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What does a picture researcher do?

Many people express surprise when I tell them what I do for a living, perhaps because it’s now so easy for anyone to find a picture on the internet. Finding the picture is only part of my job: checking it can be used, negotiating a fee and licensing the image, checking proofs and writing captions and picture credits and keeping an accurate record of exactly what has been agreed are all equally important. Mostly I work for publishing companies (large and small), and I research audio and video clips too.

Why employ a picture researcher?

Working with image libraries so much, a picture researcher knows which libraries are best for images of faces/wildlife/food/scientific images – whatever is needed. We also know the specialist libraries where you can find historical maps, images of works of art, rare animals, vintage adverts – the list is endless. I have a network of contacts in image libraries and other organisations all over the country and they do not all necessarily have all their images online to search. Even for a fairly basic list of stock library images for a low-budget title, a professional picture researcher can find a selection of attractive images faster (and so probably more cheaply) than someone with little experience. Some libraries advertise rates online, but researchers know the going rates for image use and are in a strong negotiating position, not only to agree a low price, but to agree the best value price for any image or series of images (prices for image licensing will vary according to cover/inside usage, nature of the publication (academic/commercial), print run, licence term, territory, etc).

How to brief a picture researcher

As in-house staff are cut and training budgets eroded, freelance editors and project managers are being increasingly asked to take on additional roles. It may be you are asked to brief a picture researcher or even to do some picture research yourself. Here are a few pointers:

The basic brief is a list of images required. A page number, or artwork number, is helpful to identify images. Excel spreadsheets or Googlesheets are preferable to Word documents as they allow the researcher to easily add columns with their comments/queries and details of the images chosen.
If you have it, please send a copy of the typescript or, even better, a set of proofs. Often this will allow the researcher to resolve any queries as they come up without troubling you.
Details of the target market: is the book for a primary school/teenage/adult market? Will the book be published overseas – and if so, are there any cultural issues to be aware of?
Preferred suppliers: does the publisher have price deals in place with any image libraries? It’s worth checking this regularly as it’s a competitive market and rates change fairly quickly. Large publishers may also have their own online database of previously licensed images which are free to use – researchers will probably know their way around these already.
Design notes: will the book be printed in colour or black and white? Do you want images that are cutouts (on a white background) or not? If the budget is tight, or it’s a new textbook and you are looking for particularly fresh, modern images – let us know. Finally, if the image is to be used on the book cover, let the researcher know at the beginning so you only get images that are allowed to be licensed for this use.

The picture research process

The picture researcher will look through the brief to identify any potentially problematic images: certain images have particular restrictions on them or may need additional clearance. These include film or TV stills, photos of coins, banknotes, stamps, anything under Crown copyright, and brands and logos. An experienced researcher will be aware of these and also spot any other potentially tricky images (e.g. a photo of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night – the lighting design is under copyright and needs additional permission clearance) and raise any queries at this early stage.
Next, the picture researcher will usually supply a selection of low-res photos. Once you have made your selections, either add these to a folder or (preferably) note the image numbers on the brief.
The researcher will order the high-res images and once these have been checked on final proofs, prepare the caption and credits copy. (Credits may be supplied as a simple Word file, or for larger clients, details may be added to a spreadsheet that automatically generates the copy.) You already know how fiddly editing or making changes to picture credits can be – having an expert researcher who has supplied consistent copy will help.
Once final proofs are signed off, the researcher will license the images that were actually used. Larger publishing companies may have an automated system for doing this, or the researcher will email the image library with details of the image and how it is being used so that their invoice, which also usually forms the licence, can be raised for payment by the publisher.
At the end of the job, you should receive an updated version of the brief containing details of images used, credits, any special restrictions on usage, fees paid and licensing terms agreed.
Picture researchers may also just take on parts of this process; for example, if the author/designer has suggested images but you need someone to download high-res files, write credits and license the images, or for a new edition, to check which, if any, of the photos are still covered by the previous license and to relicense any that are not.
Fees for picture research may be on a fee per picture basis, an hourly/daily rate basis or a fee for the job basis. An allowance is usually made for researching cover photos, rebriefs and the extra clearances for works of art.

