USCCA

Photo Guidelines

Submit at least three photos per article. More is better. More photos, and higher-quality photos, means a happier editor and a better looking final product.

Concealed Carry Magazine prefers to print photos of ordinary people doing ordinary things: walking the dog, visiting with family, carrying a concealed firearm, practicing on the range. These ordinary, everyday shots should have a comfortable look and feel to them, but this does not mean we want to see people in unattractive poses doing unattractive things. Please help your models look as attractive as possible in your photos.

Photos must be clear and in focus. Try to avoid funky lighting effects. Backgrounds should be clear of visual distractions when possible.

Images should be submitted electronically in .jpg or .tif format, and should arrive in the editor's email box (editor@USConcealedCarry.com) at the same time as the article which they illustrate.

Tech Talk.  Digital cameras should be at least 4 megapixels (more is better) and should be set to record the highest-possible image quality. We prefer images that will be 6 or more inches wide at 300 dpi. If those numbers are gobblygook to you, don't fear -- just set your 4-megapixel or better camera to record the highest-possible image quality it will take, and snap away.

Crop Circles and Artistic License. If you alter your images in any substantial way (cropping, adding artistic swirls, creating double exposures, etcetera), please include an unaltered, unchanged, non-cropped original along with your altered photo. This gives our art director the best number of options for attractively illustrating your article.

Put It In Writing. All submitted photos should have a short, clear caption. Due to space and layout considerations, however, not every photo will be used, which means that not every caption will be used. Please plan your articles accordingly.

Safety Matters. Allow your photos to illustrate safe handling within the four rules only, remembering that many of our readers are new to firearms and to concealed carry and thus need excellent visual impressions of safe handling to build good mental blueprints. When photos APPEAR unsafe for any reason, please write a short caption explaining how the picture was taken safely and while following the four rules (eg, timed shutter, training barrel, camera on tripod, dummy gun, firing pin removed before photo was taken).

Avoid pointing a gun directly at the camera absent a specific reason to do so ("It looks cool" is not a reason; "It's demonstrating the difference between high / low bore axis" might be). If the gun is pointed at or near the camera, please include a caption which briefly explains how the picture was taken without endangering the photographer.

Thou Shalt Not Steal. Do not submit photos which do not belong to you, unless you have received written permission from the copyright holder to use the photo in this context. If the photo was taken by someone else and you have permission to use it, please include their name so we can give them proper credit in the magazine.

Model Behavior.  All identifiable humans used in photos must sign CCM's Model Release Form. The signed form should be snail mailed or faxed to the USCCA office at the earliest possible opportunity, even in advance of your article submission.

If your photo includes people who are not individually identifiable in any reasonable way, you may not need a release from them. This rare exception may be granted at the sole discretion of our publisher. If in doubt, avoid potential hassles later: have your people sign the release when the photo is snapped.

Variety is the Spice of Life.  Having some variety, with some close shots and some distant shots, some with people and some without, will make your articles more visually appealing.

The final word. While it is tempting to skimp on the photos, please remember this: A good article can be turned into a great article with excellent photographs. Conversely, even a really excellent article is going to fall flat if it does not have good photos to support it. Take the trouble to take good  photos!

Photo Ideas Lists

All photo suggestions below are optional, but running down the ideas list might make your job a bit easier. Remember the primary purpose of photos is to SHOW the reader what the article EXPLAINS.  If there's anything physical the article specifically mentions (examples from a typical gun review: machining marks on the internals, oversized ejection ports, beautiful but painful checkering on frontstrap, itsy-bitsy sights), that's a good candidate for a photo, whether or not it is on the idea list.

Unless you are an accomplished photographer, do not use flash for any gun or gear photos. Use natural light instead.

Photo ideas for gun review articles: 

• "Beauty shot" of gun. If you provide more than one beauty shot, please take one of the left and one of the right side of the firearm. Photos from the left side allow readers to see the gun's controls, while those from the right side illustrate any ambidextrous features and allow readers to note the size and shape of the ejection port.

• Your best target at whatever distance the review emphasizes. Put the gun in this photo, if possible. Can be with or without a pile of test ammo boxes. Can put a human in this photo for visual interest (eg, the classic standing in front of the target pose).

• Gun disassembled, to illustrate quality of internals and complexity of assembly. Get a close up of any unusual pieces or anything specifically mentioned in review (eg, if you discuss the gun's linkage system, take a pic of that linkage system and label it).

• Close up of gun in hand to illustrate how it fits the shooter's hand -- preferably taken from the left so readers can visualize how the placement of controls might affect hand placement and shooting style.

• Gun being fired. Don't go overboard or fake anything, but do try to catch some activity here, such as brass in the air, slide motion, or recoil effects.

Photo ideas for gear review articles:

• Beauty shot of the product. If multiple beauty shots are taken, provide different angles (left and right sides, front and back) so readers will be able to better visualize the entire product.

• Gear in use. Get a human's face in this photo if you comfortably can. For holster reviews, get a picture of the holster being worn so readers can more easily visualize how it fits on the belt or body. These photos should be as visually attractive as possible, so tuck in those shirt tails and hold in that gut.

• Close up of anything specifically mentioned in the review (eg, if the review says, "This fanny pack features hugely oversized zipper tabs," get a photo of those zipper tabs).

• Unless the holster in question really-and-TRULY cannot be used otherwise (and some can't), please do not submit photos which include a muzzle crossing any body part.

Photo ideas for articles about classes, force on force exercises, training, and range practice:

• Faces are good, but action is better. Best of all is an action photo with faces.

• Choose photos that clearly illustrate techniques discussed in the article. If the techniques are complex or require multiple steps, consider illustrating them with a stop-action photo sequence for maximum clarity.

• Work the angles to get photos which illustrate your points as clearly as possible. A great close-up of someone's hands might illustrate your point perfectly, but so might a more distant photo which shows movement between two or more actors. Will the picture show the action better if it is taken while the photographer crouches down for a view from below, or while the photographer stands on a chair to get a bird's-eye view?

• With rare exceptions, CCM will not publish photos of unsafe behavior on the range. If you have an otherwise excellent photo which shows a subject doing something which APPEARS to be unsafe, please add to the caption an explanation of what is happening in the photo and how the photo was taken without risk to participants or bystanders.

Photo ideas for general-purpose articles

• Think outside the range. If the article discusses self-defense at the mall, for example, consider getting a photo of yourself or a willing model stepping out of your car in the parking lot at your local mall. If your article discusses overcoming physical difficulties, a photo of someone on crutches or in a cast might work well -- or even, with appropriate permissions which address privacy concerns, a photo of a medical professional talking to a patient.

• Think outside the gun. Be creative in exploring possible photos, and remember you DO NOT need to include firearms in every picture. If your point is, "College kids should be able to protect themselves," consider getting a picture of some college students just goofing around, on or off campus. If the article discusses political issues, maybe  a snapshot of a campaign sign or a political rally would do the trick.

• Think outside the photo. Would your article be more easily illustrated with a graph, a chart, or a diagram? Put it together and send it along; or if creating such a thing is beyond your computer skills, drop a note to the editor or art director and let us discuss it. Don't let your article suffer for lack of an illustration simply because a photo won't do what you need.