How to get your images published

For those just starting out with photography and who want to have their images published and, later, become a pro, I was you many years ago. I cracked it. It’s possible.

I used to edit a monthly car club magazine: high quality A4, 64/72 pages, with just 30% given to adverts, so quite a few pages to fill. My quiet, unassuming modesty forbids me from mentioning I won a national award for its quality, but I hope my experiences might be useful to those photographers who are just starting out on the road to being ignored by editors.

The most basic of all basics: you are taking the photographs for the editor, not for you, so if you want dramatic and they want pretty, deliver pretty. Editing is about filling space. Help the editor. They’ll remember you.

You’re just starting out in the photography lark, so try magazines/websites where you won’t get paid, at least for the first submissions, this going particularly for club magazines. They are always on the lookout for new sources. Once you become familiar, they might ask you to cover something specific and offer expenses. You are being trained, so ask for, demand in fact, feedback.

Any article writer will tell you the general rule is a submission with lots of images stands a much greater chance of being accepted than one without. AI and the availability of stock images doesn’t restrict the usefulness of writer-supplied images as they are often specific to the article, and you need to make certain they are. If you don’t think you can produce the copy, most editors can knock up something useful from bullet points and a bit of detail. (Or PM me, always looking for work.)

Relate the images to the article. If the story is about how lovely Epping Forest is, then lots of pictures of Epping Forest looking lovely is the thing. Basic indeed, but not something all those submitting copy seemed to grasp. I could tell you stories, and probably will when I’m struggling for blog subjects.

Don’t embed images in Word. Also, don’t bloody embed images in Word.

Importantly, don’t sod about with the images, making pointless changes. That’s the picture editor’s job. Leave it to them. Don’t crop, don’t mess with exposure and especially colour. You might have just spent untold £hundreds that year on Photoshop, but picture editors need to justify their jobs, and moaning about white balance all the time only goes so far.

If you’ve done something to the image that irritates the picture editor, they might ask for it to be sent in RAW. Many professional photographers will tell you never to send RAW images, and it’s good advice. For pros, that is. You, on the other hand, are just starting out. If you want to control your images, you’re saying you don’t really want to get started in being published. If there’s something wrong with an image you’ve supplied, the picture editor will change it and, inadvertently, help you by showing what makes a good image for the publication.

Title each one. Be specific: View from the Monument tower, looking east, early morning. It can be useful for alt text if used online. Include the copy, even if you have previously sent it in, and also include any limitations. Don’t be precious early on; first serial rights is about all you’ll get away with. If it’s a photographic magazine, they might ask for details such as camera, lens, f-stop, aperture and other such rubbish. The data should be on the image. If it’s not, you’ve probably, quite reasonably, disabled the feature on you camera. I mean, you’re not a nerd. Best to enable it as many are.

Mix the shots. I once received an article on a private Ferrari museum recently opened to the public. How exciting was that? Actually, not much as you might, like me, think. There were ten images of cars, all red, all taken at ¾ offside front. My picture editor couldn’t be approached. His anger had a half-life of months. An illustrated article needs to be ‘balanced’ graphically, a strange process that’s obscure to mere mortals. In the same way, don’t include all pictures where you’ve taken them at eye level, or at the same time of day. Include a view of the way there, the entrance, whatever. If the article is about a particular flower, then show the bed/pot it was in, the ground being prepared. Get one just coming into bud, perhaps have one with the petals removed to show the stamens. Variation is the key.

Put yourself in the position of a picture editor trying to get just the right image, in just the right position day after day. (They’ve still got it easier than the editor-in-chief, although you wouldn’t believe it to listen to them.)

Most photographers go for pristine. Try some minor damage. I’ve seen photographers dusting the pollen off a flower, and it’s not a good look. I’m not suggesting you go full wabi sabi, but don’t remove all the joy from photography as well as the blemishes. No one likes aphids, but a pretty caterpillar can be forgiven for chewing a bit of a leaf. It adds interest. It adds variation. It adds colour.

You can appreciate the copy tells a story. So should do the images. Each should support the other.

