Crop of the Pics - Using stock photography to improve impact at a lower cost.

It's cornball and hackneyed but a picture is worth a thousand words. I'm a big fan of beautifully crafted images to help tell a story. 

In my early years in advertising photgraphy was a big deal. As an art director I would conceive an idea, lay out as a concept visual (rendering the image by hand - I loved rendering - even if it was a complete waste of time - most good ideas really could be sketched on the back of a napkin). Then I'd choose a photographer - either from the roster of trusted suppliers or from portfolios. I'd help cast models - sometimes even putting in my own 'discoveries' - like Rachael Hunter (who was in my sister's class at school) for a Steinlager KZ1 Merchandise brochure and later a trade ad for Pepsi…I'd choose locations, hair and makeup, styling…then pick the best transparency or image from a proof shoot - bending over light boxes with lupes…organising retouching and clear cutting. It was a complicated, high value business. There was stock photography - but a lot of it was terrible - cheesy and cliché - and it wasn't necessarily cheap. 

Then digital happened. Imagery exploded. Now stylised Instagram pictures, passed through a filter from an iPhone camera are often as good as professional images.

Photo libraries like the one MacGregor Media uses charge a dollar for an image. On the right you can see a project that I'm working on to get my novel, Vanishing Act onto the Kindle platform (I decided the worthy but dowdy cover of the physical book wasn't attracting readers - It features a great shot of Maui Dolphin I got from a Dutch photographer on Flickr years ago in return for a credit in the imprint - but it kind of sank like a stone). I haven't retouched the image yet - just crudely plonked two pictures together - but you can see the impact you can get for just a couple of bucks.

There are times when you should hire an insanely great photographer.

1. If you need a portrait of a real person 
2. If you need an image of an actual place or product or thing.

And that's about it really.
Short of video - which isn't always the right medium for all kinds of reasons - photography and illustration will bring your words and ideas alive.

But you don't need to spend a lot of money for flash photography.

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If you would like to know when the ebook version of Vanishing Act is available (revised and updated), let me know by email  - or order a copy from BrainForest Press.
(Though the physical edition has the old cover).