What Makes A Good Publicity Photo

This is a publicity photo for Plan B. As you can see that this photo has been set up to make he look a lot more appealing and bigger than he really is. For example, Plan B’s facial and body expression in this looks very bold and big. This enables him to look like he has a greater status and bigger authority than anyone else. Just like this photo and many others of this genre, the artists look directly into the camera. This makes them also look very threatening as it seems like from the audience’s point of view that they are looking straight back at you.

Having a good costume and choice of clothing is very important. For example, as we can see in Plan B’s photo he is wearing a black suit. This makes him look very smart and also makes his appearance much more appealing. This could also enable him to appeal to a much larger variety of audiences. Publicity photos are exaggerated to enhance their appearance, for example Plan B generally wouldn’t wear this type of clothing

The lighting is very effective, for instance the lighting on his face and clothing makes him stand out and look brighter than he really is. In addition, the lighting behind him isn’t that bright therefore he stands out much more and is the centre of attention.

There are many other key features that make up a successful publicity photo, these include:

• Strong and bright colours to catch the audiences and make themselves look appealing
• Good lighting
• Appealing costume to catch the audiences eye
• Variety of camera angles to create authority and status, such as low angle shot.
• Strong posture to make yourself look bold
• Effective facial expressions to show emotions and feelings that can relate to the audience and genre
• Post production