A guide to help potential contributors develop their skills.
If you are considering contributing to Exeter Observer please see our contributors guide.
Multimedia collateral
Articles should be accompanied whenever possible with strong story-related multimedia collateral. This could include photos, infographics, audio or video.
At least one image is required for each story to supply the keyframe that is used on the website and twitter. More are needed for longer pieces to illustrate points and pace the reading process by breaking up lengthy blocks of text.
Keyframe images must complement the story lead to avoid disrupting audience expectations based on convention.
Exeter Observer does not use royalty-free stock photography (e.g. Unsplash).
Exeter Observer has a Flourish newsroom account which can be used to import infographics from other accounts and published from there.
Videos can be embedded on the website via the Exeter Observer Vimeo account.
Photo composition basics
Photographs should be in focus, well lit and clearly show a person, group of people or scene that is relevant to the story.
They must also be framed in landscape, not portrait, orientation (so they are wider than they are tall) with room to allow cropping around the subject.
Basic tips:
- concentrate on subject, frame in foreground, avoid distractions inc. background, edges
- people: keep headroom tight or crop head to show face
- rule of thirds: divide horizontally and/or vertically and/or use intersections (but also break rules)
- consider balance, depth of field.
Please see our submission guide for information on suitable file formats, aspect ratio and resolution.
Photography in public & private space
- Metropolitan Police photography advice
- Devon & Cornwall Police public photography guidance
- Association of Chief Police Officers public places photography guidance
- College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice - Engagement and communication - Media relations.
Copyright
Exeter Observer website content is licensed as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike 4.0 International by default to enable use of similarly-licensed external content.
Any copyright requirements for individual pieces of content can then be specified on a case-by-case basis.
Please see our submission guide for more information on copyright.
cf.
- Editorial Photographers copyright FAQ
- UK copyright service copyright myths
- DeMontfort University Leicester introduction to copyright.
More guides
- News writing
- News brief
- What is news?
- Objectivity, neutrality, impartiality & balance
- Information sources
- Perspective sources
- Style
- Subediting
- Feature writing
- Research resources
- Data protection & media law
- Local government transparency & information access rights
- Exeter regional democracy & governance
- Exeter regional planning & place
- Exeter regional transport & mobility
- Digital information and communications security
Guides covering other Exeter regional policy and practice areas are also being prepared.
