Best practices for taking amazing photos for your organization
Visuals are important. And the photos you use can make or break your external marketing efforts. This is especially important for websites, flyers, and share graphics, as well as offline marketing tools like posters and banners.
I always recommend engaging a professional photographer, who can take excellent professional photos representing all of the services and activities your organization engages is. Depending on your market this can cost anywhere between one and several hundred dollars - and it’s well worth it - imagine all the great visuals you’ll have that you can use for years in the future!
If you’d like to share some tips with your photographer (or if you must take your own photos), here are five important things to keep in mind to produce the best photos for your organization:
1. Focus on the main subject.
The background and/or other people or activities in the back should be blurred, so the main person/action stands out. Professional photographers would know how to do that easily. If you are taking photos yourself, with a mobile phone, most modern phones would have a “portrait mode” option which blurs the background. Use that as much as possible.
Focusing on the main subject reduces distraction and helps you get your message across more clearly.
2. Ensure you have good lighting.
The photos should not be too dark or too light. In some cases, especially when the photo is taken in a darker room, the photographer may need to edit the photo after. Natural lighting source (the sun!) is always best! If that’s not an option, avoid your camera flash, and instead use a projector as an external light source.
Good lighting helps you get more clear better quality images.
3. Position the shot so it tells a story.
Take action shots! Set up the photo so it captures the activity, situation, emotion you are going for, and tells a story of what's happening that's easy to interpret. Avoid photos that are clearly staged (people standing in a line looking at the camera).
Action shots that tell a story make it easier to interpret what the photo represents and the message you are trying to get across.
4. Show positive imagery.
Try to capture empowered, smiling people, to better showcase the positive impact of your work. Your donors, supporters, and other stakeholders will be much more impressed by positive images of what you do, as opposed to visuals representing the people and communities your serve as recipients of help.
Photos of empowered people and communities are more respectful to the people you serve and show the real impact you are making.
5. Show lots of colors (where possible).
It's always great to represent the colors and vibrancy of your community (in patterns, clothing, etc). Take advantage of that and showcase your organization and your community in style!
Colors and patterns in photos can bring fun and a unique feel to your visuals and your marketing materials.
One final note :)
While it’s always best to engage a professional photographer (the investment is worth it!) or take your own photos (using the tips above) that represent your organization, you can also simply use stock images. Two great free stock image websites I can recommend are Unsplash and Pexels.
If you have any questions about your photography needs, we would be happy to help!
