Photography

It’s hard to imagine Drop Inn without the photographs of our projects.

Guidelines for taking photos

• If you plan to take photos for use on our publications, consider bringing a DSLR for quality and ease of transfer.
• However, if professional equipment isn’t possible to bring with you, it is possible to get high quality photos on a smartphone:
  • Take photos and videos in landscape, unless you are shooting portraits specifically.
  • Take care in framing your photos and videos. See rule of thirds.
• We recommend storing and sharing via Google Photos / Drive or DropBox using the highest resolution you have.
• If you can, name the file in a way that describes the photo, eg. jane-meeting-sponsored-children-in-koudougou-jan-19.jpg
• Don’t share the photos in Word or Pages documents (if you are writing a report). If you want us to use photos in a report, supply them separately (again via a sharing service like Google Photos / Drive or DropBox.

Guidelines for using photos

If you are putting together a social media post, report or a leaflet and wish to use photos, please follow these guidelines:

• Photos or videos should be those taken for Drop Inn
• Avoid using photos from other sources. Never mislead your reader into thinking a photo is from one of our projects when it’s not.
• If you are using stock or library photos – from unsplash or news organisations, credit the source or if it’s for illustration purposes, make that clear.
• Avoid putting graphics on top of photos. If you feel you need to do this, consult the Drop Inn Media team.
• If you are using logos from other organisations, take care in adhering to their guidelines.
• Lastly, the photos you use should have an impact. But the order of preference in choosing photos for your publication is:
  1. Appropriate
  2. Original (photos from Drop Inn’s own projects)
  3. Professional