Increasingly image-conscious

A bit like rearing children, working in the media is a constant case of ‘once you get used to one set of circumstances, it changes’. 

And so, with digital requirements in media, it’s changed. I’ve spent years pleading with PRs and in-house press offices to supply me with products on white backgrounds, cut-outs only. Or, as I probably sometimes put it, ONLY!

In print, those lifestyle shots which show a product or gadget in a (suspiciously clean, artfully styled) setting have long been anathema to me and many other editors. First, they make it all too obvious if more than one outlet is using the same source material and second, they can be a bit… well… naff.

I’m not saying your images are, just some. Anyway, it’s all change as what works for print doesn’t work for online. As I’ve mentioned, I’m working more closely on digital-first content for the Telegraph titles and so are other media – my producers tell me that those cut-outs just look weird in mobile or on the app, floating on the screen without any context. 

And it’s true: a hand mixer or club sandwich on white is odd. So my point is that I’m now looking for those lifestyle images I spent years rejecting. But there’s a catch: look at the photography we use editorially and try to think along the same lines. We don’t overcrowd the image with props and ephemera – a sandwich on an elegant plate in a simple setting with just a napkin is great, similarly a hand mixer on a chic work surface in portrait mode works (just not crowded in with bowl, egg boxes, bags of sugar, etc). 

In advance, thank you!