The key word here is "guideline". Some of these are hard rules, which will be marked in BOLD CAPS, but the rest are editorial guidelines and not rules. The mere fact that our site is editorial, means things are subjective at times. When an editorial decision is made, we unfortunately often can't give reasons unless spare time allows. If we can, we will.
Your photo sets will be screened by Zivity's editorial team before publication. Photography should meet the following criteria to be accepted for publication. Please keep in mind, Zivity reserves the right to reject any photo for any reason without notice. Zivity also reserves the right to remove any photo from a set without notice.
Zivity content is presented in the form of photo sets. Your photo set can contain as few as 8 strong photos that speak for themselves and as many as 45. However, if you have a high concept shoot (See Merkley), we will make exceptions for smaller sets, but really, anything less than 4 photos will not be accepted.
Usually, a photo set is a collection of 15-30 photographs of a single model, created by a single photographer. Photo sets must be uploaded to the Zivity website as .jpg files within a .zip file. Images must be at least 1500 pixels long or tall.
Multiple models are not accepted in a set unless it is absolutely necessary for a story line to have additional models as props. In this case they:
a) CAN NOT BE IDENTIFIED (tattoos, face, marks, style, etc.)
b) CAN NOT TOUCH EACH OTHER IN A SEXUAL MANNER (think Sports Illustrated or people just hanging out, but no lesbian love festivals)
Quality usually means the photographs were taken with a digital or 35mm single lens reflex (SLR) camera and demonstrate clarity, good focus, good color balance, knowledge of composition, and consistency. Consistency includes submitting either an all color photo set or an all black & white photo set. Photo selection, post-processing, theme, location, styling, and pose are also assessed as part of quality.
We know a lot goes into your photo shoots and we have five publication paths based on quality.
1) Editorial Picks: These are considered the absolute best sets, and is the landing page when you click on "Photos". Having a set here doesn't mean that you'll get more or less votes, but it is an honor to be published in this section.
2) Showcased: This is everything that you see on the homepage. We can put anything on the homepage from Artist profiles, Prizes, and sets. This gets updated twice a day.
3) Noteworthy: Sets that are great, meet our content guidelines, but do not set the editorial bar for the site. We may have too many sets with similar themes or the posing, lighting, composition might not be where it could be. These sets can still be picked for the showcase for any reason.
4) All Submissions: This includes everything that's been published, which does include some of the more novice content.
Because Zivity is focused on celebrating the art of the human body, photo sets on Zivity SHOULD NOT include more than one person (unless they are props, have underpants on, are not touched in a sexual manner and can not be identified), sex acts, masturbation, spread shots, hands placed within 3 inches of nude bikini area, death themes, animals in sexual context, child themes, real or implied bodily fluids (blood, fake blood, etc), implied or actual dismemberment or electronic censorship of body parts. Male photo sets can show bare butt and bare chest but keep the junk in the trunk. Implied nudes are fine.
WE WILL NOT ALLOW UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES:
* CHILD THEMES (binkies, pacifiers, diapers, etc.)
* UNDERAGE THEMES (high school or grade school)
* DEATH THEMES THAT EVEN REMOTELY LOOK REAL
* HATE CRIMES Photos cannot depict symbolism or language associated with hate crimes.
* ANIMALS IN SEXUAL POSITIONS
* SPREAD SHOTS (We don't want to debate you over this. there's a girl sitting in a natural position without her pants and there's a girl giving you a human anatomy lesson. WE don't accept the latter. We've accepted a few tasteful shots in sets, but if the set trends towards mainly being about this, we'll cut a majority or all of the photos. Keep the focus on the woman - all of her.)
* MASTURBATION (If it even remotely looks like masturbation, it is removed)
* BODILY FLUIDS (On occasion we've allowed fake blood for Halloween-ish sets, but we've asked for a disclaimer slide or it looks pretty darn fake)
* SEX TOYS (If it is a prop, sure, but it should not be used in the way it was probably intended.)
* ILLEGAL ACTIVITY (Please don't depict any kind of illegal activity. This includes drug use.) Effective 12-19-11
At Zivity, we pride ourselves on being an artist-friendly site and value the time and work that our photographers put into their photo sets. However, as Zivity is an editorial web publication, not every photo can be published and we may remove photos prior to publishing your photo set. If you have any questions, please email info@zivity.com.