PhotoShelter FAQ
Using Colby College’s PhotoShelter Library
Members of the Colby community can browse, download, and use approved Colby photography for marketing materials or classroom usage. These photos are archived in PhotoShelter, a browser-based application. Once you log in via Okta, use the search bar, AI search function, or select from one of the folders to find a photo that fits your needs
General
You can find Colby’s PhotoShelter at colbycollege.photoshelter.com.
PhotoShelter is Colby’s photo archive maintained by the Communications department. Members of the Colby community can browse, download, and use approved Colby photography for marketing materials or classroom usage. Photoshelter includes images from sporting events, college events such as Baccalaureate and Commencement, Colby news assignments, scenic photos of campus buildings and spaces, as well as images specific to centers, labs, and institutes.
PhotoShelter does not have user-submitted photos, photos from Getty or other wire services like the Associated Press, or RAW unedited images. It also does not have historical images of the College. Those can be accessed via JSTOR via the Colby College Libraries.
No. The image library is only for pre-approved assets.
Access & Logging In
The general public can access a limited number of approved galleries simply by visiting the site. These are helpful as handout photos of campus for media or other uses.
Any staff or faculty member can login to PhotoShelter via Internal Login (SSO).
Due to image licensing requirements, not every community member has the same access as others. If you or an external vendor need additional access, contact [email protected].
- Go to colbycollege.photoshelter.com
- At the top right-hand corner of the screen, click “Login”
- You will be redirected to a page that says, “Welcome to the Colby College Media Library!”
- Click “Internal Login” and log in via Okta
- You are now logged into PhotoShelter
- Go to colbycollege.photoshelter.com.
- At the top right-hand corner of the screen, click “Login”
- You will be redirected to a page that says, “Welcome to the Colby College Media Library!”
- Click “Use our public login”
- If you already have a PhotoShelter account login, enter it here
- If you don’t click “Sign up for an account” and follow the prompts to create an account
- You should now be able to use your new account information to log into Colby’s PhotoShelter
No, by default Colby students cannot access Photoshelter beyond the public galleries. If you have a student worker who needs access to PhotoShelter, please contact [email protected] with the student’s name, email, and length of employment.
Navigating PhotoShelter
Once you are logged into PhotoShelter, use the search bar, AI search function, or select from one of the galleries, collections, or workspace folders to find a photo that fits your needs. The same one photo can be stored in multiple galleries, collections, or workspaces.
Galleries vs. Collections
- Galleries are groups of images
- Collections are groups of galleries (and other collections)
- Think of it like folders and subfolders on your computer: a gallery is a folder containing images, and a collection is a folder that can hold other folders (or galleries) and even more collections within them.
- Galleries and Collections are categorized by places, events, people or subject matter.
Finding Galleries and Collections
- Galleries and Collections are located on the left-hand side of your screen.
- Click on the topic or location you want to explore to view more images.
- If the title is followed by a carrot symbol “>”, that indicates that it is a collection and there are sub-galleries within it.
- For example:
>Buildings and Spaces
Alfond Commons
Allen & Benner Island
etc.
- In this example, the Collection has sub-galleries inside of it broken up by building name i.e. Bixler or Olin.
Invited Galleries
Invited Galleries contain images that require special permission. Email [email protected] to submit a request for permission.
Using the Search Bar
- The search bar is located on the top right corner of the screen
- Users can search a name, place, organization, event, or a combination of terms
- Example: Inputting “Gordon Center & David Greene” will show all images with both the keywords Gordon Center and David Greene embedded in them.
- PhotoShelter will search keywords, titles, and captions embedded in the images to find images related to your search
You can filter the results you are looking for based on the following:
- Photo Orientation
- Vertical
- Horizontal
- Square
- Type
- Image
- Gallery
- Collection
- Usage: Can toggle between only showing you images you have permission to download or seeing all images
- Filename: If you know the specific file name of an image, or words within the file name, you can enter it
- Keywords: These are words embedded in the metadata of a photo by the photographer
- Date taken: Helpful if you are looking for a photo taken between dates or during a specific month or year
Searching with AI Visual Search
Searching with AI allows users to look for specific terms or keywords that might be embedded in an image. Example: Searching “red jacket in snow” might not normally produce any results, but with AI enabled it will show results that are similar to what you asked for. results are not based on metadata.
To enable AI Visual Search, click the eye icon to the right of the search bar. When enabled, the eye icon appears open, and the icon itself changes from white to solid.
Downloading Images
- Double-click on the image you want to download
- You will see five icons on the lower right
- Click “Download”
- The image will download onto your computer, typically right to the downloads folder, unless you have set up a different pathway for downloading files onto your hard drive
- Hover over the image you want to download
- Three icons will appear on the image
- Click the left one to download
There are multiple ways to download more than one image at a time.
