You will also find the power of images throughout Message in-a-Box, eg. in websites, blogs, guerilla marketing, video and animation.
Quick guide to images
This section helps you find out how others have used images effectively and creatively. It helps you learn how to find, create, edit, share great images, with an emphasis on photographs, comics, maps and simple animated images
Images add impact to stories, blog posts, websites, posters,brochures, email campaigns - whatever campaigning channels and tools you are using.
What do you need?
Essential: ideas, creativity, imagination, a strategy.
Extra: people to help, internet access, mobile phone
and/or a camera (digital or other), source books/comics/cartoons
collected from anywhere or commissioned.
Where can you use your images?
Once you have your images ready you can use them in a wide variety of channels:
- Publications - in newsletters, brochures, posters, reports.
- Online - email campaigns, websites, blogs, e-print brochures, books etc.
- Video - as still images in a video production. A video can be made almost entirely from still images, which is particularly helpful when you are using archival material.
- Photo activism -encouraging the grassroots collections and widespread sharing of images (eg. Zimbabwe - Mugabe's Mansion, torture images at...)
Ideas for how to use images
- Use people and faces to give your campaigns a personal touch.
It could also introduce your organisation to the people you meet. - Complement testimonials: photos of your work and the people involved, giving a ‘human feel’ to what you do.
- Make an entire campaign focus on one or a series of strong images.
One example of this is The 16 Guidelines materials prepared by Essential Education. They focus on 16 international role models to illustrate each guideline to happiness, from Albert Einstein to Gandhi. In some cases (eg. one face on a poster), powerful images are used, in others (eg. in the book) illustrations of the photographs have been made to avoid copyright infringement.
Illustrations & cartoons
Illustrations and cartoons have been used for communicating ideas,
issues, for political satire, adding visual impact and generally making
waves for an extremely long time. Many reproduce well online and in
print. A simple black line drawing can be photocopied or printed in one
colour.
How to find great illustrations & cartoons
- Ask someone to draw them or let you use one.
- Search Google Images. Use cartoon or illustration in your search expression.
- Try dedicated sites like http://www.cartoonstock.com as well as image sharing sites like Flickr that also host illustrations, cartoons and other forms of graphic art.
- Collect them from magazines, newspapers, by photographing posters.
- Make your own!
- Ask your supporters to suggest good resources.
Remember, some of the simplest cartoons are often the best.
Copyright & other legal issues
Don't forget to read our introduction to copyright. You might also need to think about privacy. Be sure you have traced the owner of the copyright before redistributing shared material. In the online world, images travel fast and it is often hard to know where they came from and who owns the copyright. While this might or might not present serious legal impications (eg. you can always remove an image from a website, but not from a poster campaign) there is are ethical questions to consider also. Each organisation will need to look at this on a case by case basis. For more on this issue, look at .......
Sokwanele - interactive violence map
Practical help with images
Don't forget to look at what you can do with the free software included with Message in-a-Box, like GIMP.
GIMP is a really powerful tool for such tasks as photo retouching, image
composition and image authoring. It allows you to many practical and essential things with images including:
- create graphics and logos
- resize and crop
photos - combine images
- remove unwanted image
features - convert between different image formats
- create animated images
- prepare images for websites.
Get visual!
Above all else, remember an enduring image, a witty cartoon or an engaging visual can have
the power to engage your audience and promote your campaign. Whether
you want to shock, wake up, amuse or give information - a picture
really can tell a thousand words.
Let's take action with images. More here about finding images, grass roots comics and simple animation - then get started on some mini-projects to develop your skills.
[Emphasis Box]
Have your read our Message in-a-box Strategy Overview yet?
Go there and save your valuable time and resources. Make sure
your images fit with your goals, audience, situation and messages.
Checklist
What you will need?
Digital images are the most effective way of transferring what you want to convey into a widely distributable format.
To start using digital images you will get them from either a:
- Digital image obtained from a digital camera or mobile, or a shared online source, or
- Printed image or transperancy (slide) to be scanned or photographed
You should think about your position on copyright issues here. If the image is not yours, you should ask permission to use it or try to find a copyright free image (see more on this in the section on sharable images).
Once you have an image on your computer using one of the above methods, you will need the following:
- Photo editing software such as GIMP to process the images
- Desktop publishing tools such as Scribus or Inkscape or web-design software such as NvU, Kompozer or Wordpress to incorporate the images into your media project
- People with basic computer skills to help with the above
- Internet access to download, share and upload graphics
- A printer, or access to suitable printers for a fee
Printing graphics
- When printing graphics, you need to pay attention to your resolution (“dots-per-inch” or DPI), photo size, and whether you are using an RGB (red-green-blue) image or a CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black) image, this may greatly effect the quality of the image.
- CMYK and RGB are two different systems of working with colour.
- Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black are the four colours used to print a colour image. Each one absorbs part of the light reflected from the page, using what is called as a “subtractive process.”. This is really important to know about as if you are printing an image with a professional printer, they may ask for the images in this format.
- Red-Green-Blue, on the other hand, is used for computer monitors or TVs. RGB adds red, green and blue light to a black background and so is called an “additive process.” * Don’t assume your image will look the same in print: There is almost always a difference between what you can produce on a computer screen and how it is actually printed.
- Get the paper size accurately if you’re planning to get the publication done at the printers. This helps to ensure that the display of graphics work out as intended. For books, make sure you get the spine-size accurately. (A hardcover or hard-bound book has rigid covers and the place where the stitching meets the cover is called the spine.
To figure out where images will be the most effective you must seek
feedback on how people respond to your printed work: Do they read it?
