What’s the difference between a photographer and a photojournalist?
A photographer takes pictures of nouns whereas a photojournalist, or news photographer, takes pictures of verbs.
If you remember way back to grade school: a noun is a part of speech that’s used to name a person, place or thing. A verb expresses an action or state of being, and is the most important part of a sentence.
The average photographer usually takes pictures of animals, nature, architecture and still life. Nothing wrong with that but all nouns.
Photojournalists take pictures of people expressing or enacting such things as anger, joy, sadness, happiness, victory, protest, excitement and more. These are images of people engaged in some sort of physical or emotional state of being. Verbs.
Verbs always attract more attention.
A photo noun, such as a product photo or a picture of a building, is viewed with just a quick blink of the eye. A noun is quick to understand and, thus, easy to skim over.
A verb will command the reader’s attention and curiosity. A reader will spend time looking at a photo verb to see and understand exactly what’s happening. This means that verbs are more likely to draw people into the story.
Verbs always run larger in print.
A noun, such as an executive portrait, usually runs small because (i) the reader can easily understand the picture at a small size, and (ii) nouns are often boring so there’s no reason to run them big.
But a verb, such as an executive doing something, must run larger so the reader can fully understand what’s going on in the picture. (Of course, a publication can crop a photo verb into a little noun.)
In Canada, the average adult newspaper reader spends 46 minutes with a weekday paper which is about 30 seconds per page. That confirms the pattern of: read the headlines –> look at the pictures –> skim the captions –> turn the page.
Most of the time, the only contact with the reader is through a photo. This is why good public relations photography must use a lot of verbs.
While there’s always a place for photo nouns, readers prefer to see verbs. Pictures of real people doing real things. A slice of life. And, if possible, a touch of humour is always a welcome bonus.
Headshots and group photos are nouns. Cheque presentations and ribbon cuttings are, at best, single-syllable verbs for children. It’s not enough to just have people in the picture. A good public relations or marketing photographer knows how to change a noun into an eye-catching verb.
Nouns are usually easier to photograph but verbs are more effective. Verbs may not be as picture-perfect as a noun, but what good is a PR photo or media handout if it doesn’t get published?
The best public relations photography uses an editorial look at people engaging in a physical or emotional action. In other words, to be successful, public relations photography needs a photojournalist or a photographer with news skills, someone who knows their photo grammar.
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Client wanted a picture of the new hallway. The result is a boring noun:
Turn the photo into a verb and also add the company logo:
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A photo of a scale model is always a noun:
Adding human interest and some action turns it into a verb:
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Client requested a photo of a scoreboard:
Verbs are always more interesting, especially if a touch of fun can be included:
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Client needed a photo of a food table in a guest suite. Table = noun.
Change to a verb and the picture is now about people enjoying the guest suite. Which image better sells the fun factor of the suite?
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PR agency wanted a photo of a store’s colourful price tag system. Nothing wrong with this noun:
The colourful price tags may not be as obvious but this next picture has some human interest and a bit of action, and it will get published at a larger size. Readers will always spend more time looking at a photo with a person in it. That’s just human nature.
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Nice photo of the company president:
Verbalize the photo by giving the executive something to do. This adds both action and interest to the picture:
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At entertainment events, organizers always want the corporate logos to be prominent which is the exact opposite of what news editors want:
If you can change the photo into a verb, news editors won’t even notice the logos.
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Nouns, like a business portrait, can run big:
or they can run really small and it doesn’t affect the read-ability of the photo:
But when the picture is converted into a verb, simply by having the CEO do something (verb = action), then the image demands more space so the readers can see exactly what’s going on.
