Pictures and Publishers

I (and the excellent Claire and Martin) have been gathering images for Hamish's book for the last year now. We have a large stock pile of ads from 'Persil Washes Whiter' and 'Smash Martians' to 'Skoda Fabia - Bakers'.



Initial instructions were for 'high resolution' images, 300 dpi. So, for the last year, we have been asking for exactly that from agencies and clients.

Last week, I received an e mail from our otherwise excellent publishers explaining that they actually needed black and white images at 600 dpi resolution. Oh dear. So this week, I have had the unenviable task of writing to the 50+ people who kindly supplied us with images in the first place, asking for an ultra high resolution image. It became increasingly clear that most images are just not stored at that quality, nor have any need to be.

So the result is that I now have about three images which, amazingly, are the required resolution, and a lot more that are not. The one thing I just don't understand is why, when 300 dpi is good enough for A3 ads, is it not good enough for a 100mm by 80mm book plate?

Images for a book

Despite doing a law degree, I was blissfully ignorant before starting this job on the nuances of obtaining permission to reproduce images.

Hamish is very keen to include lots of images in his book, including several full colour plates. I completely agree. A picture says a thousand words and all that...

The New Zealand Rugby Football Club were fantastic, and sent over an image, complete with written permission, within a few hours of request. Other UK-based companies, who shall remain nameless, have been an absolute nightmare, wanting us to contact the photographer and everyone who appears in the photo individually, charging the earth for usage, taking eons to reply to any enquiries and generally being obstructive.

My advice for anyone seeking images to include in a book: have lots of alternatives up your sleeve!

Media Week

I read in Media Week recently that they were going to offer Hamish’s next book as a prize to someone. Cue a wry smile from myself. I suspect they will have to wait a while yet…