Photographs for the press (3.12.2009)

Eighteen years have gone by since I started to work as an audio publisher/journalist. I have had enough time to learn that some problems simply do not die away. Distribuition of information from audio manufacturers is one of such problems. But you should never give up, so I repeatedly attempt to improve the situation. Unfortunately there is little I can do. I just talk and write about this subject and try to convince audio manufacturers to change their mind and their mode of operation.

For the start I would like to focus on a very basic topic, the photographs. Distribution of photographs for the press is hardly a complicated matter. Nevertheless, on average it is not very well organized. When you supply photographs for the media you should remember that you supply materials for further processing in publishing systems. It is a practical issue, similar to supply of components in manufacturing.

First of all use RGB - not CMYK - as your main distribution format. RGB is the standard for archiving applications. The originals coming from cameras and scanners are RGB by nature. Publishers of printed media may easily change the RGB originals to CMYK when necessary. The reverse process done by all the others is also easy, but nevertheless it is unnatural, unncecessary. Apart from that CMYK files are bigger, so you waste bandwidth and storage along the way as well. It is nice if you offer CMYK files for download as an addition to RGB, but do not use them instead of RGB.

There are two common approaches concerning press photographs. The photos are either for the web or for print. But such wording suggests a misunderstanding. It is not really about web or print. Publishers use a broad range of sizes and resolutions. First of all there is the distinction between preview and publishing.

When I gather materials for a story I need to get acquainted with the subject and the quicker I can do it, the better. I do not want to download big photos with unknown content, log to FTP servers just for the preview. Of course I do that out of necessity, because sometimes manufacturers and distributors leave me no choice. But it is a waste of time. When I get acquainted with the subject and the available materials I need convenient access to the materials which I need for publication. Publishing is my job, so I want to do it efficiently. And if I loose time doing unnecessary work, I loose the opportunity to do something more usefull. If I loose half an hour it may seem to be insignificant. But if twenty journalists loose half an hour each that makes a total of 10 hours. Please do not forget this when you prepare your press photos in the future.

When you have a small number of photographs to share, sending them together with press releases by e-mail in medium-to-high quality versions is a very good choice. Handling a couple of 1-2MB, RGB, JPG images is no problem for any journalist, and is perfectly statisfactory for vast majority of publishing scenarios. Upon receipt of such material it is easy to get acquainted with the photos quickly, then convert, crop, resize as necessary. Sending out 20-30MB TIFF files is a waste and an inconvenience. Only cover photos in high quality printed magazines require such big files. For all other applications it is an overkill. So for the rare occasion when you indeed provide a cover photo you can arrange the file transfer with the particular magazine.

The more photographs you make, the more often you send them, the bigger your database of receipients, the more you should think about a proper gallery. For a really big collection of photographs there is nothing better than a thumbnails web gallery with access to hi-res photos. It is a matter of your personal decision whether such a gallery should be publicly available to everyone or password protected.

So when you make any decisions concerning distribution of your photos, please think a little about the need of your partners from the press. Sometimes you can make our lives easier without any extra effort. (GS)

Launch of www.eng.hifi.pl (15.11.2009)

When I started the blog on our Polish website, I had some concerns. Time was the main one. I realised, that despite many interesting topics worth attention, I might be unable to find the time necessary for writing. It has turned out that my concern was justified. I have written much less than I would have liked to.

So now I am even more cautious. Hopefully things will change for better in 2010, and we will be able to expand our coverage. But for the time being I have modest plans concerning this blog. There is just one topic I would like to cover here - development of our website. If I manage to write anything more, it will be a nice surprise.

With so many existing websites and magazines devoted to audio the obvious question springs to mind. Why launch another one? I could probably write a book about it. But there is a simple and short explanation. None of the existing magazines and websites satisfies me as a reader. Several years ago I talked to a young designer at a hi-fi show in London. He told me that he saw no reason for making amplifiers he would not like to use himself. I could say the same about our work. We want to make websites we would like to read ourselves. At present our websites do not meet our goals and ambitions. The English www.eng.hifi.pl could be likened to a newborn baby and our Polish www.hifi.pl to a child. I am posting this entry on the day before the official launch of www.eng.hifi.pl, hoping we will reach our goals. There is long way ahead of us. So visit us often, check how we are doing and read our site for your benefit. (GS)