It has been said numerous times that a picture is worth a thousand words and nowhere else is this truer than with editorial photography. Newspapers and magazines that publish photographs that accompany articles are using this type of photography to add visualization to their printed stories. The use of pictures to accompany articles may not pay as much as commercial or corporate photography but is a great way to achieve name recognition.
With most pictures appearing in magazines or in newspapers credit is given to the photographer, which will help them build their portfolio. In newspapers, photographers vie for awards for their work, and winning prizes as well as having their name appear with their work can give them a portfolio to use to gain photographic work in other more lucrative industries.
Some newspapers and magazines, and now internet sites may use the same photographer to create editorial photography as well as advertising or product images and photographers that can do both can build their portfolio even quicker. However, pictures used for advertising or marketing purposes usually do not have any accompanying credit and the photographer will need to have some sort of documentation that they did, in fact, take the picture.
Other aspects of editorial photography can include pictures of disasters such as car accidents or the aftermath of violent storms. Essentially these are the images that accompany articles in the editorial side of the news business. Videographers working for television news bureaus are also involved in editorial photography and only they use video equipment and are often referred to as video journalists as their pictures tell a story.
Editorial photography refers to the pictures in a magazine that aren’t ads. The photographs that go along with the articles – even the cover of the magazine. Some photographers shoot only editorial type work, others shoot both editorial and commercial. For many professionals, despite the typically lower pay, editorial photography offers them a chance to tell a story they believe to be important to a wider audience. By taking pictures that present facts in an enticing manner they can often convince newspapers and magazines to use their pictures, along with additional editorial content to tell a story that may otherwise be overlooked. They can also be used to help people in need. For example, photographs taken in the aftermath of recent tornadoes have been used to show the devastation and to raise awareness for help needed in those communities. These pictures play a role in public donations for those hit hardest by the storms.