural depth of field helped me achieve that.
So far, my contact with the Photos team has mainly been through their documentation, the Photo Directory guidelines, and the moderation process. After submitting the photograph, it remained in the moderation queue until I received an email confirming that it had been approved and published. I still have not participated much in direct conversations with other members of the team, so that is one part of the project I would still like to understand better as I continue contributing.
I still have many questions, especially about how to use my phone camera more effectively and what visual criteria can make a photograph more likely to be accepted. My first attempts did not meet the resolution and file-size requirements, so I had to research how to correct those technical issues while keeping the photograph as natural as possible. As I continue with the project, I plan to keep learning through tutorials and with advice from someone I know who has already developed her own photography project and can give me some practical guidance.
View my first contribution on the WordPress Photo Directory:
https://wordpress.org/photos/photo/9696ad03a7/