Key terminology

I am not a legal expert and so only offer a general introduction to some of the issues around image use – if in doubt about using an image, consult your client or their legal team about what is acceptable. Note that not all photos that appear on an image library website can/should necessarily be used in publications.

Model Releases and Property Releases: on a picture library website you may see the initials MR or PR with the other photo details. Model and Property Releases are signed legal documents confirming that people or property appearing in an image or clip have given permission for it to be used. None of my publishing clients will accept a photo (even of a crowd scene) if it contains a child and does not have an accompanying Model Release. Similarly, photos of the interiors of stately homes/museums may need a Property Release for them to be usable, and if these also contain works of art, these may need further permission from the artist or their estate if the work of art is still in copyright. Even with a MR or PR in place, using a photo in a context that is controversial, sensitive or defamatory may not be allowed.
Royalty Free (RF) images are generally licensed for a fixed, one-off fee covering all usages. Once purchased, they can be used any number of times, in any medium, for an indefinite period.
Rights Managed (RM) images are licensed for specific terms of usage, so you need to specify how, where and for how long you will use the image and in what territories. This will determine the fee. Any new use of an image will require a further licence and the licence will need to be renewed/extended once its term has expired. You may be able to request exclusive usage (for an increased fee!).
Other terms you may come across include commercial use/editorial use. Editorial use photos that do not have a MR or PR can sometimes be used in textbooks (but in my experience still never photos of children without a MR), but check with your client first if you are not sure, and only usually inside the book (not on the cover) and alongside text which discusses the image.

Summary

Hopefully I’ve shown that there’s a bit more to picture research than just Googling an image, right-clicking and downloading it. Should you decide on some DIY picture research, however, and especially if you are not using an established image library, the first question I suggest you ask is not Can I use this picture? but Who owns the copyright for this picture? Once you know that, you can ask for permission from the copyright owner, but if the person you are dealing with is unsure as to whether they own the copyright, there’s a good chance they don’t, so best to proceed with caution or employ a friendly picture researcher!

Resources

Picture Research Association – the society for image media professionals (the picture research equivalent of the CIEP): www.picture-research.org.uk.

Intellectual Property Office summary of UK government copyright information for digital images, photographs and the internet (note if using photos from outside the UK, you may need to consider copyright law in that country): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481194/c-notice-201401.pdf

Lorraine Beck is an experienced freelancer picture/clip researcher currently working on a variety of schools and ELT titles, but is happy to turn her hand to any subject. She’s a full member of the Picture Research Association and listed in the ELT Publishing Professionals Directory.

Photo credits: colourful rectangles by John Jennings,; photos on shelf by Annie Spratt, both on Unsplash.

Posted by Abi Saffrey, CIEP blog coordinator.

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the CIEP.

By Liz Jones

An editor attempting to describe their job to a non-editor will often talk about ‘working with words’. This is essentially what we do: we take a client’s raw text, and we make it fit for purpose. But working with words is not all that an editor does. This post looks at some tasks editors might do as part of an editing job, as well as separate but related roles.

Non-textual editorial tasks

There are many things an editor might do in the course of a typical editing job that have nothing at all to do with words.

Checking illustrations, photos and other figures

Many of the things we work on involve pictures and diagrams, whether we’re editing books, websites, marketing materials or annual reports. Sometimes we’ll be specifically briefed to check the figures in a document, especially if they do contain text, but often this expectation will be implicit, and it’s down to the common sense of the editor to make sure that if the text mentions five green apples, the accompanying image doesn’t show three red tomatoes. It’s common for photos to appear with a wrong caption, or for annotations to be misplaced.

It’s also sensible to check that photos haven’t been flipped – which might be fine, but not if they depict something that includes lettering, such as a shop sign, or people carrying out activities that have a specific orientation, like driving cars. Other things editors need to be alert to are items that look out of place or even inappropriate – like red telephone boxes in a publication with a global audience, or people drinking alcohol or smoking in a book for children.

