Frequently Asked Questions

No. Only great cameras can make great photos. Wait. No. The other thing.

Yes! Anyone who wants to improve their photography is welcome to join – we only ask that you commit to yourself to submit weekly and take part of the community discussions.

Yeah. If your phone has a camera.

Listen, we definitely will want you to get to a point where you want to start taking advantage of all the extra features a real camera can offer, but we love how technology is making photography accessible to everyone these days.

One thing to keep in mind – there might be some weekly challenges that require a bit more than your camera phone can provide.

In those cases, we’ll direct you to borrow a camera, or recommend an app you can download to complete the challenge.

We encourage professional photographers to join our project for two main reasons.

The first – you can always be better. (Sorry, we tried breaking it to you gently). Our community will offer you unbiased, thoughtful feedback on your work so you can continue to improve.

The second, and more important reason – ironically, you need more creativity than most!

We’ve seen too many photographers burn out because of their professional work. Being paid to take photos for other people can be draining.

By taking on this personal creative challenge, we’re hoping to refuel your original passion for photography, allowing you to carve out some time to experiment in a judgement-free, risk-free environment, and cultivate your own artistic voice.

No. We wanted to be clear about this by leaving this answer with just the single word “no,” but then it felt a bit cold. But, emphatically, the answer is no.

Your photos are your photos. We will never, ever make any claim to the ownership of your photos, and we’re very sensitive to crediting the photographer wherever your photos are displayed.

Sure, since you asked so nicely. All you need to do is go to our homepage and click on the “Get Started” button!

You can then check out our challenge of the week and submit your photo, over on our Challenge Page.

Check out our 52Frames Photographers Group on Facebook to join the lively discussion that occurs each week, and you’ll be a part of the family in a flash. (Get it? Photography pun!)

Just make sure the photo you are submitting was taken DURING THE 7 DAYS OF THE CHALLENGE!

Not a question, but we appreciate the enthusiasm. We work hard to ensure we partner with high-quality, and highly relevant companies to our users. We respect our users, and insist on working only with advertisers who do as well. Interested in learning more? Click here for our press kit.

Photowalks are walks where we take photos. Right? Right. Ok, here’s more. Every month, in cities around the world, we get together to explore a bit and take some photos. This has a few great benefits: It gets us off our butts and into the real world. It connects us – in person – with our community. It allows us to see how other people shoot, and be immediately inspired. It will also help you get married. (No joke! 2 of our Tel Aviv Framers got married after meeting at a photowalk! But yea.. no promises).

There’s absolutely nothing to photograph in your city. Just kidding! Want to organize your own photowalk? We’ll give you whatever support you need and help others find you. Be in touch with us to discuss. Email help@52frames.com.

Nope! All are welcome! No fancy camera required! We may have some tours that have limited spaces, in which we’ll give first access to Framers, but our main goal here is to spread photolove!

Yes! You can join one of our Framer-created subgroups, many of them based on a specific location, and ask if they are having any meetups. You can view the list, here.

52Frames also runs monthly “Photowalks” in different cities around the world. Tag Ernst Muller in our Facebook Group and he’ll point you in the right direction!

You can always find the week’s challenge on this page, along with great tips, tutorials and a look ahead at the coming weeks’ challenges.

Other than having to shoot the photo during the challenge week, there are no rules for the submissions. Interpretation of the challenge is up to each Framer -- variety is the spice of life! You are free to edit your shot as much or as little as you like, or not at all.

We’re excited to introduce the “Extra Challenge.” Every week we’ll offer a small twist for more ambitious photographers who want some direction in pushing themselves just a bit harder. Each week, you can decide to take it on, or not. It’s just a little something extra, no awards for doing it!

Please note: the extra challenge is meant to be incorporated into your photo of the weekly challenge. Only one photo is submitted per week, whether you incorporate the Extra Challenge or not!

Simply click on the 'submit photo' button on the top of the page right next to your name, upload your photo, check the appropriate boxes, and submit!

