Photography for Freelance Writers

Fresh Content, Including Images, is Important for a Writer’s Success

Jul 16, 2008 Philip Northeast

Quality images help the sales of freelance articles in an environment where publishers compete in market place for readers in print and online.

Become the complete writer with well-presented, relevant and unique photographs that match the quality of your writing. Adding photographic skills and capabilities makes writers more versatile as content providers. Starting point for new writers is often small, low budget publications and web sites. While the pay might not be much, the experience and exposure help in building a portfolio of published work.

According to Darryl Moen, photographs are the most looked-at item in a newspaper, and stories with pictures are read more than those without (Moen 52). This means photographs should be an integral part of an article, not a tacked-on afterthought.

Many emerging writers and journalists lacking an appropriate photograph seek copyright free images from image sharing web sites such as Flickr. These often detract from the article due to a lack of relevance, quality, or exclusivity. They say amateur, particularly to a knowledgeable editor who then chooses a competing submission.

Choosing the right equipment

This is not a fashion contest, rather a search for tools to do the job guided by a business like cost-benefit analysis of equipment purchases.

This usually means a 35mm DSLR based kit with a couple of zoom lenses and an external flash unit. DSLRs are the workhorse of photojournalists everywhere due to their flexibility and ability to produce publishable images from a reasonably compact and portable camera.

While full-time photojournalists choose expensive top-of-the-line models, these are not essential for freelance writers. For most general photography, any of the current DSLR models will produce images you will be proud to include with your article submissions. Along with the price advantage, the entry level and medium-range models generally are simpler to use with more functions that are automatic, so you can take your photos and get on with the writing. Another advantage of the cheaper models is they are often more compact than the top pro models, making them easier to carry.

Image quality is more dependent on lens quality rather than camera model, so do not skimp in this area and buy the cheapest lenses available. There is a wide variety of lenses available for DSLRs; this is one reason why they are the camera type of choice. Lenses range from wide angle through to extra long super telephoto to suite an equally diverse range of subjects. Writers need to identify their main subjects before deciding buying any lenses, then adding others as their fields of interest change or broaden.

The inbuilt flash on many DSLRs is really only suitable for emergency use. A good external flash unit mounted on the camera’s hot shoe gives much more flexibility in lighting a scene. Especially in daylight, a good flash will reduce dark shadows on people’s faces. The models that mount on the camera’s hot shoe keep the camera flash compact and easy to carry.

Source:

Moen, Daryl. R. Newspaper Layout and Design: A Team Approach. Fourth Edition. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 2000.

The copyright of the article Photography for Freelance Writers in Photography is owned by Philip Northeast. Permission to republish Photography for Freelance Writers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Value for money DSLR