Photo editors are like crazed Tasmanian Devils

Contents:

Contests:

Newsletter:

Members:

About Us:

Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features.

|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2006-01-23

Photo editors are like crazed Tasmanian Devils
The goal of a successful online image gallery is to stop the spinning.

By Grover Sanschagrin

You've got pictures, and a website. Perhaps that website even has your archive integrated into it - making it searchable. And you might be a SportsShooter.com member, and link to your website. All good things, right? Indeed. But it's not enough.

As many users have attested to in the message boards, SportsShooter and PhotoShelter members are receiving unsolicited work based on their published galleries. In other words, the traffic is here -- are you making the most of it?

Simply put: You need customers to find your images, and although SportsShooter.com and PhotoShelter are excellent tools to get your images in front of the people who want them, a lot of the "being found" process has to do with the quality of the galleries you publish.

"Photo editors. Think of them like crazed Tasmanian Devils on three cups of coffee, looking for a needle in a haystack," says Scott Sommerdorf, Director of Photography for the Salt Lake Tribune.

"The 'needle'," he says, "is the perfect photo for their story - or - it's that photographer who is just right for their assignment."

"The 'haystack' - sadly - is the huge amount of work that does not measure up," he says.

"This Tasmanian Devil is the person you need to stop in their tracks with your work," says Sommerdorf. "It can be quite a challenge."

* What makes a good gallery?
Important criteria includes newsworthiness, image quality, information provided with the gallery, and knowledge of the subject matter. Always remember that it's best to provide enough information so that editors understand the relative importance of the content within the gallery. Some people list this information in the PhotoShelter Gallery Description box or the "Personal Message" area of SportsShooter.com, and some people include it inside of their captions. Either way works - but remember, lots of editors troll the site looking for story ideas, so it is in your best interest to feed them an idea (aka: a reason to use your images) - and the best way to do that is with a really good description. For best results, you should include very informative information in both the Gallery Description box AND the caption. The Gallery Description will appear on the front of your personal PhotoShelter homepage - a very visible area - so take advantage of that.

* Keep it under 50!
If you submit a gallery that contains more than 50 images, it usually needs to be edited down. Fifty images is a lot of images for a single gallery. As a rule, a gallery should only reflect the absolute best of the best stuff from that event/assignment. Remember: People can still search and find additional images, but the gallery should be edited down tightly and should only include your best.

Some people submit every single image shot during an assignment, and this is not a good tactic. Too many images means it takes an editor too long to dig through the gallery, and there's a high likelihood that they'll give up before they get to the end. (Also, too many SIMILAR images will annoy an editor - because it wastes their time. They expect you to pre-edit for them by collecting the best stuff.)

Remember, sequencing is important in a gallery. Remember that an editor viewing your gallery might be scrolling through your images in the order you have them presented. Images that are of a similar theme should be grouped together; for example, you might consider placing fan reaction images together even though they may have been shot throughout the entire game.

Of course, how you sequence your images is ultimately up to you and your own personal tastes. Luckily, PhotoShelter's drag-and-drop sequencing ability can make the process fairly easy.

* Add a Gallery Description.
I mentioned this already, but I'll mention it again - just to make myself clear. This is the most effective way to explain the importance of the images, and add some much-needed background info to your images. The gallery description field shows up with your lead image on your PhotoShelter personal homepage, and if you submit it to the SportsShooter Virtual Agency, on the front page of the SportsShooter VA. It is of critical importance if you want people to click through to see your images. If you leave this field black, the chances of getting your gallery promoted on the front page of the SportsShooter Virtual Agency is slim-to-none. Oh, and one other thing - this is more text for search engines to index.

* Add a descriptive title.
Creating a descriptive title helps to sell your images. Be as descriptive as possible, while being efficient with your words. Here's an example:

Bad Title Example: "Baseball"
Good Title Example: "Baseball (MLB): Yankees vs. Mets, 6/25/05"

Notice that the date is added? This helps editors to visually identify the game according to date as well as league, team and sport. And do you know what else? This is another fantastic opportunity for a search engine to come in and index your gallery.

* Captions and Keywords.
Considering that these are the two main areas that are used to find your images in a search, you really should have these areas filled in, and make the most of them. I can't stress enough about the importance of complete, accurate captions. If you're not adding them, you're missing out on potential sales.

* Unsharp images - Don't use them!
Nothing is more of an editor buzz-kill than running across a gallery image that isn't sharp. If an image is out of focus, unsharp, blurry - it shouldn't be in your gallery, or even in your public archive. Without naming names, I've seen people not only include unsharp images in their galleries, but also use these unsharp images as their lead image on SportsShooter and PhotoShelter personal homepages.

There is a popular quote that I hear all the time, "Photographers are their own worst editors." Keep this in mind when you're going through your images from an assignment. Edit out any image that isn't sharp, isn't properly exposed, or isn't well composed. Get a second opinion if needed.

The truth is - in today's world of digital cameras and instant online publishing, less-than-perfect images are finding their way to editors, who must wade through them all. The difference between working pros (who get paid) and weekend warriors (who often work for free) is usually the quality of the images and their presentation. Don't make the mistake of including unsharp images in your gallery - because it's quite possible that an editor will think you're a weekend warrior, and never give your galleries a second look.

(And even if you are a 'weekend warrior', you don't want to look like one.)

* Be consistent.
Whatever style you choose to use for your galleries, it helps to be consistent. Make sure all of your galleries are presented the same way. It shows that you're professional and in control of your craft. Editors DO notice this. When it comes to assignment work, they want to know that a photographer has a system and will be able to deliver as expected and as promised. Inconsistency means unpredictability.

If you follow these simple rules, you'll experience much better results. Your galleries will receive more traffic, and you'll make the most of the traffic you receive. The tools are there, use them wisely and make them work for you.

"If your gallery is organized, logical, accurate, and full of great photographs, they will be more than happy to stop spinning like a tornado, and soak in your work," Sommerdorf says. "If instead they get the slightest sense that there is inaccuracy, or poor organization, or less than sharp work they will growl and move on - and fast."

Grover Sanschagrin is the "Executive Producer" of SportsShooter.com. He is also co-founder of PhotoShelter, the premiere online archive and sales vehicle for professional photographers.

Related Links:

SportsShooter VA