Prompt's TechBlog

When readers open a magazine, their eyes flick over the headlines, images and captions before getting into the meat of the stories. Pictures are gateways to the real news and any stories that carry them have an unfair advantage when it comes to capturing the reader's attention.

Press releases sent with pictures are also more seductive for editors. Leaving aside all the opportunities that require pictures (such as product review spreads), publications like to use pictures throughout to make their pages look more interesting. Given two stories that are roughly equally interesting to readers, the one with a strong picture stands a much better chance of coverage. In some cases a weaker story with a good picture will get coverage over a stronger story. Print is a visual medium.

So what makes a decent picture? Follow these rules and you can't go far wrong...

• Tell the story. Try to photograph the most important aspect of your story. The promo picture of the iPod Nano next to a pencil, showing it was the same width, told almost the entire story. If you've made a new appointment, take a picture of your new hire, perhaps stood outside his new office with the company logo in the background. New software features? How about a screengrab that shows them in action.
  
  
• Don't overdo it though. The cheesier the better for local newspapers, but few other publications will want to see you handing over six foot cheques, shaking hands over a contract or wearing daft costumes. Don't pretend you spend all day smiling on the phone either. Hang up for your photo.
  
  
• People count. Every story - even a good technology story - is about people. If you can show someone using your product, you'll bring it to life.
  
  
• No holiday snaps. Yeah, you've got a nice smile and your wife thinks it's the best photo she's seen of you. But how can the world take you seriously if you accompany a story about a new server with a picture of you sipping cocktails? Wear a suit. Look the part.
  
  
• Find a decent photographer. Wedding photographers and other high street professionals will often do you a head and shoulders portrait. They'll pose you well, use charitable lighting and make sure you look your best.
  
  
• Get the rights. If you're working with a professional, make sure you're buying the copyright. Don't even bother meeting them until clarifying this. Many will be happy to do this, but some will refuse outright. Ring around.
  
  
• Do it right. If you really can't get a professional to shoot you, at least use a decent camera, get it in focus, eliminate red-eye, and make sure that you don't have trees growing out of your head. A picture is worth a thousand words. When editors see pictures taken on webcams or taken next to an unnoticed public toilet, most of those words are 'Ha'.
  
  
• No firing squad. It's a camera, not a gun. Smile. Or at least, don't look so terrified. People often shoot photos against walls to get a neutral background (good idea), but end up making their subject look like he's about to be shot. You'll get best results by sitting at 45 degrees to the camera, sitting up straight and turning slightly to face the lens.
  
  
• Shoot colour. Most magazines are colour nowadays and even the black and white ones can usually use colour prints. Look at it like this: it's a lot easier to automatically strip out the colours than it is to hand-colour a greyscale photo.
  
  
• Provide prints and scans. Some editors do still prefer to receive prints, so have that option as well as providing digital scans. Make sure you can provide scans at 300dpi in the publication's required format.

If you only take one thing away from this article, let it be this: your press portrait could be seen by thousands all over the world, including many of your colleagues, peers and prospective employers. People will forget all the product specs but remember what the product looked like. You're not just shooting photos. You're making memories.

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