The photograph
The best pictures for promoting your church or event show people. Here are a few tips to consider.
- A good crowd is always a benefit.
- Be confident to direct people who you are photographing.
- Try lots of different angles to see what works best and remember to check the background (you don't want a drainpipe growing out of someone's head!).
- Always consider moving chairs, curtains, etc. to make sure you have a picture that works best.
- Get in close to the subject. If the picture needs to be cropped later, quality will be reduced.
- Take plenty of pictures before choosing the best one. Even after you have a great picture, try to get a better one.
- Keep talking to the people you are photographing to maintain their interest in getting a really great shot of the event.
- Get names of everyone, spelt correctly, and identified left to right.
- Ensure you have the recorded permissions of everyone in the shot or have made it clear at the event that photographs will be taken and those wishing not to be included must make the photographer aware.
What the newspaper wants
- Email the story to the paper.
- Include full contact details and information about who is sending the news release.
- Send the picture as an attachment to the story, not imbedded in a MS Word document.
- Use high resolution pictures, chances are that if the file is less than a1 MB, it will be too small to show properly.
Technicalities
- Digital images are needed.
- Don't compress the image to reduce file size.
- Don't alter the image. Avoid manipulating the digital image if at all possible.
- The picture shouldn't need to be cropped - this will reduce quality.
- Wide angle lenses work best.
- Using the flash can help to draw attention to foreground items and people.
- Familiarise yourself with the built-in settings for your camera. There are frequently pre-determined picture-taking settings that will help give you the best picture for your setting.