<h1>Seeing the bigger picture: the importance of photographs for publicity</h1>
As the old adage goes, a picture says a thousand words and as press releases are usually around 500 words, that means that pictures do a lot of the talking.

Recently, one of our clients had their press release rejected by a publication simply because they were unable to provide a high resolution image to accompany the story.

We live in a visual age, and the importance of attaching visual content to written copy cannot be understated.

A good press release can get you a sizeable amount of column inches; a good photograph can get you a full page.

A recent study found that only 5% of readers will read a newspaper front-to-back. A picture can grab the reader’s attention, draw them in to an article, and provide a visual reference that helps them remember the content for longer.

As journalism increasingly becomes an online industry, pictures will continue to grow in prominence. While we still see press releases printed in magazines and newspapers without accompanying photographs, it is almost unheard of online.

To make sure your press release is noticed, follow these top tips:
<ul>
 	<li><strong>Size - </strong>Make sure photographs are more than 2 or 3MB and at least 2000 pixels wide</li>
 	<li><strong>Content – </strong>Make sure the content of your photograph relates to your press release and shows the subject in a positive light</li>
 	<li><strong>Quality –</strong> Make sure everything is clearly visible in the photo and within the frame; blurred, noisy or dark photography will likely be filed in a newspaper’s deleted box. No red eyes, closed eyes or distracting backgrounds</li>
 	<li><strong>Invest in good images –</strong> Pictures taken on a mobile phone are fine for uploading online, but they are rarely good enough for quality printed publications. A one-off investment in professional photography – including key personnel – will repay a thousand-fold.</li>
</ul>
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