They say a picture is worth a thousand words. While your copywriter who just spent the past 2 days researching, writing, and editing a long-form blog for your website may not agree with this sentiment, it’s certainly not untrue. When you’re creating content, the writing itself is important, of course, but the picture you choose to accompany it is equally, if not more crucial.
This is because the accompanying image is the first thing your readers will see when they’re looking at your content. You have the opportunity to either grab their attention or lose it. The best photographs will always do the former.
If you’d like to learn how to choose the best images to go along with your content, this guide is for you. Read on to learn all about the ins and outs of choosing photographs.
Keep Things Above Board
Before we get into composition or colouring or anything else, there’s one thing that’s important to note. When choosing an image for your content, you must always always always make sure you have a license to use it.
There are several reasons this is the case. To begin with, it’s a slap in the face to the owner of the image if you fail to gain proper photograph licensing. You wouldn’t want your neighbour to borrow your unicycle without asking first, and this is the very same thing.
You need to obtain an image license and give the proper credit to the image owner. Aside from the ethical issue, when you use unlicensed images, you put yourself in the position of facing a potential lawsuit—something we’re quite sure you don’t want.
Choosing the Best Photograph Every Time
In order to choose the perfect image for your content every time, there are a few simple questions you should ask of it. Think of these prompts as a test, where answering yes to each results in full marks and a gold star.
First, ask yourself, is the image relevant to the text? There’s no point putting a picture of a puppy on an article about Pushkin. While the pooches might be very cute, they likely have very little to do with Romantic-era poetry.
Next, is the image interesting? It’s all well and good for a photo to be relevant to the text, but if it doesn’t draw the reader in and excite their interest, they won’t want to read what you have to say regardless.
Finally, is the image high quality? You could have the most fascinating and relevant picture in the world, but if it’s made up of a grand total of about 3 pixels, it will ruin the effect entirely.
So, to recap, is your image relevant, compelling, and high quality? If so, then you’re good to go! There are other considerations, such as size and shape, but in general, once you’ve got those three things going on, you’ll be on to a winner.
The Best Photographs in the Business
If your content is in dire need of some beautiful, historical, and arresting images, then you’ve come to the right place. Find the best photographs for your project—whatever it may be—today. Browse our collections now to see what we have on offer.