Image Is (almost) Everything

Photos and illustrations can work wonders to successfully convey your message to your audience. Unfortunately, images tend to also be a huge stumbling block for many people in producing effective marketing materials. For our fourth installment in our five-part series on creating effective marketing projects we’ll explore a few of the most common problems with images and how to avoid them.

Image Quality
The single biggest problem we encounter with client supplied images is poor quality. The biggest offenders are: glare caused by direct flash, low resolution image files, and poor composition. All three of these issues can be easily overcome by simply hiring professional photographer — and yes, that is a shameless plug. However, if photography fees are not in your budget there are simple things you can do to overcome these three common pitfalls…

Flash Glare: Do not under any circumstances use the built-in flash unit on your camera. Instead, use natural sunlight either through a window or go outdoors. As much as you should avoid flash glare, you should also avoid harsh sunlight. The very best general purpose lighting is outdoors on an overcast day. Another option is to filter harsh sunlight through a thin white sheet or white plexiglass.

Low Resolution: Images intended for publishing online only need to be 72 dpi at the actual size they will be used, while images intended for print must be at least 300 ppi at the intended output size. If you shoot your own photos or hire a photographer, be sure to use at the highest available resolution on the camera. This way, even if your immediate purpose is a website, you will have the high resolution images should you need them for printed materials later. If the image is low resolution because you downloaded it from the web, there really isn’t anything you can do to salvage it. But then again, if you downloaded it from the web, you probably shouldn’t be using it in the first place.

Poor Composition: This is a really tough issue to tackle as there are so many factors that make up a good composition — how your subjects are positioned in relation to each other, how they are positioned in relation to the framing of the scene, your position in relation to the subject, and the focal length of lens on your camera. The simple truth is that good composition takes education, a keen eye, and lots of practice. When in doubt, use a normal lens to avoid distortion and photograph your subject from a 3/4 isometric view with the entire subject inside the frame.

There are plenty of online tutorials that will help you make better photographs…

Taking Professional Photos Without A Professional

Beginner & Amateur Photography Tips

Simple Posing Tips For Better People Pictures

Image Appropriateness
Not all images are photographs. In fact, illustration can often be significantly more effective in telling your story or even demonstrating technical details of your product. Show your product in use — you can utilize images to show off product benefits and convey a reason to buy. If humor is appropriate for your message, then your image should be as funny as the headline. Your images can be instructional in that they might be used to answer common misconceptions about your product or enforce a strength your product has over the competition. But, just like your written copy, your images should be honest — never deceptive.

Image Licensing
While copyright laws can be pretty overwhelming, addressing licensing issues is actually quite straightforward: if you do not own the image or have a written release from the creator, you should not use it. Period.

What About Stock Images?
Stock is fine. When purchased from a reputable stock agency, you easily overcome obstacles #1 (quality) and #2 (licensing). However, given the nature of stock, it is almost certain that someone else will use the same image at some point, so you are definitely giving up any claim to uniqueness. Another downside to stock images is that it can be difficult to find images that are truly appropriate to your needs and that will allow you to maintain consistent style as you require more images in the future.

Every ad does not need a fancy illustration or a powerful photograph, but when yours does, don’t sell yourself short. Do right by your images and they’ll do right by you.