press releases

Best public relations photography

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Public relations photography, or PR photography, is about producing editorial photography that puts the client in a favourable light and increases their name recognition.

PR photography must be editorial in nature simply because that’s the style demanded by publications which use public relations photography. Newspapers, magazines, trade magazines, news websites and other publishers of PR photography use only editorial photography and not, for example, advertising photography because it directly impacts the publication’s credibility.

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Ordinary Miracle of Photography

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Every photographer who has developed prints in a darkroom knows the magic of watching an image appear on photo paper. Whether it’s their first or 10,000th print, an image appearing in the developer tray never ceases to amaze.

With digital cameras, the magic is lost. Photography has become so automatic that people barely notice it. Just push a button and check the LCD screen.

The technology behind turning light into electricity, then into digital bits stored on a memory card, and finally into an image is no longer considered magical. Digital images are now routine.

Yet, the essence of photography remains unchanged. It can still capture the right moment, tell a story, inspire hope, stir emotion, send a message, influence a belief, change opinion or illustrate what words cannot.

That’s why smart businesses use custom photography for their press releases, annual reports, web sites and other marketing collateral. These companies understand the ordinary miracle of photography.

 

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More Useless Media Handouts

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The view of the Dalai Lama from the photo position. You may notice that this position is far, far away from the stage.

The Dalai Lama’s Toronto visit has come and gone. Some of his events were open to the media and some were closed to the media but open to the public and their cameras. Some closed events weren’t really closed; organizers just forgot to include them in the media itinerary.

The organizers released almost five dozen handout pictures all at once, covering all three days of the visit, at 11 PM on Sunday, the last day of the visit.
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Another Public Relations Failure

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Canadian company Communitech today launched its Communitech Hub in Kitchener, Ontario. From its press release:

The Hub . . . is now home to start-up companies, small-medium enterprises, and global multi-nationals all aiming to accelerate the pace of development of new ideas and products in the digital media sector.

…leading-edge facility…

…will help launch more made-in-Ontario companies…

…state-of-the-art facility for digital innovation…

…the commercialization of innovation in Waterloo Region…

…dedicated to establishing Canada as a world leader in Digital Media…

Sounds good so far.

So how does this company promote the opening of its new, multi-multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art facility dedicated to Canadian innovation in digital media?
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Media Handout Photo Quality

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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.

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A Sporting Chance

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One type of photography I do is shooting sports events for the corporate sponsors. These sponsors usually want good action pictures with their logo visible in the photo. These pictures are often used in corporate literature, corporate web sites and media handouts.
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How to shoot yourself in the foot

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Here’s the best way for a company to mess up its public relations, mangle what’s left of its brand value and kill off any future credibility. (I’ll give you a hint: cut corners and go cheap on photography.)

As everyone knows, BP is in the midst of the worst oil spill in US history. As part of its attempt at public relations, and to salvage its brand, BP is trying to keep the public informed of its ongoing cleanup operations. Note that BP doesn’t call it an “oil spill” but rather an “oil well incident”.

What did BP do? It released doctored photos to the public, pictures that have been amateurishly altered to show BP in a better light. BP’s very weak mea culpa here.

The joke was that “BP” stood for “Broken Pipe”. It nows appears that it stands for “Bad Photoshopping”.
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