Choosing the right photos crucial to design

Editors and page designers need to consider many aspects of photography and design when selecting the right images for a yearbook spread. It’s about more than whether a photo is simply in focus.

Use the following suggestions when deciding on the images that can make your yearbook designs stand out:

• Pick a dominant image that shows intense emotion or action, and draws the reader into the page.
• Avoid photos that simply contain people “mugging” for the camera. Candid images will bring more of a storytelling quality to the yearbook.
• Go for a variety of content. A football spread shouldn’t include a collection of six images of the quarterback throwing the football. What about shots of other players, crowd shots, coach or sideline shots and postgame reaction shots?
• Try to get a mix of horizontal and vertical images on a spread, as well as a mix of wide, close-up and mid-range shots.
• Choose photos that will allow subjects to face into the page so that readers are led to other items on the spread.