Photos

Photos are used to communicate both information and emotion. While photos give us the most accurate visual information - as they are a literal snapshot of reality - we have to be careful that we are also evoking the emotions we intend.

We don't all interpret what we see in the same way, as one person can look at a photo and feel one thing, and another person can look at the same photo and feel quite differently.

For example, if you looked at a photo of a car full of people laughing and having fun while driving, you might feel it's nice to have fun with your friends on a road trip, whereas someone else might think it's a warning about driving while distracted.

Theoretically, the safest approach would be to not use photos at all in our professional business communication, but this would be unrealistic, as often the best way to communicate something to an audience is to simply show them a photo.

For example, if you were giving a training seminar on how to use new machinery, creating a presentation without any photos of that machinery would be odd and potentially a missed teaching opportunity.

This example hints at one of the most important concepts in selecting photos for professional business communication: people are much more emotionally engaged when seeing photos of people than they are when seeing photos of things.

Imagine that our presentation has one photo that shows just the machinery, and another photo with the same machinery, but this time with an older man showing the machinery to a group of young women. While the first photo can be taken at face value, the second photo takes on a whole new meaning by introducing the idea that it's not just the machinery that's important, but it is also important to know that this machinery would need an older man to instruct a group of women.

To save yourself from the potential of being questioned about your motives or intent when selecting photos, do your best to avoid using photos of people if at all possible.

Note how different this approach is to that used in advertising, where the effect of images containing people is well understood and deliberately exploited to manipulate our emotions. When we are looking at an ad for toothpaste, the advertisers don't just show us the toothpaste, they show us the toothpaste being used by attractive people. It could be argued that selecting the right people to show next to a product may be at the core of advertising, as any cologne or perfume ad featuring a famous actor or actress can attest.

Fortunately, the conundrum of choosing photos in business communication has a clear solution: use professional stock photography specifically intended for business usage from a reputable source.

The reason the source of your stock photography must be reputable is that to use any photo that you did not take, you must be granted permission from the person who took the photo. There are no exceptions to this rule, as copyright is granted the moment the photographer takes the photo - even without an explicit copyright notice - and if you use it without explicit permission, you are violating the photographer's copyright. In other words, do not simply copy any image you see on the internet because you think it will look nice in your document or presentation, you must also be 100% certain that you have permission to use it. A good rule to follow is that if you are not sure if you can use a photo, do not use it.

While there are many free stock photography sites, the best photographs will tend to require a paid license. These licenses can be only a few dollars, or can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars. For example, a piece of stock photography on GettyImages.com can be $499 for the largest image with the standard license type. Note that not all licenses are the same, as often a license is only granted for specific mediums, such that a photo that is only licensed for use on the web cannot also be used for print.

If you choose to take your own photo for use in a professional business document, you are perfectly free to do so, as the instant you take it the photo belongs to you. This does create a bit of an ethical quandary, however, as just because you take a photo and it belongs to you, that does not mean people would necessarily want you to use it.

This phenomenon is at the heart of why celebrities often despise unscrupulous paparazzi, as they often have their photo taken without their knowledge, and the resulting - often unflattering - image is then sold to media outlets without their permission.

While not as extreme as paparazzi photographing celebrities, a common everyday situation is taking a picture of your coworkers to use on a website, document, or presentation. While you might think the photo you took looks fine, your coworkers may not, as people can be self-conscious of the way they look. As a professional courtesy, if you are ever taking a photo of your colleagues, ask their permission before you take their photo, and after you take it, show it to them to get their permission to use it. If they say they would not like you to use their photo, you should respect their wishes - even though the photo technically belongs to you.

Assuming you do get the appropriate permissions to use a photo you took, it is also important to keep in mind that photography is its own artistic discipline, and just because you can take a photo, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a good photo.

A good photograph requires correct composition, color, lighting, focus, and exposure - and if any of those elements are off, the photo itself may not be well suited for professional use.

Fortunately, there are many online tutorials freely available for how to take great photographs. If you find yourself taking a lot of photographs for professional use, it may be worth investing the time to improve your photography skills.

Photos can be beautiful, evocative, and informative; and can be used to enrich, elevate, and enhance your documents and presentations.

Provided care is taken to acquire appropriate permissions, and to select or take professional-looking photographs; photos can prove the adage that a picture says a thousand words - it is only a question of making sure they are the words you intend.