Pictures tell stories instantaneously; today many people often only skim material when reading. So, photographs tell our story most prominently and succinctly. Consider the ideas on this list.
- Technical resolution must be high. The higher your digital camera’s DPI (dots per inch), the better. The best photos are measured in megabytes. Many cameras — especially cell phone cameras — have much lower resolution; their photos sometimes are not of sufficient quality for media use. By having a higher resolution photo, print media can resize the photo, while retaining a high resolution. If your photos come out dark or murky in print, ask the editor what is needed for better resolution. Only quality photos should be sent in order to reflect the high standards of the school district.
- The best photos are action shots of only a handful of people; photos of only two or three people generally are ideal. Educators who work with a large number of students tend toward inclusiveness in photos, picturing everybody with any connection to a project, often posed. However, short of a candid action photo, the best approach is to get the people to actually do whatever action your story tells. These could be called “posed candids.” Get your subjects to relax, interact, and talk as they’re working. Yes, you want to pose the picture enough that you get good face shots, etc. (not backs of heads), but the key is to catch the reality of the interaction. For that reason, it is smart to take several shots to ensure getting at least one keeper.
- Composition is the most important part of photography. What is your subject? Focus on it. What is in the background? If it distracts, take and use a different shot. Watch for trees “growing” out of a subject’s head or other background distractions that look out of place in the finished photo. One way to prevent such problems is to take shots from different angles in case you don’t notice a problem while taking pictures and then wish you had another shot.
- Some posed pictures are inevitable. Still, you can be creative with them. Rather than lining everybody up the same way every time, maybe you can pose them sitting around a table or creating a V shape culminating with one person in the very front or back. If you shoot whole body shots, don’t cut off the feet. However, close-ups are better: head and shoulders shots or from the waist up.
- Often, several people take pictures at one time and different people posing look in different directions. As the official photographer of the event, direct the pose, setting, etc. and clearly tell all in the photo to look at you first. Then, let others take photos. “Checkerboarding” is effective, where you line up front and back lines “a space or two off.” That way, you can get two or three times as many face shots taken efficiently.
- Plain backgrounds are best. Painted cinder blocks or dry wall make better backgrounds than paintings hanging behind on the wall.
- When taking photos of people in front of a building, the people don’t have to stand up against the wall. You can get a much better background shot of the building if the subjects are a number of feet in front of it. The people need to be close to your camera, not necessarily close to the building.
- A “mug shot” of a person receiving an honor or promotion is a good alternative to offer media besides an action shot of that person being congratulated. Media can choose which shot they prefer.
- Lighting is important. Too much backlight, such as shooting into the sun, makes the subjects dark and poorly defined. The sun should be at the photographer’s back, but not in the subject’s eyes. Indoor lighting has similar consequences.
- Save and send photos j-peg and separate from (not embedded in) any written materials. Media people can reconstruct materials, but have trouble deconstructing submissions.
- Practice taking photos to learn, develop, and improve.
Question of the Week
What ideas would you add to the discussion on photography here?