Attention TCC Area Coordinators: Guidelines for Centurian Photos

We are still having difficulty receiving quality photos for the TCC Centurian. Some of the photos in the September 2012 issue did not reproduce well. There are different requirements when photos are printed. Though we have sent several memos to you regarding improving the quality of the photos, and we have given you some guidelines, we’re giving you some new suggestions and repeating some of the previous ones. We have encouraged you to send us photos of your meetings in the newly expanded Centurian, but we will now only use them if we feel they will reproduce well. The publication is much more interesting with your photos – we just need better photos!

1. The resolutions of images sent from your website or iPhone are too low for print production. Please mail your photos.
2. To reproduce clearly, photos must be of high resolution – at least 6mb in size. Use a digital camera of at least 5 megapixels.
3. When taking group photos, never have one person higher or lower than the others or off to the side, away from the group. It’s difficult to fit everyone in and therefore the image ends up being much smaller. If the group is large, it’s good to have one row seated, or the short people in front, and the taller and heavier people behind them. If you have an extra large group, don’t string them out in one single row as the image, again, has to be reduced in order to fit everyone in. You can take several photos and send us the best.
4. Please avoid photos of members sitting around a dining table, often showing half-eaten food or drink. Those seated in the back are smaller and less visible. Get the members to stand up.
5. Groups of 4 or 5 people are good. Include some animation rather than just straight poses. We’d love to see some creativity and sometimes we do.
6. When giving us IDs (please, not for the very large groups), check the left-to-right order, spelling, and check that all names are included
7. Don’t take photos in front of or near windows or mirrors. Back lighting makes the faces too dark and mirrors cause reflections.
8. When possible include photos of the speaker(s) and/or hosts of the event. We also like to include you, as Area Director, in photos.
9. When we request a head shot or passport-size photo, as we did for page 7 of the September 2012 issue, we want full face, front view, with plain background. We had to crop some of the photos from group photos this time, so the backgrounds were not plain.