Everyone should know the process that is involved in choosing the OOTM. It is as follows:
- We look at all Observations made since the previous Sunday/Monday that meet the criteria for the OOTM (The OOTM is always for the previous Month).
- If any of the Criteria, like place of observation and member status, are not met the observation is excluded
- The photo needs to be in focus and is better if it is of something of scientific interest
- A corroborating identification is required from one of the specialists at the New York Mycological Society. If they can corroborate the genus and get it down to species all the better (sometimes this is not possible with the information available).
- Once we know it is in the club's territory, and that the observer is a member of the NYMS, we will ask the observer for permission to use the image (if they have not already given permission to use any of their images)
- If everything goes smoothly, which it rarely does, the image is loaded into Photoshop and
- the name of the photographer
- the Genus/Species (scientific and common names) of the observation
- the iNaturalist observation ID
- the iNaturalist handle of the observer
are overlayed on top of the photo.
- The observer is sent 3 links, one of the original photo, a second with a squared version of the photo, and a third as it appears on the iNaturalist project page
- The photo is posted as the cover photo for this umbrella project
- Further information is gathered and displayed in the "More Info" page for the observation
- The photo either in it's original form, or in an edited form is posted to all the NYMS Social Media accounts
