Photo FAQs for Non-Profit Photos
Selfie of the pope? Not too interesting. Photo of the Pope taking a selfie? That’s a story!
Most non-profits are always looking for new photos for a newsletter, a website, a Facebook page, slideshows, or possibly even to send to a local paper. In general, photos are needed whenever someone says, “Do you have a photo for this?”
It's likely that many of your volunteers have a Smartphone or a camera on hand. So here are some tips to share with your volunteers and hopefully you'll receive higher quality photos in return.
Do you need me to take photos?
Yes! Non-profit photos, like most good photographs, need to tell a story. So take photos for us and help us share the story of our organization.
Do I need to get permission?
Generally permission is not needed for photos taken in public places, however, non-profits should have specific guidelines on whose likeness can be used in different media whether online or in print. Find those guidelines and share them with your volunteers.
What are the key considerations to getting a good photo that we can use?
Two elements that turn good photos into great photos are composition and lighting.
Compose your photo to tell the story. For non-profit photos, what is the story you are trying to tell? Do you want to show a student studying, a group raising a wall into place, a ranger giving a talk on a native species? Are these just smiling faces or are these smiling faces building a house?Is this person walking in the snow, or is this person walking in the snow on a college tour? Are these children laughing together or are they laughing as they use the new backpacks your group just donated?
However, don’t get so far away that the you lose the personality of the subjects. If you’re unsure of the best composition, take 2 photos—one close up and one farther away with the subject off center and the background identifying the story we are sharing. Take the time to move yourself, your subject or stuff to avoid extraneous items in the background.
Lighting is also critical, most especially for any photos that will be shared in print, such as in a physical newsletter. Take the time to position yourself and your camera so you'll have the best light for the subject. Generally the light should be on the face for people shots, but you don’t want your subject squinting into the sun. A shady location on a bright sunny day works well. Sunlight reflecting off of water or snow onto a face works well.
How can I get great indoor photos at a concert or sporting event?
Indoor action shots are hard. You are welcome to try to capture photos of the basketball game your group sponsored or the solo in the orchestra for which your group donated instruments, but often between the lack of bright lighting, the movement and the distance you aren’t going to get a photo we can use in a wide variety of settings unless you don’t need to be reading this FAQ.
However, take the photos and send them knowing we may not be able to use them.
So ALSO take a pre or post-game/performance still shot. Get a couple of the performers or teammates together with a prop such as an instrument, an actual stage prop or sports equipment. Have them be silly or at a minimum create a composition other than a line-up: two players each holding on to a basketball, violinist pretending to play: show the story.
Should I take action photos or staged photos?
Action and candid shots are great to get when possible. When you take a candid shot the subject is candid—the photographer can be prepared! Think about where you are standing, where the subject will be, what the lighting will be like, what’s in the background etc.
Make staged photos interesting, read the answer to the preceding question.
Will my iPhone take good enough photos to use in publications or on website?
Your iPhone will take great photos! Just make sure when you share the photos you share it at “Actual Size”.
Your iPhone will take even better photos if you treat it like a camera. Turn on the grid and use the rule of thirds to compose an interesting photo putting the subject or an interesting area of focus somewhere other than smack in the center.
Set HDR On (on the top of your screen when you compose a photo) especially outdoors with a blue sky and a subject that may be shadowed.
Should I use a flash?
That depends… I’m not going to go into a whole photography class here, but if a subject is in a shadow use a flash. Better yet, take the photo so that the subject’s face has natural light and isn’t in the shadows.
I just took a photo on my phone, what should I do with it?Email it right away! When you email a photo it is very important to send the highest resolution photo possible. On an iPhone select “Actual Size” when emailing a photo. Don’t edit the photo; send what you have, we may want to crop or edit it for different uses.
I have photos on my camera, what should I do with them?
Upload your photos to your computer. Once on your computer you can email them to the photo master (person responsible for collecting photos). As an organization you should have someone responsible. If the organization has regular photographers then create a Dropbox or other shared folder to share lots of photos easily. Always email a photo at full resolution and as attachments (rather than inline). This may mean that you can only send one or a few photos at a time. Thumbnail photos will be of little use to showcase an organization's works.
Should I keep copies of all the photos I send to you?
You are welcome to keep your photos, but for our purposes, once the photo master has acknowledged that receiving your photo and it’s sufficiently high resolution you may do whatever you want with your copy.
