Embedded Files
This guide aims to provide information on selecting and incorporating editorial photos into analysis pieces. ACLED is increasingly keen on supporting written research with visual content, specifically photos that accurately depict the information presented in the analysis reports and reactive pieces. This process could also be applied to other multimedia outputs such as videos and scrollytelling pieces.
For each analysis piece, as well as pieces generated by the External Affairs team, we aim to include between 1-2 photos from Getty Images. Additional photos can be sourced from the other libraries included below. Photos will be used on the website and in social media content.
This guide includes a step-by-step process and additional tips for selecting photos suitable for text, as well as where to search for them. Further, for members of the External Affairs team, at the bottom of the document, you’ll find guidance on creating a Getty Board and adding authorized people to search the Getty repository. Information on levels of access (download, view only) can be found here, too. This is most relevant for the Multimedia/Social Media/Media teams. If you have any questions regarding Getty, please reach out to Claudia Azenado, Senior Social Media Officer. Please visit the Getty Images Resources Center for information on how to optimize your use of our subscription.
Currently, ACLED has subscriptions to Getty Images and Adobe Stock. We have a finite number of credits for each, which is why we have included a limit on the number of credits that can be allocated to each piece. We have roughly 30 credits per month (360/year) from Getty, in which 1 photo/video is equivalent to 1 credit. For Adobe Stock, we get 45 credits per month, with photos costing 1 credit and videos 6 credits.
Other repositories that can be searched are listed below. The photos should be properly attributed and open to the public/available to use with attribution.
It is also possible that authors or ACLED team members have access to or are provided with photos related to the analysis that could be considered for inclusion in the publications. More information on this is included below in the section: Photos or videos provided to ACLED by external sources.
Information on which types of images and content fit within ACLED’s Brand Guidelines can be found here in the Photography section. Tips on searching for images in Getty Images can be found at the bottom of the Photo/video sourcing & caption writing guide.
This first sequence is about sourcing images from Getty Images only.
Step 1: Asana tasks created in Analysis publication pipelines
When an Analysis report project is generated in Asana, a task to Source photo is generated along with two subtasks:
Create and share Getty Board in Asana
This is for the External Affairs team to easily see the photos curated by the multimedia team
The link will be included in the subtask, along with the main task description
Source photos that relate to the subject
This ensures that the curation of photos can be carried out from the beginning by the multimedia team and that the photos will have been selected and the captions and attribution provided prior to publication.
Step 2: Create a Getty Board
A Getty Board will be created by a member of the External Affairs team and shared in the Asana in the task description, as well as the main description of the report task, where it says Add Getty Board. For other team members to contribute to the board in addition to the creator, the “Invite Collaborators” link would need to be shared.
Step 3: Collecting the photos
Multimedia/Media team members are the primary people tasked with searching for the photos. Editors and members of the External Affairs and authors from the Analysis/Data Collection teams may contribute to finding photos and add them to the Board throughout the draft development and review process. However, the authors' participation in this step is entirely voluntary. The multimedia/media team member is primarily responsible for sourcing materials, with the authors’ key contribution being the approval of the final selection of photos and ensuring complete accuracy in the connection between the digital asset and the analysis. What is key for the analysts is to check that the photo does not contain incorrect locations, images, or logos, such as the wrong flag or militia emblem, for example.
Once an appropriate image is found, it can be saved to the correct Board using the following steps:
Click the “Save” button that appears below the image
If the correct Board doesn’t appear, you can hit the down arrow, and a selection of Boards you have access to will appear; Select the correct Board and hit Save.
A prompt will appear notifying you that the image has successfully been saved, and anyone who has access to the Board link can see the image in the collection.
Step 4:
The Editorial team, authors, multimedia/media team, or other contributors to the report may make a comment in the draft of the report sections that would benefit from the inclusion of a photo, as well as a suggestion on what that photo should be. Some examples of recommendations to guide multimedia members searching for photos include comments on a specific type of attire worn by a group, a particular location for landscape images, or individuals photographed during a specified event. Links to examples within Getty or examples found online can also be included in the comment; however, it’s important that photos within Getty are saved to the Board for consideration alongside the other collected images.
