Presentation given at the 2013 Texas School Public Relations Conference on the basics of photography and it's importance for school public relations professionals.

2. Why is photography important to
the PR professional?
™ The majority of media releases sent don’t include an image
– make yours stand out by including a great photo
™ P.R. Blogger, Brooke Nolan writes: “Perhaps you don’t even
need to bother writing a story to go along with images.
Great exposure can be [won] through an image alone.
Without sounding too corny ‘a picture speaks a thousand
words’ and all that. Send pictures with a simple photo
caption and short paragraph outlining the story — this
works especially well for the ‘social’ pages in magazines.”

3. Social Media
™ On Facebook, photos generate twice as many Likes as
text updates, and videos are shared twelve times more
than links and text posts
™ 42 percent of all Tumblr posts are photos
™ Photo and video posts on Pinterest generate more
referral traffic than Twitter, Stumbleupon, LinkedIn
and Google+ combined

4. What makes a great PR
photo?
™ Avoid clichéd photos (smiling business men holding giant
checks are no-no’s)
™ News is about real people – your photo should reflect this
™ Should sum up your story – often strong photos run with
just a caption
™ Include branding (naturally)
™ Tells something about the person, what they are doing, what
the company involvement is

5. Learn the basics
™ Get to know your camera
™ Hold your camera properly
™ Get out of auto mode
™ Learn to collect subject’s information quickly

6. How to hold your camera
• Left hand holding the
camera, fingers softly
gripping around the lens
• Right hand is used for
controlling the settings of
the camera
• Elbows together, pressing
on the chest
• Camera firmly against the
forehead, head leaning
towards the camera

7. Exposure control
AV-mode
TV-mode
P-mode

8. Composition
™ Fill the frame
™ Simplify the image by getting in close
™ Be aware of your background
™ Rule of thirds

9. Rule of Thirds
• Picture is separated into a
grid of thirds
• The subject is placed at
intersections of lines
• The picture is more
visually appealing because
the subject is not centered
or symmetrical
• This is a tried and true
method, but not always the
best

10. Rule of Thirds

11. Fill your frame
™ Use your zoom
™ Position yourself close to your subject
™ Crop your shots (be aware of quality loss)
™ Remember: including your subject’s entire body is not
necessary

12. Fill your frame
Far vs. Close

13. Fill your frame

14. Background
™ Make sure backgrounds don’t interfere with your subject
™ Look for solid color backgrounds like a solid colored wall or expanse of
blue sky
™ Beware of distractions such as objects, other people or colors that take
away from your subject
™ Isolate your subject
™ Use depth of field to make your subject sharp and background soft
™ Don’t eliminate your background completely! It is still necessary for
showing where your subject is located.

15. Backgrounds (Bad)
Other people
Distracting colors

16. Backgrounds (Good)

17. Uncommon Angles
™ Experiment with high- and low-angle shots that show
both scale and perspective
™ Kneel down to capture subjects near the ground or
photograph subjects above you

18. Uncommon Angles

19. Speaker shots
™ Animated speaker – look for hand gestures
™ Enthralled listeners
™ Use long lenses & no flash

20. Headshots without a studio
™ Simple or plain background
™ Have subject stand or sit on stool
™ Position body ¾ turn, but have them look forward
™ Have subject sit up straight and stick neck out

21. Other Tips
™ A photo only tells a great story if it can stand on its own.
Ask yourself: can you tell what the subject is without an
explanation?
™ Name tags are your best friend. Snap a shot of them
immediately after taking your subject’s photo for
identification later.
™ Read/subscribe to photography tutorials
™ www.digitalphotographyschool.com
™ www.photojojo.com
™ www.photo.net
™ Don’t forget to send links to your photo sharing sites and
Facebook galleries in your media releases.

22. Editing
™ Free:
™ Picasa
™ GIMP
™ Picmonkey
™ $$:
™ Adobe Photoshop
™ Adobe Lightroom

23. Photo Sharing
™ Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blog, etc.)
™ Photo sharing sites:
™ SmugMug
™ Flickr
™ Picasa
™ Your website

30. Thank you!
Amanda Arnold
aarnold@hcde-texas.org
(713) 696-8272