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The Photographer Magazine
We don’t expect every photographer to be a writer, although some are pretty good at it. But the fact is that photographers love to read about what other photographers are doing and the purpose of THE PHOTOGRAPHER is to educate and inform our readers. So, if you are not a writer, it’s okay. Our job is to help you share your knowledge and expertise with others by taking information you provide and formulating it into an interesting and informative article… written by you!
Subject Matter – Although THE PHOTOGRAPHER publishes a variety of articles, priority is given to “How To” articles that tell others about something you do that is of interest to others. It might be an interesting camera technique, Photoshop technique, posing or lighting technique, or something as simple as telling the story of how a particular image was made. Readers want to read about cool stuff they can try with their camera and/or computer… something that will improve their work and make it more fun and productive. Yes, we often “feature” a particular photographer who has done something noteworthy and we publish some marketing articles. But we are always short on “How To” articles.
“Text-to-Photo Ratio” (Very Important!) – Several years ago, the TPPA Board of Directors mandated a certain “look” for articles in THE PHOTOGRAPHER. This was decided after reviewing a number of national magazines. In short, about half of each page should contain text and the other half photographs… and larger/fewer photos rather than smaller/more photos. To get an idea of this, browse through some Archive Issues at: www.ThePhotographerOnline.com/archives. In fact, the most common mistake people make when submitting an article is sending too many photographs and too little text. The best way to provide what we need is to, first, decide how many photographs you need in the article. Then, provide the proper amount of text (word count) according to the number of photographs. Here is a “rule of thumb” for that:
One image: Minimum 300 word count of text (up to 500)
Two Images: Minimum 800 word count of text (up to 1,000)
Three Images: Minimum 1,200 word count of text (up to 1,400)
Four Images: Minimum 1,500 word count of text (up to 1,700)
Five Images: Minimum 1,800 word count of text (up to 2,000)
Six Images: Minimum 2,100 word count of text (up to 2,400)
(add about 250 words for each additional photograph)
Remember: If you send too many photos and not enough text material, we will be forced to leave out some photos.
Let Us Write for You – Here’s a secret… Many of the articles you read in THE PHOTOGRAPHER were not technically written entirely by the author. In fact, many of them were written by us using the raw information provided to us by the “author.” The more information and details we have, the better job we can do for you. It is far better to provide more than we can use rather than not provide enough. Just sit down and write down everything that you can think of on your subject matter. Be specific and provide as many details as possible. You can send this to us in a PDF, Word Document, or simply copy/paste it into the body of an email.
Photo Size Requirements – Because THE PHOTOGRAPHER is printed on an off-set press, we need images to be submitted at 300dpi, typically in JPEG format. But let us re-size those images to fit the layout. So, go ahead and send full-sized files and let us down-size them as needed. Because of the file size requirements, it is best to use a platform such as DropBox for transferring those images to us (let us know and we’ll set that up for you).
Any Questions? Just email the Editor, Bill Hedrick, at: Editor@ThePhotographerOnline.com
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