You can also do this on our Challenge Page by clicking on the “Submit Your Photo” button.

Best dimensions for your photo submission is 2048px on the long side and no more than 5 MB (It'll look best under 1MB).

Once you have submitted, only you will be able to see your photo until the album goes live (more on that below).

Once the album is live (2 days after the deadline, on Tuesday) the whole album for the previous week's challenge is visible to everyone here and that's where the fun starts!

Once the week’s deadline hits (that’s every Sunday at midnight, Eastern U.S. time), our whittling committee goes through all the submissions and whittles down selections for the "52 Picks" album as well as our "Top 3" honors, and then we publish the album on our albums page.

We'll announce via email and on our Facebook Group that the album is live (So make sure you’ve joined the group)! The album will typically go live around 9am Tuesday morning, Eastern.

Look, 52Frames is not a competition. There are no real winners and losers here at 52Frames. What's most important is that you participate in the challenge each week.

We do choose 3 photos to highlight in the beginning of the album, which we’ve judged to be standouts worthy of some recognition (this is a throwback to our Facebook days when Facebook would show the first 3 thumbnails for an album share).

We take this process very seriously (which, incidentally, is sometimes why there are delays posting the album). 52F has a special “committee” of volunteers that have been in the project for many years. The committee comes from a diverse background and are both amateur and professional photographers. We consider storytelling, technique, creativity, and the connection between the photo and the week’s challenge. Sometimes we see a fantastic photo that feels like a “shoe-horn” (that’s what we call a photo that doesn’t reeeeally fit the theme), which is ok as a submission, but not for a “top 3" honor.

Art is necessarily a subjective experience, so we try to assemble a panel of judges with different styles, tastes and preferences. Some of the most spirited arguments we’ve ever had were focused on which photograph should receive this top 3 distinction.

At the end of the day, it’s not about the likes and recognition, but more about submitting a photo, each week, consistently. So don’t worry too much about the accolades and worry more about what photo you are taking this week :)

"52 Picks" are 52 photos selected each week by our "Whittling Committee." The photos are chosen based on each committee member's individual tastes regarding creative concept, technical execution, and overall story. We also will change the "theme" of the album from time to time to create diversity. The Committee member making the final choices is rotated each week as well, to further diversify the choices!

Click here to read more about why we have “52 Picks” and why we try so hard to avoid the competitive feel.

The short answer is, you're not SUPPOSED TO go over every single photo every week, in the same way you don't go over every photo that's ever been posted on Instagram, you only look at some of the photos that your friends have posted, or you look at topics you are interested in.

Have you watched our “Browsing Tips & Tricks” video? You can check that out here.

You can view a smaller batch of photos each week in our albums in a variety of ways:

You can filter each album by only those you "follow". At a later stage, we will introduce "groups" that you can create as an additional filter option.

Want to find people to follow? There are many small 52Frames sub-groups which you can join so it's easier to get to know people. You can see that list, here. You can even create your own new group!

You can also join a "mini group" which is a random group of 10 framers; a great way to make friends quick! Sign up, here.

You can also filter by those that are new to the project, those that completed the "Extra Credit" challenge for that week, or those that asked for a "shred" critique.

Beyond filtering the album, you can also search by name, tag, or genre. On the bottom of each photo, you can even click on tags to go further down the tag rabbit hole. And hey, if you like a photo, you can click on the photographer's name and browse their past submissions as well!

Have fun, and see where the albums take you, and don't stress about the need to see every single photo. You are right where you need to be. :)

While giving feedback on photos in the album is not a requirement, we strongly encourage you to comment on a few shots every week. This not only ensures everyone gets some love, but it's also a huge benefit to the person critiquing as it trains your eye to notice different things in your own photographs.

There are a few ways we recommend to leave a comment. If someone has commented on your shot, you can return the courtesy and comment on theirs! Looking to spread the love even more? You can sort the album by "least commented" and drop some friendly vibes on those that need some love. You can also filter by "newbies" and make sure they get some extra attention in their first 2 weeks in the project.

