Earlier today, I was looking at some media handout pictures from a movie distributor which is looking to get publicity for an upcoming release:
• The pictures had no captions, no names and no IPTC data. You have to guess who the people are and what/where/when is happening.
• Photos were overexposed by about two stops and had far too much contrast. (EXIF data showed that the pictures were shot on an amateur camera using an auto-exposure mode).
• Pictures were out-of-focus.
• The original 30-MB images had been upsampled to 500-MB (why?) which might account for some of the out-of-focus. Who needs 36″ x 54″ @ 300 ppi images?
• Image size at least 20 times too big; file size about 13 times too big. Waste of download time and bandwidth; waste of editing time and computer resources.
If you’re going to produce media handout photos, make sure they’re media-friendly and that they meet all technical requirements. It’s not a guessing game.
When it comes to media handouts, every professional photographer knows (or should know) what numbers they have to hit for proper tonal range, image size and file size.
Every experienced photographer also knows what types of images they have to produce to meet minimum aesthetic standards. (Hint: having the film director out-of-focus and partially hidden behind a grossly overexposed motion picture camera is an unusable photo).
If you want to get publicity so you can make a strong impression on the public then make it easy for the press to use your handout images. Make the pictures too good not to use rather than too difficult to even mess with.
