The simplest method is just to put a place name in the search box on the top right, and then everywhere relevant comes up in distance order. If there are more than one place then add the county or other distinguishing element, it also asks you which one you want if not. The advanced search really needs a direct word search to work. Some are easier than others. Tags such as horse, cat or bridge should be the easiest, whereas user names can appear to confuse the system and more likely to raise place names again. These are for searching photos, the discussions are searched using their own search box when logged in, and besides the filtering process where you check the forums to search and dates, the word selection needs to be pretty specific to exclude lots of similar words you don't want to see.
These are the simple methods, there are many more complex but just for the basics these should suffice.
Anyone can suggest images for inclusion in the Gallery. See link top right on any Gallery page. The gallery is also fed from 'thumbs up' clicks and from forum threads.
Please take the time to vote on images.
Use the 'Upload a larger size' link on the photo (or edit) page and submit the size you want (or select the preferred option on the page). This will overwrite the original selection although there may be a brief period when the originally selected size will be available due to caching and the wait before approval.
Be aware that if the very large version has been on the site for a while it may already have been downloaded from the site as a CC licensed image.
Note: if you did not want to license a larger size at all you will need to go through the same process but using an image marginally larger than 640 pixels wide (641 is enough) in order to remove the larger size options.
It's essentially the most viewed - weighted so length the image been on the site is taken into account and deduplicated so only one from any shots taken same day. The alternative selection is different, in that it carves the period up into a number of periods (by submission date!) and then just displays the most viewed in that period. For more info see forum thread.
It isn't a matter of scoring, and there are no hard and fast rules, except that the photographs must be taken within the qualifying week, and submitted by midnight on the Tuesday after the end of the qualifying week.
There is a rota of volunteer selectors, who look through all the eligible images, and whittle down to a shortlist of about 50. Individual selectors select according to whatever criteria they decide, and post the short list to the discussion forum.
They also notify the previous week's winner, whose privilege it is to pick the winner the next week.
The weekly winners eventually go forward to a selector who picks the image of the year from among the weekly winners.
Any member can volunteer to pick a week's selection. To volunteer, send a message to the Photo of the Year Co-ordinator.
The Photo of the Week competition is an informal competition intended to showcase some of the best images submitted during the week.
The only criterion for an image to be considered is that it must have been taken during the qualifying week, which runs from Saturday to Friday, and submitted by midnight on the following Tuesday.
Some people like to make sure that their images are submitted within the qualifying period, and other like to delay their submissions to make sure they are not considered.
What constitutes 'best' is very much subjective, because the selections of both shortlist and winner are done by different contributors each week.
As with all subjective selections, there is often disagreement with some of the selections, but that usually manifests itself by people saying which image they would have picked if it had been up to them to do so.
It all takes place in the Discussion Forum "Photograph of the Year (date)".
Members of Geograph can (if you aren't yet, sign up by clicking the 'register link' top right on any page). Go to the forum ('Discussions' in the sidebar menu) and add any pictures you'd like to see in all their glory on the front page for one day only to this thread: http://www.geograph.org.uk/discuss/index.php?&action=vthread&forum=2&topic=17652 . They will then be added to the list from which the daily picture is picked. If you'd like to suggest a picture for a specific day, please say so - there's no guarantee though, as the day may already have a picture assigned to it. You can post a small selection of your own pictures, but it is nice to highlight other peoples efforts as well where you come across them.
There is one technical limitation to bear in mind: The front page picture has to fit in a landscape frame due to the page layout. If it isn't landscape format, it'll be cropped and the central section used. Sometimes that can work, but generally it's best to pick landscape formats in the first place.