Checking numbers and dates

Many editors say they love words but hate numbers – but still it’s necessary to engage with numbers in all forms, in most of the work that we do. Folios need checking for a start, and cross-references. The degree of elision in number and date ranges must be consistent, and this will often be specified in a house style. Many numbers that we encounter need sense-checking, too. For example, would it be feasible to describe a 1,500km car journey as having taken four hours? Could that historical person possibly have died before they were born? And in certain types of work, such as medical editing, numerically expressed quantities are literally a matter of life and death.

Checking typographical details

Meanwhile, being able to spot a rogue italic comma is not a matter of life and death, but it is arguably still important in its way. And the difference between a hyphen and an en dash may seem trivial to some, but a document that has all its typographical details correct will somehow seem more finished, more credible, than one that has been carelessly formatted – even if the reader can’t quite put their finger on why. Typographic details help to signpost the reader – often unconsciously – and when correct they all add up to a seamless reading experience, enabling the message to be imparted with minimum fuss and maximum accuracy.

Checking layout features

An important part of editing – and proofreading in particular – is ensuring that the layout of a piece of text, along with any accompanying images and graphics, makes sense. You’ll need to develop an eye for ‘page furniture’, whether you’re working in print or online: running heads, menus, pull quotes, breadcrumbs … Often different elements within a larger document will work together and interlink, and each will have a particular meaning, which may be more intuitive than explicit to the reader – but as the editor you will need to understand the rationale behind such design decisions, to be able to assess whether all layout features are present and correct.

Bear in mind, too, that it’s easy when editing to be great at spotting the tiny textual details, and then overlook a typo in a title ten times the size of the rest of the text. Or not to notice that a box or a panel is the wrong colour for its function, or that an entire section of a book is labelled wrongly. One of the hallmarks of an outstanding editor is the ability to step back and see the bigger picture as well as focusing on the tiny details.

Related roles

Some editors take on roles that are related to editorial work and may even be combined with it, but use a different set of skills.

Permissions

Many of the documents editors work on include images or text that come from somewhere else. Sometimes they can be used with a simple acknowledgement, without asking for permission from the rights holder. But depending on the context, and the amount of material being reproduced, often it will be necessary to seek permission. An editor might be asked to handle this aspect of a project alongside their editorial work, or it could be subcontracted as a discrete job. Either way, it’s a useful skill for an editor to be able to offer, and the CIEP now runs a course on copyright for editorial professionals.

Picture research

Sometimes, editors go beyond just looking at pictures, and help to choose them. Picture research can be a really interesting facet to our work. Just as when you’re checking images that have already been placed, you’ll need to keep an eye out for details that fit with the text that needs to be illustrated. Consider the audience, and ensure that any picture you use works as hard as possible to support or augment the text, to ensure maximum value of paid-for images. Some images are free, or may be used freely with a credit (see for example Unsplash or Pixabay). Others must be paid for, and the cost per picture will depend on the size of the image and the type and reach of the publication.

Project management

Many freelance editors are employed to manage editorial projects. This can involve setting and monitoring budgets and schedules, as well as commissioning contributors such as authors and illustrators, and freelancers like designers, editors and indexers. Attention to textual detail is still important, but at this level of work you’ll need to be able to cope with tight schedules and increased responsibility, as well as keeping a range of people updated on progress at all stages of the project. You’ll also need to assess the work of others and provide feedback where necessary. The CIEP offers a course in editorial project management, and it also publishes a guide to this subject if you want to find out more.

Liz Jones has been an editor since 1998, and has worked on thousands of projects, involving millions of words and a whole host of other variables. She specialises in highly illustrated non-fiction for a range of clients, and also works as a commissioning editor on the CIEP information team.

Photo credits: open book – Blair Fraser; letters – Octavian Dan, both on Unsplash.

Proofread by Victoria Hunt, Intermediate Member.
Posted by Abi Saffrey, CIEP blog coordinator.