In the first post of our photography series, we talked about the importance of good photography and ensuring your campaign photos set the groundwork for memorable voter contact mail and targeted mobile ads.
We shared tips on how to take great photos, from the angle and the exposure to where to take them and what to wear.
In the second post of the series, we dove more into backgrounds and settings.
We talked about the Top 15 Settings for Voter Contact Mail and Mobile Advertising with the goal of showing you as “one of us,” the parent, neighbor, friend, leader who voters know, relate to and can trust.
Today in the 3rd part of our photography series, we are going to delve more into the tech side of photography and how to ensure the photos we receive not only look great, but print and render great as well.
Image Quality
To achieve photographic quality prints, you need to capture high-resolution images.
Remember that images viewed online are typically displayed at just 72 dots per inch, or DPI. An image with a resolution of 640×480 will appear on a computer monitor at about 9×7”.
That image may look large and clear on your computer, but the resolution is simply too small to create a high-quality photographic print, and that’s what voter contact mail is.
Image Requirements
We look for images at 300 DPI at 5×7” or larger and files saved as .tiff, .eps or .jpg.
Really, we’re looking for the highest resolution possible to give us the most options to show you at your best.
How do you get there? You need to set your camera to the highest quality image setting. A professional photographer will ensure that’s how they’re snapping photos.
You’ll know you have it right when you see the file size of the image. When you view the file on your computer, check that the file size is large. If an image appears to be good quality but has only a file size of 126kb or so, that’s not going to print well. Your high-resolution images should be at least a couple of MBs.
A high-resolution image can be converted to low resolution, but a low-resolution image cannot be converted to high resolution.
Start big to avoid pixelation and loss of clarity in your photos.
TIP: If you’re mailing prints for us to scan, remember to have them printed on glossy paper only. Textured paper does not scan well, and photos will not appear clearly.
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Seeing is Believing: Good photography makes great mail.
Seeing is Believing 2: Top 15 Settings for Voter Contact Mail and Mobile Advertising