Notice we didn't say anything about GETTING critiques. I think the heart of this project is to give, and more important than receiving critique, is to simply post a photo each week. Receiving a critique is extra credit, but to be sure the more you give, the more you get.

Not sure how to critique? Don't overthink it. ANYONE can leave a critique. Simply state how a photo makes you feel. What resonates with you? What, if anything, would you change? Obviously the more you know about photography, the more specific suggestions you can leave, but every comment is worthy.

But please, sandwich! The most important rule: be nice. The sandwich method is to say something nice, then a critique, and then something nice again. (this works in real life too, btw)

You can see the great albums over here on our website, www.52frames.com and this is where all the photo submissions live and where all the framers will comment on each other's submissions. But there is also a lively community exchange on general photography-related topics on the Facebook platform (52Frames Photographers). All posts are pre-approved by admins. In an effort to keep the page less cluttered please try to add your info to the weekly post or to a post that already exists. In an effort to keep this group focused on learning, we ask that if you post a photo here (never your photo submission), please add the following three things:

1) Your EXIF data - What settings did you use to shoot it?

2) Why you shot it? (What story did you want to tell?)

3) Why did you post it? (What do you think we could learn from it?)

If you've been moving away from the world of Facebook, jumping onto our Discord channel might be just the place for you! With channels for general conversation, photo sharing, help with choosing your submission, or sharing a recipe, 52Frames on Discord is a great place to spend time. Just join our server!

Additionally, we have an active Instagram account that posts highlights each week, which you can see here, and you can use our weekly hashtag in your own posts to share with the general community!

Yes! When it comes down to it, 52Frames is all about posting 2x in a row. This creates a streak. Taking your camera - and using it - every week is how you improve. Eager Framers try not to break their streak. After a streak of 52, you officially become a "Weekly Warrior"! We have some Framers that are 9x Weekly Warriors!

Here at 52Frames, we are a proud “non-like” environment. We believe that showing this number contributes to feelings of being uninspired, inadequacy, or at worst, depression.
To read more about this difficult, but important decision, please visit Yosef’s blog post about it, here.

That wasn’t at all a contrived question that we had our fictional questioner pose! In fact, we do have such a page. Over here.

No. You may ONLY submit a photo that was taken taken during the week of the challenge.

No. The 52Frames project is a 7-day challenge, so push yourself to get one really creative and inventive shot, each week. The clock starts at 12:01am, each Monday, Eastern U.S. time, and ends at midnight Sunday, the following week. Don’t think too much, just do it. 🙂

Yes. (See? It’s not all “no”s). Simply go to your profile page profile page , and click on the photo you submitted to bring up the details. You should be able to edit all your information, including replacing the photo, so long as the weekly deadline hasn’t passed. Once the deadline has passed, you can still edit your caption text, but you can no longer replace your photo.

The deadline each week is Sunday night at midnight (11:59pm) Eastern U.S. time. See those timers we have all over the site? Yea, those are sync’d to the deadline time! (When in doubt, just google: “What time is it in New York”), but your best bet is simply not to wait until the last minute.

Yes! But you will no longer be considered a “Weekly Warrior”. While a successful 52-week run is ideal, we understand that life sometimes gets in the way, and it’s more important to just have fun, so post when you can!

We believe consistency is the most important thing, so go ahead and submit a photo even if you’re not crazy about it! We’ll understand.

(You’ll find that some of your best-received shots were those you thought you were just submitting for “consistency”).

No. The deadline is a hard deadline, like a turtle shell, or umm, a very stale piece of bread.

Any submission sent in after Sunday 11:59pm Eastern U.S., will NOT be accepted for that week’s album.

If however, you feel you could not submit your photo due to technical reasons, you can request a late submission by filling out the late submission form over at our contact page.

