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Stock Photography for Presentations Tips
Pictures for Presentations: Eliminate Backgrounds
With the millions of stock photos out there for you to use in your presentation, how do you know which ones to choose? What makes a photograph good enough for a presentation? What should you avoid when choosing a stock photo?
One of the most important things to avoid in a photo is a busy background. The eye needs enough of an interesting image to be drawn into the photo, but when there is too much to look at it becomes overwhelming. So, when there is significant background aspects in a photo of a pet or person, the quality and expression are lost. If you choose a photo with a busy background, your audience won't see the impact and emotion you are trying to get across in your presentation.
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Choosing Stock Photos for Presentations
iStockphoto Tip: These days it's much easier for the average person to create a presentation for a client without hiring a marketing designer. But, knowing a few things about basic presentation images will help you go a long way in creating presentations that have the most impact. One idea is to choose a color theme. You can find tips on this idea on websites like istockphoto.com. Just like companies choose specific colors for their logo to brand themselves, you can create presentation images with certain, pre-determined colors. By doing this, you will offer a presentation that is more pleasing to the eye and more memorable. Also, the images your audience sees will be less busy and more polished.
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Avoid Portrait-Style Shots for Presentations
Let's face it: all our homes and offices are filled with our favorite portraits: shots of wedding days, school pictures and other events depicted through posed loved ones. These may make us feel good, but only because we can directly identify with the people in the photo. However, these types of shots are not the best people photos for presentations with punch. They appear unnatural and offer no insight into the mood of the subject. When choosing people photos for a presentation, pick:
*Shots that show interaction among the subjects as they will elicit more emotion and have a greater impact.
*Shots that feature people looking at something other then the camera lens. Again, these shots draw the eye in more and the viewer wonders about what the subject is thinking or feeling.
Remember, people shots that have impact are those that are unlike the shots people see every day in their normal routines, so don't be afraid to select something unusual for your presentation.
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Consider a Fine Art Print for Your Presentation
iStockphoto Tip: If you'd prefer to skip the fine art, consider contrasting a stock photo in your PowerPoint presentation. With the advent of easy-to-use graphic design programs, many people in business choose to write their own presentations, rather than hiring a professional to do it. This may save countless dollars in your ad budget and get you noticed within your company as someone willing to take on a challenge and be versatile. There are literally millions of photos and images you can use to illustrate a point in your presentation. But, often the ones most easily found and those that are less expensive may seem mundane when you want to drive home your point with an image. Let's face it: Just how exciting is the same old picture or graphic of someone at a laptop? When you want to drive home a key concept in your presentation, use the same PowerPoint images in such a way to contrast the point. For example, to illustrate how big an idea is, you can use the same image in a much smaller scale and the idea is immediately memorable to the audience. If you saw a grandiose picture of a house and, next to it, one that is very tiny, what would that say to you about the presenter's idea? Contrasting images are a more unique way to get your presentation noticed and to lock in your audience.
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Know the Source of Your Presentation Photo
Great photos are everywhere. It's easy to find endless images of people, landscapes, food and business owners in action. But, don't be tempted to just download any photo you see on the web for your next presentation. Some photos can be copyright-protected by artists and using them could land you in trouble, or worse yet, with a lawsuit with a photographer or his or her agency representative.
These days, the sharing of photos has become so commonplace you might think it's always legal, but it's not. Therefore, the next time you decide to use a photo for a presentation, check the source and any legal rights the photographer might have to the photo. Better yet, visit the numerous royalty free stock photo sites where you'll have instant access to great shots you can use without worrying about royalty fees or infringement.
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Pictures for Presentations: Eliminate Backgrounds
iStockphoto Tip: If you create clipart for stock photo sites, you want to give the buyer the most options when they use your images. When you design vector clipart, you want to create a way for people buying the image to use it easily.
It's important to remember that vector clipart isolated on a white background tends to be more useful to designers, especially if the object is unusual.
If you do use a white background, be sure it's pure white (255/255/255).
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Choosing Stock Photos for Presentations
If you are creating your own presentation, there are endless ways you can find photos to use, especially on sites that offer cheap royalty free images. But, you must be certain that the resolution is clear enough once you obtain or download that photo. Basically, photos are made up of tiny pixels. A 'dots per inch' value is then given to the photo, which tells the viewer more about the resolution. More recently, an industry standard has been created; it is 300 dots per inch, or dpi. If you choose a photo that is at least 300 dpi, you can usually be assured that the photo resolution will be clear enough for your use.
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Consider a Fine Art Print for Your Presentation
With the advent of royalty free stock photography sites, millions of photos have been made available to those creating presentations for marketing and other purposes. Royalty free stock photo sites offer photographic images for sale at rock-bottom prices, sometimes for as little as $1. But with easy-to-use graphic design programs, some people are finding other types of images can have an even greater impact. One idea for your next presentation is to use a "replica" of a fine art print. These types of images can also be found on stock photography sites. So, the next time you have to create an interesting presentation, give this alternative a try!
