How to get your pictures featured in the best photography magazines

How to get your pictures featured in the best photography magazines

Digital Camera World is the official website of Digital Camera magazine, the best-selling photography magazine in the UK. But now it’s also the home to more of the world’s best photography magazines than ever before!

N-Photo is the UK’s best-loved Nikon magazine, while PhotoPlus is the only photography mag for Canon photographers available in stores.

And finally there’s Practical Photoshop, the essential monthly read if you want to improve your photo editing and learn new image manipulation skills.

The editors are always on the lookout for exciting new photographers to feature on the pages of these magazines, but what’s the best way to approach them and get your pictures published? Here are our 5 top tips:

1. Make a speculative magazine submission by email

The days of sending in a CD and a contact sheet to a magazine are long gone. An initial submission of 5-10 low resolution JPEGs by email, along with a link to your online gallery is the way to get noticed by a time-strapped magazine editor.

Make sure the photos are low res (72 dpi) and not full size – consider something in the order of 1200 pixels along the longest length as a good starting point.

Obviously it goes without saying that you should be able to lay your hands on the high resolution file without any trouble. You may be surprised to hear that this isn’t always the case!

Don’t be too concerned if you don’t hear back from the magazine immediately. The team could be on deadline when your submission hits their email inbox, and they’ll have other priorities, such as making sure the next edition of your favorite photography magazine gets out of the door.

A follow-up email 1-2 weeks later to check that your photos arrived is more than acceptable, though.

2. Make regular submissions

Photo magazines receive speculative submissions from photographers daily, so don’t be surprised if your first set of pictures isn’t selected.

It doesn’t mean you should give up. There could be any number of reasons why the team couldn’t feature your pictures.

For instance, a photo may be artistically and technically superb, but if the magazine has only recently printed a similar style of shot them it’s unlikely to want to print another shortly afterwards.

Your photos may not be timely enough, either. Magazine teams do keep a note of photographers whose pictures may not fit into the current issue, so it may be worth a punt if you believe your picture edges one that’s already been printed.

But there’s little point in sending an editor, an autumn or fall picture in December, because the team will be working on their winter and spring issues.

Being persistent without being pushy is key. Be upfront if you’ve sent your photos to another photography magazine, too.

Photography magazine editors are unlikely to feature your pictures again if they end up publishing an identical image as another photography magazine in the same month.

3. Make sure your photos cut it technically

Photo magazine editors are looking for original images that capture a moment, evoke a response or illustrate a photographic concept or technique. But they need those photos to be technically top-drawer too.

Be honest with yourself: is the image sharp (if indeed it’s supposed to be sharp), properly exposed and processed with care?

Pixel peeping often gets a bad press, but it’s the best thing to do when you want to get your photo featured in a photography magazine. View your images at 100% and check them thoroughly, as that’s exactly what the magazine’s designers and editors will do.

When it comes to file size, the bigger the better. Photography magazines are typically A4 in size, and a portrait-format image, printed at full-page size should be 30cm high at a resolution of 300 dpi.

A landscape-format image should ideally be 45cm wide, which will enable the magazine’s art editor to use the image ‘full bleed’ across a magazine spread should they need to.

Don’t be disheartened if your digital camera doesn’t produce images large enough to meet these size requirements.

If your picture is good enough, the magazine team can often make slight design changes or lower the resolution slightly in order to hit the required print size. And besides, not all images are printed full bleed anyway.

However, this is another good reason for getting a picture right in camera. If you routinely crop your images, then this will reduce the size at which they can be printed.

If you’re packing a high-resolution DSLR like the Nikon D810, then you’ll obviously have more room to play with, but it’s something to be aware of if you shoot with a comparatively low-res camera.

4. Leave room for text on your photos

Magazine teams aren’t just looking for perfectly framed pictures, they’re also looking for images that work within the framework of page layouts.

For instance, if you want to see your photo on the cover of a magazine, then you’re going to have to leave some clear space for the magazine’s art editor to drop in the logo and cover lines.

It’s a similar consideration when it comes to the opening ‘dps’ (double page spread) of a magazine feature – is there some ‘dead space’ to drop in the title of the article along with some copy?

At first it feels unnatural, having to reframe your tightly composed shot to include excessive space. But it doesn’t take much effort to fire off one or two of these looser compositions when you’ve got the original shot in the bag – and it could increase the chances of your pictures being featured.

5. Offer something more than just your best photo

To increase the chances of your pictures being featured, consider how you offer additional value to the magazine editor.

As well as finding glorious pictures for reader gallery sections, editors and designers are always on the lookout for images that can be used to illustrate photography technique articles. Would your photos be a good fit?

Deliberately shooting ‘wrong’ versions of a picture, as well as the ‘correct’ one can be useful. For example, if you have a great photo of a landscape taken with a ND grad filter, can you supply versions of the same shot without the filter in place?

How about before/after shots showing any photo editing or photo manipulation you’ve carried out?

Magazine editors are likely to be interested in interesting photo stories too. Do you have a small portfolio of pictures that tells an interesting story in an interesting way?

Don’t overlook other sections of the magazine that feature reader pictures, such as PhotoPlus magazine’s Your Photos or Apprentice sections or N-Photo’s ‘Over to you’ regular.

If you’re new to photography, why not send your pictures into Digital Camera magazine’s ‘Rate my photo’ and get some expert feedback on your pictures.

How to contact the world’s best photography magazines:

Digital Camera magazine

Email: digitalcamera@futurenet.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Digitalcameraworld
Twitter: twitter.com/dcammag

PhotoPlus magazine

Email: photoplus@futurenet.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PhotoPlusMag
Twitter: twitter.com/photoplusmag

N-Photo magazine

Email: nphoto@futurenet.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/NPhotomag
Twitter: twitter.com/nphotomag

Practical Photoshop magazine
Email: practicalphotoshop@futurenet.com
Facebook: 

Email: practicalphotoshop@futurenet.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/practicalphotoshop
Twitter: twitter.com/pracphotoshop