Media photos and photocalls

It’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Great photography adds a whole new element to a story.

If you can take a half decent photo, it’s worth doing so and sending them with press releases. Digital photography makes it cheap and easy to take loads of photos, and you never know when a newspaper or magazine may use one.

Newspapers publish few “amateur” photos, but you never know. Times are changing, and if the photo is good enough and spices up a small story, it may be used, either in print or on the website.

Just email a low resolution jpeg with your press release, and write in your ‘Notes to Editors’ at the end that a high resolution jpeg is available if required (if that’s Greek to you find out more here).

Incidentally, the old rule of not sending photos to radio stations doesn’t really apply any more. Switched on newsteams will pop the photo on their website if they cover the story.

Here are a few hints to create better photos:

Use unusual poses for people: Have a look at the photos in your target media and see what kind of things they like

Make sure you can see people’s faces: Faces sell newspapers

Get children and/or animals into your photos if relevant: They brighten up photos

Make sure everything in the photo is relevant to the story: Including the background

Avoid large groups of people: Concentrate on two or three

Don’t do the old cheque presentation photo: Where one group of people hands a giant cheque to another group of people. They’re dull, pointless, and newspapers hate them (even if they publish them they hate them!)

Avoid the temptation to turn a photo into an advert: Litter it with your business’s logo and it won’t be used. We find that a subtle logo on someone’s clothing often gets overlooked

There are 100 useful photography tips here.

A word about photocalls

These are where you invite the media to come at the same time to take a photo of something. And they don’t work unless you’re already a household name. If Dyson says it will be unveiling a revolutionary new product, the media will be there. It’s highly unlikely they will be there for you.

Use photocalls when you are expecting a huge amount of media interest, and want to get as many photos done in a short space of time as possible. Otherwise forget them, and let the media arrange a photo as they require.

Next: Press conferences >>>