Five top tips for securing the best pics!
They say a picture says a thousand words, and in Public Relations it certainly does – inspirational photography and interesting, engaging content go hand in hand.
Even so, images are often underestimated. It’s really quite common for a strong story not to be published because it has a weak photo or no photo at all. Editors (and public relations professionals alike) know that an image gives a story wider appeal, and a good shot is essential when the aim is high quality media coverage.
With this in mind, we’ve created our five top tips to secure the best pics:
- Invest in a professional photographer
There are many photographers out there who specialise in different sectors, that’s why it’s important to identify a commercial photographer who has experience in your industry. We recommend viewing a photographer’s portfolio (most have these on their website) before arranging the shoot and to speak to their recent clients about the quality of their work.
- Let the image sell itself
Including branding in a shoot is always a good idea – but it’s essential to not over-brand. Editors tend to not include images that are over-branded and have been known to crop or edit the branding out. An experienced photographer can advise on a subtle placement of your branding that will be well received by an editor.
- Choose a tech-savvy photographer
We recommend choosing a tech savvy photographer who is competent with the use of photoshop and other editing tools. We’ve lost track of the number of times we’ve asked photographers to photoshop the sky to be a little brighter or to include a headshot of someone who couldn’t make the shoot! Amazing things are possible in photoshop, so make sure your chosen photographer can use it.
- Turnaround of images
Gone are the days when you had to wait a week for a CD of images to turn up – now many photographers use file sharing sites in order to quickly turn around the shoot. Choosing a photographer who uses these sites can save you a lot of time and effort – it also makes it much easier to keep a track of your images – no more lost CDs!
- Remember the resolution
You should always brief your photographer properly before a shoot, so that they know what format you require your image in (jpegs, tiffs, png etc) and also what size images you would like. High resolution images are required for print, but if they are too high resolution it’s worth downsizing them – emails which include large file size attachments may bounce. We recommend resizing images to roughly 1-2mb for press. Editors can also be sent links to client areas for browsing images, which they often prefer as it doesn’t block their systems and they can find the best image for their publication, in the right format and orientation.
We have connections with commercial photographers throughout the UK and are able to arrange and attend photo shoots to ensure that you achieve the shots you want.
If you would like help with any aspects of your public relations or marketing, contact us on 01709 300130 or email enquiries@dragonflypr.co.uk