With the exception of the guy singing at the karaoke bar last night, we are all endowed with some unique talent. It makes no difference if you are the guru of ditch-digging or a painter extraordinaire, your skill is important to somebody.
Talent is something we have developed or is inherent to our makeup as a person. However, all men or women are not created equal. Obvious as this is, it is not so apparent to some. So what, you say. Think of this in relation to adding pictures to your blog posts.
A picture can lend tremendous impact to any article. Newspapers, magazines and other periodicals depend on graphics to convey the more subtle aspects of a product that can’t be produced with words alone. Don’t take this lightly.
Before you plop a photo into your post ask yourself these questions:
Do you have a talent for design?
Do you inherently know when a web page, magazine cover or a photograph is not balanced, composed badly or simply doesn’t fit with the article context?
Understanding elements of design is part education and part ‘having an eye for it’. Just as some have an ear for music, perfect pitch or a killer body, some have an eye for visual composition. For purposes of illustration, pictures are about communication. Visual communication works best when it is indirect. In other words, it is what a picture symbolizes that communicates, not necessarily the content of the picture.
- Pictures can add impact to your article if used correctly in the right context. Used without much thought, they have the opposite effect – they detract.
- Use a picture, usually a photo, that uses suggestion and metaphor. A simple example, a hot woman in a travel ad suggests that if I go to there I will meet hot women.
- Conversely, if your article is about java coding at home for fun and profit, a sexy female photo may detract me to the point of forgetting about why I came to your site.
- If you are female, substitute male for these examples. Others may do as they see fit.
- If you are design challenged, have someone who has this talent do it for you.
- Pictures are not a must have for a blog post, unless your blog is about pictures of course.
- Don’t use clipart. There are exceptions to this. Children and similar life forms like clipart. I think.
Have you ever wondered why beautiful women grace the cover of women’s magazines, and men who look like Greek Gods are on men’s magazines? Does this seem like a non sequitur?
Men’s Health is a good example of this. The obvious answer is, this will make you want to look like them. The not so obvious answer, sexy people imply youth,the good life and fun. Other than that it sells magazines, I haven’t figured any other reasons for this, yet.
One of my pet peeves (incidentally, peeves make wonderful pets and are great with children) is seeing a stock photo at the top of every post on a blog. I know the blogger went to Flickr or a photo site, for the picture. Almost without fail, these pictures convey a message of happiness and serenity. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.”
Note: The lack of a picture in this article illustrates that pictures are not always necessary. Effective and necessary are mutually exclusive.
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{ 2 comments }
I tend not to follow blogs that use only stock photography. I mean – be original. Use your own stuff. Be creative. Etc.
Agreed on that, assuming whoever posts the picture is a photographs. Thanks for the insight.
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