Photographs can add interest and visual appeal to press releases and news stories as well as parish websites and social media feeds. Before submitting a photo to a newspaper, assess its quality by following the suggestions below:
- The photo needs to be reasonably high resolution in order to be useable on websites or in print.
- The photo needs to have a direct connection to the subject of a press release or article.
- When taking photos of people, try not to stage them — capture their activity by keeping the photo natural.
- The photo must have a clear focal point without many distractions in the rest of the photo. In other words, keep it simple-do not try to include too many subjects in the photo.
- Submit clear identification of the picture’s subject(s).
- In most cases, faces in a photograph should appear at least the size of a dime.
- Take unique poses of subjects, but make sure a subject is identifiable.
- Make sure the picture is not blurry.
- Try not to have too much background or too many distractions in the photo.
- Make sure something is not graphically coming out of the subjects’ head. For example, pictures that are taken outdoors often have trees in the background and many times branches appear coming out of the subjects’ head.
- Photos with scratches and other permanent marks cannot be used unless the blemishes can be cropped.
- Avoid staged photos when “action shots” can be obtained. For example, instead of a subject receiving a check or an award while smiling at the camera, capture him/her doing something related to the award.
Make sure you have express written permission from parents or guardians to publish any photos of minors online or in print.
Questions? Contact Katie Forsyth, canon for communications.
