About a month ago I photographer the Giant Canyon Woodlouse sleeping under a log. I focused stalked it creating the most clear image of this species I have ever seen (including Inaturalist and Google). I am wondering how I get my observation to be the first thing that pops up when people search up a species. I am not only doing this for some recognition of my phots but also because it truly is a really great photo.
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If you are 100% confident in your ID and that your photos are good examples of the species, go to the page for the species (https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/339101-Porcellio-dilatatus), click on the “Curation” button, and then click “Edit Photos”. From there, you can edit the default photos for the taxa.
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You can edit the taxon page images (and order) on the taxons page. In the dropdown for curation you can select something along the lines of “edit images”. I don’t use the En version, sorry. But in that dropdown.
Your images are actually really crisp. Good shot.
welcome to the forum
when editing taxon photos, please always consider what will be the best image to represent the species from an overall perspective. Your photos are indeed really great, but I note that both the images you have are close-ups of the face rather than showing the entire animal. These may not be the most appropriate to be the main taxon image; there are multiple existing very clear shots that show the whole isopod, which at face value seems to be the best representation of this species. But you can certainly add one of your photos as one of the other 11 photos alongside the core taxon photo
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If you really like this image, you can also upload it to Wikimedia Commons and add it to the Wikipedia article of that species!
Wikipedia is a really important source of information for many people, but articles for species are often lacking good images (and the text could usually also be expanded). Would be a great contribution!
For me, it also gives me a sense of purpose for my photography to do something like this.
Great images on Wikipedia could help to kindle enthusiasm! It would also be reasonable to choose an image representing the general characteristics of the species, but there’s enough space for multiple images.
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The taxon photo needs to provide taxon info first.
With a clear sharp picture.
Great photo would only be the third in the queue.
But there’s a good project
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/arthropod-faces
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The first photos should be the best representation of the species, taxon photos shoudl not be used to gain recognition for ones photography, but to show what the organism looks like.
Only make your own photos the first ones if they are objectively the best representation of the species, do not do this to promote your images.
I have made some of my photos among the first that show up, but I only do this when other better photos do not exist (and by better I mean better at illustrating the species, not just better quality)
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I do not intend this to be mean at all and I do think your photo is quite good. That being said, you are clearly very biased here. As others have pointed out, your image does not show the whole organism. Frankly, it is a worse representation of the species than the current taxon photo, which is not only clear but has the entire organism is in focus. Keep in mind that the primary purpose of a taxon photo is to make it easy for someone who is unfamiliar with the species to have something to compare their observation to. Generally you should not change a taxon photo unless the current one is subpar and the one you are replacing it is much clearer. An example of this would be Fallapion pensylvanicum. Currently I have the only observation of this species on iNaturalist, and so my photo is the taxon photo. However, my image is not very sharp and should be replaced if one that shows what the species looks like becomes available.
Again, I do think your photo is quite good and you should be proud of it, but it is not an ideal taxon photo. Unless the it is extremely clear that a photo better shows the details and gestalt than the current taxon photo of the species, the change should be discussed before being committed. This is especially true if the photo you intend to use is your own.
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Thank you for the reply! I did not intend to seem selfish here I do yes want to promote my photos but I do feel that it will help people identify this species. At the end of the day that is my ultimate goal is to help people identify wildlife. Maybe not the front species because it doesn’t show everything but one of the other many photos after it.
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Understood. I see that my excitement came of as selfish as that was not my intent. My goal is to help identify wildlife and I realize now the big picture here. I really appreciate the help though!
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