# Photo Galleries

Photo Galleries let you share images with your community. You can create personal albums, contribute to community albums, and browse photos posted by other members.

## User Albums

Every member can create personal photo albums from their profile.

1. Go to **Profile > Photo Galleries**.
2. Click **Create Album**.
3. Give the album a title and an optional description.
4. Set a privacy level (see below).
5. Upload photos by dragging files onto the upload area or clicking **Browse**.

Albums display as thumbnail grids. Click any photo to open the lightbox viewer, which supports keyboard navigation (arrow keys) and swipe on mobile.

## Community Albums

Admins and moderators can create community-level albums that any member may contribute to.

- Community albums appear on the main **Galleries** page.
- Members click **Add Photos** inside a community album to contribute.
- Contributions follow the album's moderation rules — some albums require approval before photos go live.

## Privacy Levels

Each album has a privacy setting that controls who can view it:

| Level | Visible to |
|-------|-----------|
| **Public** | Everyone, including guests |
| **Members Only** | Logged-in members |
| **Friends Only** | Your friends list |
| **Private** | Only you |

You can change the privacy level at any time from the album settings.

## Slideshow

The lightbox has a play button. Press it and the album advances on its own every few seconds, wrapping back to the start. Navigating manually, closing the viewer, or switching browser tabs pauses the slideshow.

## Album Covers

By default an album uses its first photo as the cover. To pick a different one, open any photo in the lightbox and click **Set as cover**. A star badge marks the current cover in the grid.

## Photo Details and Map

Click the info icon in the lightbox to see a photo's details. For photos that carry camera metadata, you'll see the camera and lens, the date taken, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and focal length. If the photo includes GPS coordinates, a **View on map** link shows where it was taken.

## Replacing a Photo

Album owners can replace a photo with a new version. Open the photo, choose **Replace**, and pick the new file. The photo keeps its spot in the album along with its comments, tags, and reactions. Previous versions stay available under the photo's info panel.

## Duplicate Detection

If you upload a photo that is byte-identical to one already in the album, it's skipped automatically and you'll see a notice telling you how many duplicates were skipped. The rest of your upload proceeds normally.

## Bulk Upload with Zip Files

Uploading a .zip archive extracts the images inside and adds each one to the album. JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP images are pulled in; anything else in the archive is skipped. An archive can hold up to 200 images, up to 500 MB total. Duplicate detection applies to extracted images too.

## Photo Tagging

You can tag other members in your photos:

- Open a photo in the lightbox and click **Tag People**.
- Click on the area of the photo where the person appears.
- Start typing their username and select from the dropdown.
- The tagged member receives a notification and can remove the tag from their side if they prefer.

## Reactions & Comments

Photos support the same reaction system used across the platform. Click the reaction button beneath any photo to react with an emoji. You can also leave comments on individual photos — these comments support full markdown formatting.

## Tips

- Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and HEIC for photos; MP4 and WebM for videos.
- Maximum file size: 25 MB per photo, 200 MB per video.
- Use the **Reorder** button in album settings to drag photos into your preferred sequence.