If you are a professional or amateur photographer who wants to save coral reefs, we invite you to donate your underwater images to CORAL's Photobank. We make our photo collection available to local conservation organizations, educators, and others who use photographs to raise awareness about coral reef destruction.

We are looking for high-quality, high-resolution images with in-focus subjects that show:

  • Coral reef plants and animals
  • Healthy coral reef landscapes
  • Fish species targeted by fishermen and aquarium collectors, including butterflyfish, snapper, and grouper
  • Large schools of fish
  • Macro shots (close-ups) of hard coral
  • Coral damaged by anchors, dynamite, cyanide, or divers
  • Community life near coral reefs, including fish markets, beaches, and conservation efforts
  • Reef-related ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrasses
  • Reef-related human activites, including fishing, diving, boating, and gleaning
  • Coral diseases
  • Marine park activities, including monitoring, patrolling, and visitor signs

Photographers are invited to submit as many relevant images to the Photobank as they want. CORAL will select images for inclusion based on the criteria listed below.

Types of Photos

Online Photobank Images


File format: .jpg (jpeg)only
Minimum dimensions: 600 pixels wide (horizontal), 600 pixels tall (vertical)
Maximum file size: 2 MB
How to submit: If you have a fast connection to the Internet (DSL or T1 line), upload your images directly to the Photobank. (If you connect using a modem, it will take a significant amount of time to upload even medium-sized files.) To submit photos via the Internet, please use the online submission form »

High-Resolution, Print-Quality Images

CORAL often uses high-resolution, print-quality images donated by members in our newsletters, yearly calendar, and annual reports. If you would like to donate high-resolution photographs, please submit images following the specifications listed below. Please let us know if you are also willing to have the image included in our Photobank and we will resize and post the image for you.

File format: .tif (Tiff) or .jpg (jpeg)
Minimum dimensions: 1,500 pixels wide (horizontal) or 1,500 pixels tall (vertical)
Maximum file size: 5 MB (by email); unlimited, if sent by mail
How to submit: Large digital images should be submitted via email (no more than 5 MB) or burned to a CD/DVD and sent by snail mail. To email, please send one photo attachment per message and include the subject line "CORAL Photobank Submission" to info@coral.org.

Include the following information with each photograph:

  • Your name, email address, and phone number
  • Photographer's name and contact information (if different from above)
  • Date and location of photo
  • Photo credit requested
  • Copyright and usage rights requested
  • Photo caption (including species name or name of people depicted and any additional information you feel would be helpful)

If you would like to submit slides, please scan the slides at the highest resolution possible, save the digital files on a CD/DVD, and mail it to us with all of the above information noted. If you would like us to scan your slides for you, please note that mailing costs prohibit us from returning your slides.

Please note that if you mail your digital files on CD/DVD, we will send you a License Agreement form to sign and return.

Selection Rules & Criteria

To be chosen for inclusion in CORAL's Photobank, images must be of good technical quality, properly exposed, and in focus. Quality is more important than the quantity of images submitted.

Images that have been digitally manipulated (other than cropping or minor adjustments to brightness, contrast, and color) must be identified. Our primary goal is to show the environment in its natural state; however, in the future, we may add a creative category to the Photobank, so keep checking back.

All images must have been taken in a natural environment: no aquarium or pool shots will be accepted.

Marine life should never be stressed or endangered for the sake of a photo. Images must conform with the Conservation Rules of the Environmentally-Aware Photographic Image Competition (EPIC). Photos will not be considered for inclusion if they show:

  • Animals exhibiting signs of stress (e.g., puffed puffers)
  • Animals being fed
  • Animals viewed in an unnatural location
  • Marine life being touched
  • Divers visibly damaging the environment
  • Divers exhibiting poor buoyancy control

We are interested in photographs that document human impacts on reefs (such as diver damage), but we will not accept photos that stage damage for the shot. If a photograph includes a model, the photographer is responsible for obtaining and keeping on file a signed model release.

Please be sure that all species appearing in a photo are properly labeled, and include detailed information about the location of the photo.

CORAL reviews all submitted photos. You will not be contacted if one or more of your submissions is accepted, but you will see it posted in the Photobank.

Copyright and Usage

  • Images in the CORAL Photobank are used on a nonexclusive basis.
  • The copyright on the photo(s) is held by the photographer.
  • Many of the photos are available for free download for non-commercial use when proper credit is given to the photographer.
  • Commercial use of these photos is not permitted without written permission from the photographer.
  • Commercial requests will be forwarded to the photographer.

If you have any questions about the CORAL Photobank, photo submission, or copyright and usage, please contact us.