We are realistic. Candid is about real people doing real work. No airbrushing. No staging. We use photography to show the sharp reality of what it means to strive for a better tomorrow, today.
Visual style
Our photographs use a bright flash to catch the action. The images are sharp, in-focus, and high-contrast. There’s no room for gauzy romanticism here.
Content
Substance is even more important than style. We aim to show real people in action—people who are working to create change. We focus on the people we work directly for and with. If you don’t know who the person is in the photo, then it’s not right for Candid. Here are some tips for making sure this comes across in your photos.
Subjects As a leader in civil society, it’s important that we show a wide range of people working in the sector. Make sure your photographs are representative, and that they don’t reinforce bias or exclusion.
Treating existing photographs
If you want to use an existing photograph—from the archives or contributed by another organization—first make sure that its content is on-brand (see the content section above). If the visual style isn’t up to par, use the Candid Photoshop action to improve its appearance.
About the action The Photoshop action performs the following: – Auto Contrast – Saturation (increase) – Levels (lower highlight input level, raise shadow and midtone input levels) – Unsharp Mask
Troubleshooting If the Photoshop action does not produce the results you are looking for, try manually adjusting the saturation, levels, and sharpening manually. If that doesn’t work, change the image to black and white (see page 46).
Stock photos
Sometimes you may want to show famous people, events, or places that you can’t photograph yourself. In the spirit of transparency, let’s distinguish these from original photos by making them black and white. Silhouetting makes the difference even sharper. (It’s also an easy way to address inconvenient backgrounds.)
If you don’t have Photoshop, there are many online tools for making a photo black and white.
Image descriptions
We treat everyone with respect. Not everyone who reads our materials can perceive images. Include “alt text” for photos whenever possible: a brief but comprehensive description of the content that can be read aloud by screen reading programs. Follow these steps to make sure that no one misses out on our content.
PDFs Include descriptive captions whenever possible. If you’re working in InDesign, include alt text for images before exporting to PDF.
With the selection tool, select the image.
Choose Object > Object Export Options.
Select the Alt Text tab in the dialog box.
Choose Custom from the Alt Text Source menu.
Enter the description in the text field, and click Done.
Twitter Twitter simply calls alt text “image descriptions.” Here’s how to add one:
After you’ve composed a Tweet with an image, open the thumbnail preview dialog by clicking on the thumbnail.
Type your description of the image and click the Apply button.
Facebook Facebook uses object recognition technology to automatically compose alt text for you. Follow these steps to review and edit alt text before you post a photo:
Click Edit Photo, then click Alt Text.
The automatically generated text will be to the left of your photo. Click Override generated alt text to edit it.
Write your alt text in the box. To change back to the automatically generated text, click Clear.
Click Save.
Video
Our videos should look natural and feel energetic. No slow motion. No fades.Our video style works equally for low-budget videos shot on a phone and for short films with higher production value. The goal is to make videos that are realistic, not cinematic.
Quick edits Keep videos fast-paced with full-speed footage and hard cuts. New scenes should pop on abruptly. And no shot should last longer than 10 seconds: if footage allows it, weave in b-roll with voiceover.
Avoid slow motion as well as fade, cross-fade, and dissolve transitions.