The short answer is yes. You should feel [creatively] free to edit your photo however you like, as the heart of this project is to tap into your creative expression.

However, once you delve into the realm of abstract or mixed media, the definition of what is a “photograph” may come into question.

While not having much consequence in our safe community, you should keep in mind that this kind of edit may not be admitted to certain photography exhibits, contests, or other photography projects.

Additionally, when choosing our “top 3” or “52 picks” honors, we generally try and choose from those photographs that are more photo-realistic in their edits, and tend to not choose ones that are “heavily or overly photoshop’d”

The short answer is yes. You should feel free to edit your photo in any way you like, and the whole point of the project is to facilitate a space for you to expand your creativity.

The longer answer is that this becomes problematic when many elements or the main element of your photo are photos that were taken before the week of the challenge.

A composite image can be submitted so long as the main element of your photograph is yours, and was taken the week of the challenge.

If, for example, you shoot a scene with a woman looking out a window, and outside the window you composite a scene of outer space, this would be OK to submit so long as the main element is the woman looking out the window.

At the end of the day, we happily support whatever you take on in order to expand your creative horizons!

Please note that when choosing our “top 3” or “52 picks” honors, we generally try and choose from those photographs that are more photo-realistic in their edits, and tend to not choose ones that are “heavily or overly photoshop’d”

While AI-tools definitely have a place in the photography workflow, this is not what the heart of THIS project is about. 52Frames is about going out, camera in hand, and capturing moments in a creative way. Any photo that is entirely AI-generated will be removed from the album.

If you are using AI-tools to enhance an actual real photo you took (eg - an element in the background, or a sky replacement tool, for example) just be sure that it is not the MAIN part of the image, just like our rule on compositing. Take note that these decisions are of course nuanced: If you replace a blown out sky with a similar blue sky, then you are indeed enhancing your own creation, and this would be permitted for our project. If you replace a sky with a milky way astrophotography shot, then you are highlighting a main element of your photo that was not taken by you, and is not permitted for our project. Of course, the same would go for a close-up portrait of a human being that isn’t real, whereas creating “humans” in the background could perhaps be a non-main element to your photos.

In short, go out and take a photo each week and be creative. Utilize the tools at your disposal to enhance your images and push the limits of your imagination. However, refrain from digitally creating essential components of your image and passing them off as your own.

Due to both copyright issues, and lack of originality, we do not allow a photo that is not actually your “own, original photo”.

Meaning, if you just lifted your camera and took a photo of a photo, or a photo of a painting, this would not be considered an original photo for that week, even though you clicked the shutter button.

Likewise, a screenshot of a computer screen or a photo of a television screen, would not be a valid photograph for submission.

To a smaller extent, you could have copyright issues by submitting a photo of someone else’s art as well, like a sculpture or mural, although this is harder to quantify. The best way to make it your “own” is to make the scene your own. Incorporate some “real-life” interplay with the art, like a person walking past a mural wall in a way where the two interacted visually, or a person looking at a painting. Interaction with the computer screen or TV would also create an original concept and would be permitted to submit. Click here to see examples.

We will put a warning on any photo that has a nude subject, regardless of what bits or bobs are showing.

In the future, we will allow you to control whether you see these warning or not, but in the meantime we’re trying to be overly-sensitive, as it’s very easy to give an extra click to reveal the photo.

(Please note that nude subjects under the age of 18 years will be removed from the album. This includes babies and toddlers.)

Let us know! You can contact us using this handy-dandy form, and choosing “I’d like to speak with an admin”.

If you are encountering a legitimate “bug” that you feel we should send directly to the developers, please choose the “submit a bug” option on that form!

If you’re not already in our 52Frames Photographers’ Facebook group, check it out and ask your question there; we’re a very friendly bunch. You can also contact us using this handy-dandy form. For general comments or any other issues, feel free to email us at help@52frames.com

We are still working on improving the new website, but this takes time. If you have a suggestion feel free to submit it here.