By using professional photography, museums and galleries signal to their audiences that they’re a desirable destination that’s serious about providing a high-quality visitor experience.

Professional photographers are particularly important because museums and galleries can be challenging settings for photography. They often have dimly-lit rooms with lots of reflective surfaces, and overhead lighting that makes it difficult to take flattering photos of people.

Our photography bursary offers museums and galleries in Scotland a fantastic opportunity to commission gorgeous new photos of their public spaces, events, and activities. Previous bursary recipients have used this funding to commission photography of engagement activities, events, underrepresented audiences, museum interiors, museum exteriors, and retail settings. Here are some examples of the impact of the bursary so far:

Professional photos look great, but what if you want to capture those day-to-day moments? Time to take out your phone!

Whether it’s a image of an unexpected visitor to your museum, a new display in your shop, or a beautiful sunrise over your building, photos taken on your phone have an authentic, intimate, and immediate quality that their professional counterparts lack. This can be really important for building a personable social media presence.

Now that most of us have cameras in our pockets, our expectations for photography are higher than ever. It’s easy to point and click – but there are simple ways to elevate your photos and ensure you’re capturing your museum at its best. A good museum photo should:

• Display the personality of your museum. Do you want your audiences to feel energetic, reflective, cosy, adventurous? Use colour, framing, and subject matter to cultivate an aspirational atmosphere. For example – restrained images in muted tones convey a serious mood, while bright colours and unusual angles capture a quirky energy.
• Stand out from the crowd. Your photos should aim to make viewers stop in their tracks by featuring bold colours, unique scenes, and contrast between light and dark.
• Evoke the senses. Visitors laughing, enjoying food, moving energetically, or listening to interactives: photos that hint at at the multisensory experience offered by museums can make a stronger impression with viewers.
• Set expectations. Who can visit your museum? How should visitors behave? What should they wear? You can use photos to demonstrate that your museum is a place where everyone is welcome, and challenge misconceptions that museums are stuffy and formal environments.
• Transport the viewer. Your photos should appeal to audiences by offering them something that they can’t experience at home. This could be unique visuals, an inspiring location, or somewhere to make new memories.

Now you’ve got an idea of what to photograph, here are some practical steps for capturing the perfect moment:

Find the light. Light sources should be illuminating your subject, not casting them into shadow. The eye is naturally drawn towards the bright, colourful, and high-contrast parts of a photo. And remember that everything looks better on a sunny day!

Shetland Museum & Archives do a great job of using clear and bright photos to showcase their team, events, and collections.

Think about the background. If you’re getting a fun photo of a bunch of smiling volunteers, make sure it’s not by the bins. Take a few moments to declutter your surroundings, straighten things out, and position your subject in a scenic setting.

The photos in this recent post from Edinburgh Printmakers have bright, busy, and colourful backgrounds that complement the hands-on, lighthearted energy of their event.

Food photography can be tricky to get right. Use warm and vibrant colours, natural light, and an inviting table setting to reinforce the message that your food is tasty and fresh. Here’s a great example of some excellent food photography from Dundee Heritage Trust’s new café.

Photographing objects in glass cases isn’t easy. You want to avoid distracting reflections where possible – so find out if it’s possible for you to temporarily open a case, or have an object moved to a more suitable location for photography.

Size matters. If an image file is too small, it will start to go fuzzy and lose definition when it’s forced to expand to fill a space. If you’re planning to use an image on your website or social media, check the quality before and after you post it. For social media posts, we’d recommend an image width of around 1,000 pixels.

For more advice on photography, check out our Marketing Toolkit.

Strong visuals are important – but they aren’t everything. As more than two million people live with sight loss across the UK, it’s very likely that your museum’s audiences include people who are blind or otherwise visually impaired.

To create more inclusive promotional materials for your museum or gallery, make sure to always consider accessibility measures such as alt-text for your images. If you’re creating graphics, make sure you use large, legible fonts and high-contrast colours that can be viewed by people with colour vision deficiencies. Complement your photography with vibrant writing and immersive audio to ensure you’re creating content that can be enjoyed by the broadest possible audience.

For more information on creating accessible content, explore the VocalEyes website.