Though it may not pay the rent, getting your digital photographs published in the newspaper does put your work in the public’s eye. You’ll earn a little bit of cash for your efforts, and if your images go over well, you’ll probably score repeat work, which is the key to “making it” as a freelance professional.

While newspapers may not pay the most money for your photographs, they are a great venue where you might be able to publish your work. