Creating a Photo Album for a Corporate Story

By Jane Abao

 

 

Your photo album online can look sharp and snappy if you prepare it properly. Follow these do’s and don’ts and you will have lesser problems in communicating.

1. Orient the photos according to different activities – not according to dates. Merely looking at the photos without reading the captions can tell a lot.

2. Photos of the same activity should go together.

3. Captions should be formatted in sentences or phrases and should be brief but concise. Do not use dates and titles, then a supposed caption. The titles can be incorporated in the caption.

4. If dates are important, they can be part of the caption.

5. Captions should not sound stiff, but light. Consider rhythm of words and tone of story-telling.

6. In an album, the captions are related and should not be redundant, just as the activities written about should not be redundant. This explains why the album should not be date-oriented since the activities are not a process being described, or a sequencing of one act.

6. As much as possible, let there be people in the photo, unless you are showing a document. Photos without people become mere posters.

7. Avoid posting compromising photos. Respect your leaders and do not post anything that they would not like to be shown in public. Examples are unaligned or protruding teeth; photos showing one sleeping, sitting on a sofa and is very tired, or is eating, and the like.

8. Be sensitive of your contents. If you talk about a civic activity, where are the people? A blood donor, if shown alone, is not a mass blood donation. 

9. Be sensitive of your background. An activity of relief operations and showing a big billboard announcing who the donor is but just 3 or 4 people walking by does not tell the story of beneficiaries.

10. Do not use quotation words in your caption because it shows you do not believe in it. That is the implication of quoted words.

11. If you claim something like breaking a Guinness Record, you must at least mention statistics to beef up that claim.

12. For a concert or activities that need to show both the performer and audience, angle your shots in such a way that both can be seen.

13. If there is a prominent figure shown, what is he doing? You may not identify the person but at least tell what he is doing in relation to the event.

14. Captions use the present tense – not the past.

15. Underscore the difference between your programs and those of others. Do not just mention them. It will make the story more interesting.

16. When you begin your caption, it is bad taste to be mentioning first who had introduced the idea or program. It is not necessary in a caption, but in longer articles or history of the program, the proponent may be mentioned.

17. Highlight the leader while he is still there - and not the next in rank. Again, be sensitive of your background. It is saying something.

18. Do not forget that rivals can take advantage of your photos. Be strategic. If there are items that should not be copied by enemies like organization logo, do not post a clear photo of it.  Find an angle where your photo can be safe.

19. Make sure your photos come off more as a service (tell a story) rather than an advertisement.  Your audience can sense if you are trying to advertize somebody through repetitions. Then audience trust in you won’t hold for long.

20. Be complete in your information. For example, you mentioned an award. Where did that come from? Who gave it? What for?