This month we have expert advice, and secrets from Simon Whaley on how to get paid twice for your work, Ten Top Tips focuses on adding value to your work with photographs, which is echoed in Useful Websites. Student Successes are as uplifting as usual and, if you’re stuck for ideas, see Inspiration.

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• Top Tips
• Useful Sites
• Inspiration

Ten Top Tips For Taking Photographs

Digital cameras are really clever pieces of kit. They have made photography much easier for the layman as they are pretty much point and click. This means you no longer need to be an expert photographer to provide saleable photos with your work. So, here are some tips on profiting from your photography:

1. Remember that a good picture is worth a thousand words. If you can provide photos you save a busy editor time sourcing pics to illustrate your article. This can be a huge factor in determining whether your work is accepted or rejected.

   
   

2. You don’t need an expensive camera but you do need to learn to use it properly. Know it so well that you never have to refer to the instruction booklet and can remember all the modes without thinking.

   
   

3. Always take more pictures than you expect to use – it doesn’t cost any extra and you can delete the rubbish. And, you may just get an unexpected bonus!

   
   

4. Make sure that you save your images securely and that you save two copies of each set – one as back up, and one to work on.

   
   

5. Few photos can be submitted without being enhanced in some way; so learn to manipulate your images. And don’t worry, there’s plenty of great free software you can download. Have a look in Useful Websites for some to check out.

   
   

6. Learn to think visually. Do this by studying articles in magazines and the colour supplements to see how they are illustrated.

   
   

7. Beautiful sunsets and pastoral scenes are all very well, but editors usually want photos that involve people. And they prefer people who are doing something interesting that will involve the reader in the subject matter.

   
   

8. If you intend to send photos electronically, always find out the magazine’s preferred format and then use it.

   
   

9. If sending photos on a CD by post, enclose a covering letter together with a printout of your article and a printout of the caption sheet. A clear, descriptive caption for each photo is essential and each image on the CD should be numbered sequentially so that they can be identified easily on the caption sheet.

   
   

10. Make it very clear that you are giving permission for ‘single reproduction rights only’. By doing this, if an editor wants to re-use them he has to pay again!

Alternatively, you can use the pics again when you re-write your article for another publication!