A guest by Everett Bogue of Far Beyond The Stars
Bloggers tend to underestimate the power of the art they put on their blog posts, professional looking art can make an immediate difference between an instant dedicated reader and the reader ignoring your blog altogether.
Blog readers do a lot of skimming, so it’s important that you concentrate making the photo that accompanies your writing both specific enough to let the reader know what you’re writing about, and powerful enough to solicit their attention.
I spent the last three years my life making blog photos better as the photo editor of New York Magazine’s blogs. Now that I’ve launched my own blog on minimalism and photography, and I’m working on my own projects, the art is always high on my list of priorities.
Here are eight elements of blog artwork that I contemplate every time I illustrate a story:
1, Simple is always better.
This is the golden rule, always choose an image that has one clear subject and one clear message. A photo with too many objects in it, or too dense a message can really throw your reader off. For my blog I often do a quick silo (art-speak for making a cut out) of every image so that the subject is on a white background for added simplicity.
2, Unique is better than generic.
Aim to provide a photo that your reader hasn’t seen a thousand times. If the image you’ve chosen bores you, it probably bores your reader. Invest the time to find an image that’s unique enough to peek your own interest and it’s a safe bet that your reader will feel the same way. Don’t go too far with this though, an image that’s too unique might confuse or scare your readers.
3, Choose an image relevant to your writing.
Be sure the image you choose is on topic. If you’re writing about writing, don’t choose a photo of a monkey eating a banana, pick an image of someone writing. You might find that your images start to get repetitive, but that’s fine, repetition will build your brand.
4, Stick with a common theme.
Aspire to make all of the photos across all of your blog posts have a similar look and feel. There are a number of ways you can do this: choose a consistent subject, if your blog is about concentrate or self improvement you can always choose photos of people meditating. Another way is by making all of your photos use a similar color scheme, like black and white.
5, Color-correct every image.
Get yourself Adobe Photoshop, or an inexpensive alternative and color-correct your images. The simplest way to do this is to make sure the black and whites in a photograph are pure black and white, by adjusting the contest of the image you can turn a poor looking image into a beauty instantly.
6, Size matters.
Keep your photo size reasonable. If the photo you choose is too big, resize it to a manageable size. Think about all of the different platforms your blog is being read on: RSS, Mobile devices, all sizes of computer screens. If the photo is too large you’re going to overwhelm some of these platforms and your reader in the process. Remember though, photo that is too small won’t be seen at all.
7, If the correct image doesn’t exist, make your own.
This is where you get to be creative! If you can’t find the image you want for your post, make it yourself. For this post I really wanted an image of a photo tacked onto a laptop screen. This didn’t exist, (no one wants to stick a thumbtack in screen, apparently.) So I created my own in photoshop. You can do this using a camera or photoshop, and the possibilities are only limited by your willingness to get creative.
8, Amazing art can save a poor story.
Let’s face it, every once in awhile every writer puts out some really bad writing. Whether you’re going through writers block, or you’re simply hung over and on deadline, you might need to cover up some unusually terrible prose. Outstanding art can tip the balance of reader perception into your favor.
Everett Bogue is a freelance photographer who writes Far Beyond The Stars, a new blog on minimalism and photography. If you found this post helpful to you please support his growing blog by subscribing to his RSS feed.
Illustration by Everett Bogue; Photo in illustration: Skyseeker
20 Comments, Comment or Ping
Erin Conway
Yeah., It is indeed a best idea of putting a unique photo in your blog. I’ve done it myself and it results into a good look every time I look at it.
Thanks for the post anyways. . Its great. . .
Oct 6th, 2009
Hameedullah Khan
Thank your Everett you have inspired me. Now that I have decided to add images to my blog posts, should I add images to the older posts too?
Oct 6th, 2009
usha
Thanks for the valuable suggestion. It proves once again that picture speaks louder than words.
Oct 6th, 2009
Sue
Copyright copyright copyright!!!
Only use the images created by others if you have their approval.
Free stocks images and those from the Creative Commons are fine.
If it’s on the Net it isn’t necessarily free for your use.
Respect the rights of others as you would want your creations to be respected.
Create your own. It’s fun and easy.
Oct 6th, 2009
elmot
I agree on this one that photos significantly contribute something to your posts…for copyright matters, I only copy creative commons marked images or ask permission from owners.
Oct 6th, 2009
positively present
Great post! I really agree with all of your points. :)
Oct 6th, 2009
Michael
Suggesting that people get Adobe Photoshop just to color correct pictures is a little overboard. The license is very expensive and most people end up pirating it. The good news is that there are two alternatives: for simple color correction, Google’s Picasa does wonders. The other option is GIMP (www.gimp.org), an open source alternative to Photoshop with more features than the common user will ever end up using.
Oct 6th, 2009
ami
Good post! I just attended a seminar where the speaker noted that the vast majority of people learn better visually. As a result, having a visual aid can enhance the message – and perhaps reach people who wouldn’t otherwise understand the main idea. I found that my blog entries were a lot more interesting to ME when I included pictures.