If not, what do they find unattractive about it? Do they read some of
it but skip over other parts?
Whether to use graphics or not also depends on what graphics are
available, and if they are available in the format you plan to publish
in. You must consider the following:
- Size
- Colour
- Paper to be used
- Printer’s equipment
- Will adding graphics cause delays?
- Will adding graphics hike up costs?
Sharing images & copyright
If you aren't able to create your own image's you might want to think about using free 'sharable' images that are available on the internet.
Campaigners generating content online often convert their work into a ‘sharable’ document that can be easily circulated via email or downloaded from the internet. If the ‘license’ invites sharing and the media is compelling it will get circulated almost as if it has a life of its own.
Such “sharable content” is also referred to as Open Content. Text, sound, images can be freely used, distributed and modified by the general public — just about anybody — without the traditional restrictions imposed by copyright. This can be done either by adopting an Open Content license, such as Creative Commons, or simply by following commonly-accepted practices.
Copyright free images
Tonnes of images (primarily photographs but also illustrations, simple animations, cartoons, video and art) on many subjects are today available with an open content license on sites like Flickr.com. Here is a copyright free image, found on Flickr in less than 5 minutes.
See how we have acknowledged the owner of the copyright, which was essential (and only fair!) under the terms of their copyright notice. The name and a link to the website they requested might suffice. Sometimes, you will want to give more attention to the issues and people behind the shared images, as we have down at the end of the page.
Here's a quick link to get started with finding images at the advanced Flickr search. Select Creative Commons Copyright at the bottom. http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced/
More about copyright in our Flickr guide here.
If you need permission to reproduce an image, contact the Flickr.com
photographer by visiting their profile (via their mugshot on top left
of the page) and sending a message to them.
You can learn all about how to use Flickr in our Using Flickr guide, including:
- how to upload images
- create sets and groups
- use tags for search and activism.
In addition to Flickr, take a look at the these photo sharing websites too:
http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/cfimages.html
Images & Permissions
Whether you are commissioning original images or
finding what you need on the internet, make sure you are comfortable
with copyright and licensing. Find out whether you have permission to reproduce them.
You can always remove an image from a
blog, but if it was a national poster campaign based on an illegal
image, would you really want to risk it?
Unless the images have been specifically given with the intention of
allowing you to reproduce them, make sure you ask for permissions, even
when they belong to a friend or supporter of your organisation. When
requesting permission, you could stress that your publication is a
not-for-profit or that authors are not paid for their contributions.
Mention your print-run and readership. This is especially important if
your content is for educational purposes. Under these circumstances,
some copyright holders may reduce or waive their expected fee.
Otherwise, it makes more sense to rely on copyright-free images.
Take care while photographing work that might be covered by copyright.
Photographing a copyright work can amount to reproducing it. By taking
a photo, you could be violating copyright. This is true of paintings,
some sculptures, craft items, architectural works, jewelry, clothing,
toys and artistic work.
Don’t forget to ask for permission if you need to; politely and in advance!
Sokwanele - Zvakwana ("Enough is Enough") use photo activism with extraordinary power. It is a Zimbabwean peoples' movement, embracing supporters of all pro-democratic
political parties, civic organizations and institutions.
The images uploaded to their Flickr site and, redistributed from it via open sharing, have been sent in by Sokwanele activists,
supporters and the general public, all with the purpose of showing the
world what is happening in their country.
[NOTE - this prompts the need for a section asap on ethical / legal issues. The questions raised here include... who is responsible for the images circulating? How can we know it's okay to use them? Do we have to go back to the original source? Did Angela sign permissions to have her image taken and distributed? This image is now widely circulated. It's a powerful image, it needs to be shown. Sokwaneleare and Justice for Agriculture are legally responsible not us as far as I know...]
Internet, print or both?
Internet, print or both - remix 'traditional' and 'new' media
Think about the best way to reach your audience, ask questions like:
- will they be online with a stable Internet connection?
- would they be more comfortable reading something in their hand rather than on a computer?
- are they so far flung that they would be better accessing your report online to save you postage and reach more people?
- what will have the most impact across all audiences?
Depending on the answers, don't be afraid to mix 'traditional' and 'new' media. Make the most of appropriate channels and use multiple strategies to reach your audience and achieve your campaign goals.
Have that exciting blog you want to attract readers to? Want to have
a voice ‘in the streets’ at a reasonable price? Don’t underestimate the
role of the simple photocopying machine!
A few ideas to consider
New and not-so-new technologies offer different ways to distribute media in the widest
possible manner.
- Blog posts can be photocopied as ‘hard-copy’ (on paper) and
distributed by people or left in public places you know your audience
may be, like cafes or community centres. - Online e-print materials (e-books, brochures, even full colour magazines) can be saved as PDFs and distributed widely via
email as an attachment or as a download from a website.
- You can design your own posters using open source software and create them using increasingly affordable laser-printers.
- You can ask a journal or print publication who you want to be
associated with to reprint your images along with simple messages, or
you can even ask them to run a series of stories over several issues.
[Move to Strategy Overview section and link to it form Online Marketing strategy, print strategy, etc]
Examples
Here are two interesting examples of projects that bring together people taking photographs in a social context:
Drik (Bangladesh)
http://drik.net
Drik is a photo agency based in Bangladesh. The agency aims to transform views and photography of the majority world, from fodder for disaster reporting to a vibrant source of human energy and a challenge to an exploitative global economic system.
Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
http://www.stopthewall.org/news/photos.shtml
The Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign is a coalition of Palestinian non governmental organizations and popular committees that mobilize and coordinate efforts on local, national and international levels. Images may be freely downloaded for media and activist use from if they are credited.