Step 5:
During the late-stage editorial task or beforehand, the Author and multimedia/EA members should communicate which photos to use in the report via comments in the Google document, tagging relevant team members for their input. The multimedia member should take the initiative to identify photos and determine where they should be placed to conserve the author's time required to complete this process. It would be indicated in this exchange which photo should be used as the header image/cover image/image for the webinar invite (if applicable).
Please note that if there is a webinar and an invite is needed ahead of publication, this decision-making process may have to come earlier than the ‘Ready for Publication’ stage.
Step 6:
The multimedia member would place a copy of the Comp photo(s) in the report Google document and include a draft of the caption and the attribution in the correct format, according to the Photo/video sourcing & caption writing guide. These photos would be placed in the suggested locations, or in the absence of that input, placed in the locations most logical to the multimedia team member. They would tag the Lead Editor in a Google Doc comment to notify them that photos and captions are ready for their review. The header image at the top of the web page and the social media content cover would be placed above the Key takeaways and after the “Photo and Caption:” text.
Step 7:
The multimedia/media member does preliminary edits to the caption, which is typically the first sentence in the caption provided by Getty, along with the photo credit. The structure should be Caption. Photo by XXX. Bracket and All Caps should be removed from the original caption.
The caption can be placed directly below the photo in Suggestion mode, so it’s flagged to the Editorial team.
Then, the lead Editor should be tagged in a comment and notified that the caption is ready for review.
The Editorial member/Lead editor proofreads the caption and verifies that the information and context are correct. It might be necessary for the author and editorial member to discuss the photo further, but this could also be done during step 6. If the photo doesn’t work, the multimedia team has not yet downloaded the original photo, and a credit will not have been allocated.
Step 8:
Once the photo is locked in, the assigned multimedia member downloads the image from Getty Images. They then create a “Photos” folder within the visuals folder in the Drive where the report folder is located. There, the original photos are uploaded to be used for formatting or social media purposes. Another folder is created titled “Web version”.
During this task, it is also good practice to automatically upload the unedited editorial photo to ACLED’s Digital Library in its respective album, depending on the country or countries of focus.
Step 9:
A copy of the photo is created and edited in order to be included on the website. The banner image needs to be minimum 1820 x 1080. The height of the image should adjust according to the change in width. The next step is to “tinify it” using this website or batch-compress it on Photoshop locally.* Once the photo is edited, the name of the image file should be changed to the title of the report. Once that is complete, the file can be placed in the “Web version” folder in the Drive location of the report.
*Batch compressing images in Photoshop
To run a script to compress images in Photoshop, go to File > Scripts > Image Processor, select the folder of images, choose a destination folder, and set the file type and quality settings, then click "Run." This will automatically compress all the images in the selected folder.
If the image is small and of poor quality, it can be upscaled using Canva’s built-in tool. So long as the subject matter and the facial and body features are not distorted or depicted in a disingenuous way, then this is a good way to improve image quality.
Step 10:
A member of the web team would retrieve the image(s) and upload them to the page. They would use the caption to create the necessary text for the image metadata.
Note: If an appropriate photo cannot be identified in Getty Images, multimedia and editorial members, along with the authors, may communicate about alternative images to be incorporated or search these repositories and share links directly in the Google doc, requesting feedback.
It’s also possible that the author has a personal connection to a photographer who has been granted photographic permission by those being photographed and the subject related to the analysis piece, in which case we can communicate about the possibility of using those images.
MULTIMEDIA TEAM CREATING A BOARD
To create a Getty Board, you click the Board button and icon in the top right corner next to your name.
Please visit the Getty Images Resources Center for information on how to optimize your use of our subscription.
When naming the Getty Board, please use the name of the output and year. To share a link for the Getty Board, at least one photo must be added.
If you feel any information is missing from this guide or would like to request any changes, please reach out to Claudia Azanedo or Niki Papadogiannaki. The original working document for this guide can be found and worked on here.
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