Oct 6th, 2009
Everett Bogue
@SUE, You’re totally correct, and I did gloss over the subject of copyright. Always use photographs that are licensed under Creative Commons, are free of copyright, or ask permission. A good resource for free photos is Everystockphoto.com.
@Hameedullah Khan, That’s totally up to you! If your old posts contribute more worth to your blog than the time it takes to illustrate them, I say go for it. Maybe start with your most popular posts?
@MICHAEL, You’re totally right. I take for granted Photoshop, because I’m a photographer and photo editor, it’s a necessity that I’ve always had, because I use it constantly. For bloggers Photoshop is definitely not a necessity, Gimp or a free online editing program will do just as well.
Oct 6th, 2009
Chris
I’ll use photos to strengthen a message that my post has. For articles too, I’ll use a photo of something I’ve discussed to help readers visualize what is being written.
Oct 6th, 2009
CE
I’ve absolutely found this to be true and have just spent the last week learning photoline. Interestingly, the free trial version keeps reporting that I am on day zero, so I’m crossing my fingers that this glich will persist.
It’s also helped me improve the presentation of my blog as well as the images for the articles and the learning curve is such that the effort I spent learning is paying off greatly.
Now all I have to do is convince the other writers to use it, too. . .
Oct 6th, 2009
Stan
I just started paying serious attention to my photos and I am shocked how much they boost the persuasiveness and attractiveness of my posts. Thanks for reminding me that Blogging is about an experience and not just writing…
Stan
Oct 6th, 2009
marye.ulrich
What is the best size picture to put on your blog?
Oct 6th, 2009
Mihla
I agree that images add to the message, but only if they’re relevant. I’ve seen too many blog posts where the graphic or photo has very little to do with the content. What does a fried egg have to do with Web design? Absolutely nothing, but one blogger used the image because the phrase “you have to break some eggs to make an omelet” appeared in the post. Make sure the images you use actually aid in communicating to your reader, not just because you think you need a photo on your page.
Oct 6th, 2009
Beth L. Gainer
Great posting. This proves that a picture can say a thousand words. i’ve been wowed by great pictures in a posting, and these photos have kept me coming back for more!!
Oct 6th, 2009
Grampa Ken: Social Fix
Image names important.
I just checked my referrals and 12 of the last 20 are a result of an image on my post. It’s been as high as 18/20. Most are from a result of a Google image search.
I’m using Blogger and the image resides on the default Blogger/Picasa web albums.
The image: nutrition-label224.jpg
Don’t know if this is news but I was surprised and will name images with some thought.
They land at http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_N7HrBEuDjgI/SnGzw9GYgyI/AAAAAAAACyA/uQTUlCGbb_M/s400/nutrition-label224.jpg&imgrefurl=http://social-fix.blogspot.com/2009/08/food-labels-ingredients-additives.html&usg=__ArpetnC4w_RE7ZDqwTSv
Oct 6th, 2009
yodz
Yes, aside from saving a poor word construction on a post a great image can also look good on thumbnails.
Oct 7th, 2009
Hilary
Hi Everitt .. thanks – photos do make the difference .. since I found out how to put pictures into my blog interspersed through it .. to highlight certain points I’m talking about .. I try and make them relevant at that part in the post .. usually it works – I don’t think my last post quite worked that way – but such is life!
People are always commenting on the good photos relevant to the story line .. and as you say you see two things at once: short paras (if lbogger allows me to do – which it didn’t yesterday .. irritating to say the least!) and matching pics explain it all, so much more easily.
So thank you – when I get a bit more sophisticated and have time .. I’ll be looking around at how to improve things ..
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters Inspirational Stories
Oct 7th, 2009
Fabian Fabian
hi.
all in all i enjoyed reading your post. there were several important points, was good to be reminded about some of them. but:
“8, Amazing art can save a poor story.”
sorry, but that is bad advice and a form of miseducation.
it is not that bad to have a bad post/story/painting/whatever once in a while. everybody who has little experience knows that’s the way it goes and will be okay with it. nobody puts out 100% good material. no big deal.
people who make stuff themselves will love you even more, because they feel less lonely with making crap themselves sometimes.
however, if you trick me with shiny looks in a thing you know is not that god, i feel betrayed (and rightly so) and might simply unsubscribe and never give a $&!% about your art anymore. ever.
so: if you *know* it’s “not that good”… just don’t publish it. sweet packaging never saved a bad product but displeased every single customer/reader/client/etc.
i hope i wasn’t too harsh, but i either had to make my point, or… unsubscribe ;-]
greetz,
fob
Oct 10th, 2009
Darni
I know the picture is very important and I always think it is.But where to get these pictures?For example,how to get these beautiful pictures on “WritetoDone”.Are they all made by the authors thereselves?
Dec 10th, 2009
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