Hello and Welcome, Photography Lovers! As we are continuously looking for ways to improve the community and refine the quality of the content featured here, there are some updates to be aware of. Please read this short post and take note of the changes that we are implementing moving forward.
First off, amnesty is now over. This period of time has been to ensure that everyone interested in being part of this community could choose to be exclusive to HIVE and liquidate their positions on any of the other blockchains.
(Thanks for your amazing HIVE graphics 
We explained our reasoning and went over all the details in this post, COMMUNITY RULES UPDATE for PHOTOGRAPHY LOVERS, and even more details and explanation in the Comment Section. We also gave a final warning in the COMMUNITY RULES UPDATE ~ LAST CHANCE ~ warning post a month ago. So, effective immediately, active users on Blurt and Steemit will be muted from this community.
Secondly, we have decided that selfies don't add much value to the community nor to photography in general. We're here to motivate dedicated creative work, not just record daily life. There are other communities to share your day-to-day snapshots and activities, as well as your selfies.
So, from this point forward, we are implementing one more rule.
This is not to say that you can not include a photo of yourself in your posts. The rule is more geared towards users that are just sharing pictures, in contrast to those that are putting effort into growing their photographic skills.
We see many posts just sharing family outings, meals, or selfies with little to no thought or effort put into the actual PHOTOGRAPHY. It's even worse when the photos aren't even in focus!
As a community, we aspire to bring you the best quality content while also cultivating a conducive environment for those that are interested in growing their photographic skills.
Users posting to just get rewarded instead of focusing on photography will be primarily affected. But, as mentioned before, there are other photography communities on HIVE where their posts may be better suited.
ALL PHOTOGRAPHY MUST BE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL CONTENT
IF YOU ARE NOT THE PHOTOGRAPHER YOU MUST BE THE MODEL
NO STOCK IMAGES UNLESS YOU ARE THE CONTENT CREATOR
NO PLAGIARISM WILL BE TOLERATED
ALL TEXT MUST ALSO BE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL CONTENT
or otherwise sourced and cited!
ALL NON-PHOTOGRAPHY POSTS WILL BE MUTED
SINGLE IMAGE POSTS WITH LITTLE TO NO MEANINGFUL TEXT MAY BE MUTED
ANY AND ALL USE OF AI
IN YOUR IMAGES OR TEXTS MUST BE DISCLOSED
WITHIN THE CONTENT OF YOUR POST
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ONLY POSTS
WILL BE MUTED
SELFIES & DAILY SNAPSHOT POSTS MAY BE MUTED at curator discretion
Thirdly, we have decided that instead of giving the Featured HotShot thumbnail 5% beneficiary of the community curation post, that we will split that into the top 3 spots. We have had too many close calls not to have 2 more honorable mentions. But more than a mention, now you can get some extra rewards too!!!
The featured thumbnail will now get 3%, the second runner-up will get 2%, and the third runner-up will get 1%. This may not sound like a lot, but to be featured increases your exposure and to place in the top three will reward you benefits of the total post payouts!
This is just another reason to power up and support each other! The more Hive you have powered up... the Higher your vote is worth! The higher the payouts, the more those percentages will be valued... but we know you are all really here for the beauty and bragging rights!
To be curated and featured in the community HotShots posts is pretty easy. Just follow the simple guidelines below!
We will not be curating single-image posts, especially with little to no description. This community is focused on high-quality content, which includes what surrounds the images you share here.
We do not curate cross-posts
Finally, to further incentivize all of you to support one another and to support the community posts, we will be more heavily focused on targeting curation towards the users that interact with one another in the comments.
We really want to hear what you think about everyone else's photography, and i am sure the photographers do too! Get some discussions going, and it might just pay off in more ways than one! It's always nice to hear which favorites you have out of all the amazing features each round of curation.
We are all in this together and are here to support one another! This community is a wonderful opportunity to see the value that Hive has to offer the world, and to discover all the amazing talent that makes that possible. Thank you Photography Lovers for appreciating and sharing the beauty! We are glad you are here and look forward to growing with you all!
