and illustrations for editors

*How to handle photos

*Visual world of editors

*Editors typically are not visual people.

*Editor training and practice traditionally was not in photography and illustrations

*Disagreement

*Some antagonism traditionally between editors’ and photographers’ approaches.

*But today photographs and illustrations have become essential to most publications and online.

*Influence of design

*The growth of professional graphic design in print and online has required editors to become more visually oriented.

*Growth of design

*In many mass media style publications and websites, the words have taken a second place to the power of the visuals.

*On the other hand, stand-alone photo stories are not as common as they were in the past.

*The photographer’s work has become sometimes just another element of an overall design concept.

*Editors think visually

*Editors need more and more to learn visual thinking, to be part of a team that produces a multimedia package or graphics-based publication design.

*Pagination software

*Photoshop and pagination software has made possible the kind of design considerations artists and printers in the past could only do with difficulty and considerable expense.

*Editors don’t have to know this software extensively. But they do have to be familiar with it.

*Knowing quality

*Editors also are expected to choose photos and graphics—and to know the good from the not-so-great.

*They may work with photo editors and art directors. But usually the editor has final say.

*Generating images

*Editors don’t take pictures, usually. They employ photojournalists.

*Magazine editors may hire freelance photographers or independent studies.

*Most publications of any size also employ illustrators, although freelancers also may be hired.

*Art online

*Editors also may find images in digital clip art files, or stock agency files.

*Stock agencies provide high-quality work for a price.

*Digital clip art may be free, or available at a nominal price.

*Normally free clip art is not as high quality, and professional editors tend to avoid it.

Royalties

*“Royalty-free” art and photos from the Web may still require editors to pay a fee for use.

*Usually the images can be used after that for a variety of ways, including advertising, without further payment.

*Images not royalty-free require a payment for one-time, or certain use.

*Creative Commons

*Today we also have a new option. Editors may search for Creative Commons approved photos and images. Flickr has a lot. What is this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DKm96Ftfko

*Other photos

*Editors need to know the system well, and avoid just using any image found on Google Images.

*These often are copyrighted. That means you need permission to use it.

*Photo assignments

*Editors often generate photo assignments.

*It may be up to editors to consider photo or illustration possibilities for stories, or multimedia packages for the Web.

*Editors may assign illustrators or photographers to produce this material, instead of looking online. Professional publications avoid using generic online photos.

*Photo/writing teams

*Photographers and writers often go on assignment in teams.

*Most commonly editors ask photographers to produce photos of people to illustrate a story.

*Types of people photos

*Portraits may be offered to editors in two ways:

*mugshots—a typical head-and-shoulders studio portrait.

*Environmental/personality portraits—photos of a subject in an interesting environment or doing something interesting.

*Environmental portraits

*More sophisticated editors choose environmental portraits over mugshots, if possible.

*They will be more likely to attract readers, and they emphasize the goal of the media: to report about people doing things.

*People doing things

*Editors try to avoid choosing photos of people posing, or staring at the camera.

*Grip n’ grin

*Also amateurish are “grip ‘n grin” photos, that is, photos of people shaking hands and getting awards.

*Dead animal pictures

*Fishing/hunting trophy photos offend some readers.

*Group shots

*Group shots are boring, and hard to see individuals. Most professional editors avoid these as well.

*Swimsuit photos

*Editors avoid so-called “cheescake/beefcake” photos as sexist in news media.

*Magazine editing

*Magazine editors, however, know these kinds of photos sell magazines.

*Photo quality

*Editors aren’t expected to fix photos, but can request photographers or artists to do so.

*If that’s not possible, poor quality photos must be rejected.

*What is poor quality?

*Poor exposure

*Poorly exposed photos, either too dark or too light, will only get worse when published. Dark photos especially do not reproduce well.

*Out of focus

*Out-of-focus photos look amateurish.

*Flash on camera

*Photos taken with a flash on the camera look like amateur snapshots, and generally are avoided.

*Cropping

*Most photos will need some cropping, unless the photographer has done it.

*Mass media editors look for the poster effect: the photo should have a clear center of interest, should be direct, and should contain a minimum of subtle detail.

*This is because the printing process lowers detail, and media consumers don’t give full attention to photos. Average is 2-3 seconds.

*Distractions

*Crop distracting backgrounds.

*Empty space

*Editors avoid empty space between subjects. In this case, it’s probably better to reject the photo, as cropping will ruin the context of the speaker with audience.

*Cropping principles

*Editors should crop large empty expanses. This includes sky, walls and ceilings.

*Distracting backgrounds should be cropped as much as possible.

*But cropping can be overdone—we don’t want to lose context of a photo. Cropping decisions also are ethical decisions.

*Publish larger

*Photos should be published reasonably large, except mugshots.

*Consider in large-format publications printing a horizontal at least three columns, a vertical at least three columns.

*Publish large

*Album-size photos all the same size look amateurish in mass media publications..

*Size to fit

*Photos are usually published in column width, abbreviated: 1 col, 2 col, 3 col etc.

*A mugshot may be ½ column, sometimes called a half-column runaround, because the text wraps around it.

*Photos that do not match column width may have white space surrounding. These are called floats.

*Photo pages

*Photo pages allow editors to tell a story through photos. Normally these have limited text.

*A theme-setting photo is published largest.

*Usually also included are medium shots and closeups.

*Photos are not published the same size, album style, but vary to help tell the story.

*Cutlines

*In mass media work, all photos must have cutlines.

*This gives the photo context, and helps to orient the reader to the activity taking place in the photo.

*Sometimes cutline are called captions.

*Cutline guidelines

*Cutlines should be written in present tense.

*They should be fairly short.

*They should identify the people in the photo.

*They should not describe what’s obvious.

*Cutline guidelines

*They should not include unnecessary words such as “This photo shows,” “above is depicted,” or “The subject is posing.”

*Include a byline for the photographer or artist.

*Avoid using only the name for a cutline, unless it’s a mugshot.