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Why PR execs need to supply captions
You are a PR executive.
You've spent your client's budget on photography to
support their news release and sent the photos to the
media.
You know you've done a good job.
Your client assumes you've done a good job because
that's why they are paying for your expertise.
But have you really?
Identify the photo
When reviewing at the latest images they have
received, a picture editor must be able to positively
identify who or what is in the photo as they will not
risk publishing it otherwise.
Every image has a number of hidden text fields
containing information to identify the contents of the
picture to achieve this. They are called IPTC fields
and are used as standard throughout the newspaper
industry.
Information such as description, headline, source,
copyright, date created and more are available but as
a basic requirement the description field must
be completed to identify the picture's contents.
The caption's in the email
"I put the caption in the email when I send the photo
to the picture desk. Isn't that good enough?" we are
regularly asked by PR execs.
The simple answer is "No, it isn't".
When you email the photo you need to cater for the
human eyes that might read it, so yes you should put
the caption in the email. But you also need to cater
for the picture desk software that doesn't read your
email.
The software simply strips out the attached image and
totally ignores the contents of your email. It copies
the information contained in the IPTC fields in the
image and adds it to the database then links it to
your submitted photo.
Automatically deleted
If the photo does not have any embedded information,
it maybe automatically deleted. And that's the painful
bit, especially as you've just spent your client's
money on photos that have been binned without anyone
even seeing them.
The simple answer is to ensure you supply a caption
for each high resolution image you select. We will
embed it to make sure your images meet all media
standards and so are seen and correctly identified.
Addendum
We have been asked how can clients add their own
captions. In reply:
We use Adobe Photoshop to individually edit each high
res shot and size it to media standard size. Before
saving it we run a macro which fills in all the
basics. (File | File Info). Then we manually add
(copy & paste) the caption our PR client provided to
the description field.
Whilst we can and do write our own captions, it is
important the caption reflects the carefully written
news release so we prefer the client to supply the
captions when they select their images from the
thumbnails sheets.
The photographers you use ‘should’ offer to do this
for you as in our view it’s part of the job in
providing media ready edited images. If they’re not
doing this, give us a try on your next shoot!
Professional Images - keeping it simple.
Written by Simon Apps, ex-press photographer and
founder of Professional Images. Professional
Images are specialist PR
photographers providing PR, press and editorial photography to PR consultancies and press offices.
This article may be used freely provided a live URL
link is provided to
http://www.professional-images.com.
Used without the link, you will be breaching
copyright.
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