Killer Press kits: the 29 key elements in creating sizzling music publicity materials (III)

Continuing from last week’s article

Photo

Another one of your goals is to help media people put a face to your name and sound. A good artist photo will do that. But good photos are rare. When you do have an intriguing, professional-looking photo, media people remember you – and your photo ends up in print and online more often. Here are some artist photo tips to consider:

19) Close-ups are better than wide shots

The best photos, generally speaking, are up close and personal. A tight shot on the members’ faces is far more appealing than a wide-angle view of a band running through a field. And if you’re a solo artist, you should definitely use photos with a close-up view. Keep the shapes and images in your photos simple and large – let them fill up the frame.

20) Keep backgrounds simple

The emphasis in your photo should be on the artist. But you’d be shocked by the number of pictures I’ve seen (one music commentator laments) that feature musicians posing in front of busy, mind-numbing background scenes. After all, it is called an artist photo, not a background photo. Picking a location that has atmosphere and texture is cool, as long as you make sure that you and your band members stand out against it.

21) Avoid straight lines and dull arrangements

If your photographer asks you and your band mates to stand in an orderly, straight line while he or she shoots at eye level, run the other way. Don’t do this, unless you plan on giving out smelling salts with all your photos.

Better approaches: Stagger the positions of the players. Try sitting or laying down. Have the photographer shoot from a high angle above or low angle below. Or play with special effects lenses (as long as the visual effects don’t blur the people in the picture too much).

22) Dress and pose members so they look like they’re in the same band

Did you ever see the “We Are the World” charity video from the 1980s? You had rockers and R&B players standing next to pop stars and folk singers. That’s great for a cooperative charity event, but it’s plain lousy for your band photo. Unfortunately, way too many band photos have this disjointed, mix-and-match feel.

Long before the photo shoot, every member should have a handle on what identity the band needs to portray. Dress accordingly. Attitudes and facial expressions also need to gel. One guy can’t be scowling while another sports a goofy grin. Bottom line: have a consistent look and vibe.

23) Supply digital images in both high- and low-resolution formats

Your photos can be used in many ways. But there are two ways you need to be most concerned with: in print and on the web. So in addition to sending a nice hard copy black-and-white or color photo with your press kit, it will also help to let the media know that you have digital images available in high- and low-resolution formats.

For use on web sites, low resolution images are needed (usually JPEG files saved at 72 pixels per inch). For reproduction in print, most publications will want a high-resolution image (often saved as a TIF or JPEG file at 300 dots per inch).

Whether your photos are shot using a digital camera to begin with or they are prints that you can scan, find a way to convert your photos to these digital formats. And, to make it easy for media people to access them, make them available for download from a special media section of your website.

24) Photos versus lithographs

Photographs are the nice, slick pictures that magazines prefer getting. The 8” x 10” size is still the industry standard, although good 5” x 7” prints work well too. Lithographs are half toned images of your photograph reproduced using offset printing. They look pretty good and are a lot less expensive, but beware: Lithographs don’t reproduce as well as real photos in publications. Many magazines and newspapers won’t use them.

Best advice: Use high-quality photos to send to the media. Get the more affordable lithographs to give away to fans and pin up at nightclubs, etc.