Option 1
- Hover over the image you want to download
- Three icons will appear on the image
- Click the right icon to select the image
- Repeat as-needed on multiple photos
- Click the “Download” button that has now appeared in the middle of your screen
- A pop-up screen will appear
- Select the image format you want (this is the file size)
- Click download
- Images will be downloaded as a ZIP file to your computer
Option 2
- Click the icon on the bottom right of your screen that says “Select”
- Hover over the image you want to download and click the right icon to select the image
- Do this to as many images as you’d like to download
- After you are finished selecting your images, click the “Download” button that has now shown up in the middle of your screen
- A pop-up screen will appear
- Select the image format you want (this is the file size)
- Click download
- Images will be downloaded as a ZIP file to your computer.
- Click on the gallery or collection you want to download
- On the bottom right of your screen, click “Download All”
- On the pop-up screen, select the image format you want (this is the file size)
- Click download
- Images will be downloaded as a ZIP file to your computer.
Workspaces
Workspaces allow teams to gather assets from different galleries and share them in one central location. Once there, users can comment, add, download, and approve assets. Workspaces are a great tool for cross collaboration. To create or use a Workspace on a Portal, you must have a PhotoShelter account.
- Log in to Colby’s PhotoShelter with your account information
- Click “Workspaces” in the navigation bar at the top of the page
- Click “New Workspace” to create a new Workspace
- Name your Workspace and add a description
- Click “Create”
You can add files to a Workspace from both the gallery view and the search results page. Select your file(s), then hit the “Add to Workspace” icon that resembles a plus sign surrounded by three circles.
Adding Single Files to a Workspace from a Gallery
- Double-click an image
- Click the “Add to Workspace” icon on the bottom right of your
- screen
- Select an existing Workspace or create a new Workspace and click “Add”
Adding Multiple Files to a Workspace from a Gallery or Search
- Click the icon on the bottom right of your screen that says “Select”
- Hover over the image you want to select
- Three icons will appear on the image
- Click the right icon to select the image
- Repeat for the additional images you’d like added to your Workspace
- Once all your selections have been made, click the middle icon that has appeared in the middle of your screen that says “Add to Workspace”
- Select an existing Workspace or create a new Workspace and click “Add”
Custom Filters empower users to organize files in Workspaces by marketing channel, campaign, project status, team, or department—whatever your team needs to get the job done.
Any user who has access to the Workspace may create new Custom Filters, add files to Custom Filters, and use Custom Filters to narrow down their view in the Workspace.
Add a Custom Filter
- While in the Workspace view, you can create a new Custom Filter by opening the “Custom Filters” tab on the left
- Click the “New Custom Filter” button
- Click the “Add to Custom Filter” button.
Rename a Custom Filter
- In the Workspace view, open the “Custom Filters” tab
- Hover over the filter name on the left
- Click the pad and pencil icon to edit the Custom Filter name
Add a Single File to a Custom Filter
- Hover over the image’s thumbnail in the Workspace view
- Cick the “Add to Custom Filter” button
Once files have been added to a Workspace, there are a number of actions you can take on those files.
Inviting Users to Workspace
After you create and add files to your Workspace, Colby Communications Multimedia Staff may grant Invited Users permission to invite other Invited Users to collaborate within a Workspace.
As an Invited User (with “Allow user to invite” permission), access the Workspace on the Portal and click “+” to enter the Visibility and Access dialog.
- In the Visibility and Access dialog, enter the email address of the Invited User you wish to invite and enable the toggles next to each type of access you want them to have.
- Note: You might need to request permission to Invite Users
- If you or any users you invite need additional permissions, use the “Request Permission” button near your email address in the Visibility & Access dialog.
Curate Sets of Files with Approvals
Approvals enable you to collect feedback from your team in real-time so you can easily curate the best assets for your workflow. Any Invited User with “Approvals & Comments” permission can approve files.
- In the Workspace view
- Hover over an asset and click the thumbs-up icon to approve it.
- Click it again to remove approval
- In the Single-File view
- Click the blue “Approve” button to approve that asset
- Click the gray “Approved” button to remove approval
Leave and Collect Feedback With Comments
Comments enable you to host real-time conversations in Workspaces.
Comments are always related to a file so your team can get specific with their feedback, likes, and dislikes on any individual asset.
Any user with “Approvals & Comments” permission can leave comments on assets in a Workspace.
In the Workspace view, you can see which assets have comments with the message icon beneath the asset.
- Click on an asset to enter the Single-File view,
- Then click the “Comments” tab on the right to view or leave comments on that asset
- Comments update in real time with timestamps and cannot be edited.
- To delete a comment you’ve left on an asset in a Workspace, hover over the comment you want to remove and click the trash icon.
Any user who has been granted download permission can download individual files (and batches of files) directly from a Workspace to save locally.
- In the Workspace view
- Click the download icon in the footer to download all assets in the Workspace.
- To download a single file
- Click the file thumbnail and click the download icon in the footer
Select your file format and file size, then click Download.