A big one here; don’t shy away from putting people in the shot, and not just those you couldn’t be arsed to wait to walk past. People add a bit of interest and, if they are doing something, then so much the better. Pretty girls are good of course, but so is a scruffy gardener wiping mud from their trousers. You can use them in other ways too. But people can’t act, so don’t ask them to look interested and, worse still, don’t get them pointing at anything. Ask permission to include images of children where they can be identified.

Don’t be afraid of approaching a person to get them in the picture. If they’re attractive then a man telling a woman so directly can become a bit uncomfortable, although an attractive woman knows she’s attractive, so you’re telling her nothing new. There’s a knack, and one that’s essential to master. It works much smoother in reverse with women telling men. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

“Would you mind getting into shot for me? A person adds interest to a picture and an attractive one more so,” normally works. If it’s for publication, tell them so. If they would like a copy of the magazine, arrange to have one sent to them.

Experiment a bit. Doing something different will catch the attention of the editor. A viewpoint not at the head level of the photographer makes the picture unusual. However, every image should have a reason for its appearance: pretty, a sequence, instructional, that rather odd angle.

Don’t have favourites. An editor can see immediately the one the photographer thought their best work. But they won’t care, other than to be certain not to include it, just to be, well, an editor. Remember your job is to please the editor and their job is to concentrate on the readership. Discover the demographics, the easiest way being to ask the editor.

You can’t submit too many images. After a Le Mans 24-Hours I tentatively sent 2,800+ images to my picture editor and he was over the moon. If the layout ends up with a bit of a gap, it is easier at a late stage to stick in an image rather than ask for copy to be padded. The greater the choice the better. The higher the resolution the better, even if they are for on-line.

Taking pictures of flowers, fruit and foliage for your own purposes is fun but if you want to sell them, or get them published, it becomes a job. It requires study. The best place to look for inspiration is a quality magazine, or one in a garden centre, and there’s always show catalogues.

If the magazine/website/YouTube/whatever carries a regular advert for a company, something relating to it in the image is a great way of encouraging the editor. Chat to them. Editors lack interpersonal skills, but that’s through lack of practice. If you get an editor who is interested in new talent you won’t struggle for advice.

Be current. If whatever you’re covering is in the news, get the copy and images in quickly. If you haven’t started the article, don’t tell the editor it’s ready to go. If you over-exposed the image, don’t suggest you did it on purpose for ‘atmosphere’. They’ll have heard all the excuses. Much better to be honest with an editor. They aren’t used to it. Surprise them.

The car isn’t so much in your face as down your throat. Just what the picture editor wanted.

If the editor asks for 1500 words, guess how many you should supply. Fifty over if you struggle to cut it down is OK, but it’s a wee bit unprofessional. I had a regular contributor who used to supply an ‘extra’ paragraph, and also include in the main copy a paragraph which could be removed without it affecting the sense of the article or leaving a non sequitur. He was a cocky s.o.b., but I thought the world of him. I was probably the only one.

You will receive rejection emails. If you don’t, I’ve got lots you can have. Every now and again, an editor will give reasons for rejection. This tends to mean they think you have ability. They are narrow minded. Their only intent, their only interest, is the finished magazine. They’ll sacrifice anyone on the way, and it’s just as well my two daughters had left home by the time I became an editor. There’s a lot of Lot in the position.

After years of being abused as a contributor, when I started as editor I decided I would not pull the underhand tricks I had experienced, and would be thoughtful, letting contributors down gently. That didn’t make it beyond the second month. Be prepared to have your feelings ignored. Like I cared what writers thought.Sed arcu non odio euismod lacinia. Sit amet cursus sit amet dictum sit. Nunc pulvinar sapien et ligula ullamcorper. Pellentesque diam volutpat commodo sed egestas. Tellus elementum sagittis vitae et leo duis ut diam quam. Eleifend donec pretium vulputate sapien nec sagittis aliquam malesuada bibendum. At risus viverra adipiscing at in tellus. Duis at tellus at urna condimentum mattis pellentesque.

You can read all about my life as an editor here.