There are now thousands of photos on The Big Picture website, and lots of ways to add more. Here’s a quick guide to making the most of the site:

There are answers to more questions on the Help page, and if you’re really stuck you can email us for help.

Browse the photos

There are two main ways to look through the photos on The Big Picture:

  • One is to browse the albums. Start at the Photos page and choose an album. That may be a regional one, or a “themed” album - like ‘love’ or ‘mum’. Use the Previous Page link to go back though the pages of photos.
  • The other is to search. The search box at the top right of every page allows you to search all the content on the site – photos and articles – type in a word or words and off you go. The words that are searched through for photos are the title, the description, and any tags that were added.

You can improve the searching on the site for yourself an others if you tag the photographs when you look at them – it helps us find out what they are about, and it helps other people find them.Tags are handy labels that make finding and sharing on the Internet easier. A photo can have more than one tag , and it’s a good idea to have as many as are relevant to a photo.

Type your tags into the box at the bottom of a photo’s page. Use commas between, if you use more than one. Take a look at our help page on tags if you’d like to know more.

Comment on the photos

You can comment on the photos too. The most recent comments appear on the the front page, and of course on the photo you’ve commented on. Comments are moderated, meaning the Big Picture team read them first, so they can sometimes be a short delay between posting and your comment appearing on site.

To comment, leave your message, your name (you can use a nickname if you like!), and an email address. You may also leave a website address, maybe of your photos, if you like.

Go to a Big Picture event

Going to a Big Picture event can be a fun day out, and you might even find more things to take photos of. There are all sorts of events, some for kids, some for grown-ups, some for all the family, all around the West Midlands. They are all listed on our What’s On page, and near to the time on the front page too.

Learn more about photography

Our Photo Pro section has tips and articles with advice on how to improve the photos you take. It also features links to photo resources around the internet and contact details for local groups or clubs.

If there’s anything you would like to see in the Photo Pro section, drop us a line.