Photos are an effective way to engage online audiences. They can help websites and blogs get more views by bringing a story to life visually. Different types of photos include those depicting settings, portraits, and researchers. Quotes and images cards are also widely used on social media by overlaying photos with text. It is good practice to use high quality, relevant photos that are the right size and realistic while considering copyright and consent issues. Creative Commons licensing allows some photos to be shared freely for nonprofit uses.

1. Photos – the importance of
(good) images
http://resyst.lshtm.ac.uk
@RESYSTresearch

2. Overview
• Benefits of using photos in online content
• Different types of photo
• How to use images effectively (good practice)
• Copyright, consent and creative commons
• Pablo: how to add text over images

3. Why use photos in online content
• Websites and blogs with photos get more views
• Blogs with images get 94% more views than pages without them
• Photos bring the story to life
• “A picture is worth a thousand words”
• Achieve a deeper emotional connection with photos
• People are more likely to remember it
• People remember 20% of what they read and 10% of what they hear
but remember about 80% of what they see and do
• Used widely on social media
• 3x as much engagement as standard plain text

4. Different types of photos
• Photos of setting: e.g. images of health facilities
• Provide context
• Portrait photos: e.g. images of research subjects
• Can capture mood and emotion

5. Different types of photos
• Photos of researchers

6. Different types of photos
• Quotes and image cards
• Widely used in social media
Overlay photos with:
Ø Quotes from interviews with
participants
Ø Statistics about your findings
Ø Questions you asked in the
research
Ø Take away stand out messages
Ø University, project logo, website
URL, twitter hashtag

7. Good practice
1. Quality
• High resolution images (72ppi) so not to appear fuzzy
• Balance between low file size and good quality – JPEGs 75-80% quality

8. Good practice
2. Relevance
• Use images that support the content they are accompanying

9. Good practice
3. Size
• Rescale images correctly and maintain the original proportions

10. Good practice
4. Realistic images
4. No overly staged photographs
5. Be sure stock photos are believable and relate to the content

11. Good practice
5. Bright colours

12. Copyright/consent
• Seek permission to use or adapt online images or other peoples’
photographs
• If you have taken a picture that has people in it, ensure that you
have their consent before making it public
• Give images correct credits and if unsure check wording with the
person who has granted permission
© YEAR, PHOTOGRAPHERS NAME,
Courtesy of PHOTOGRAPHERS ORG

13. Creative commons
Search for images with a Creative Commons licence
• creativecommons.org – search images based on key words
• Google image search allows you to filter results by usage rights

14. Photoshare
• www.photoshare.org (JHSPH)
• Photos free for nonprofit and
educational use
• Search by key words, country

15. Pablo
• Pablo.buffer.com
• Text overlay on
own or selected
images
• Add text, logos
and edit style
• Select the correct
format for social
channel
• Share directly or
download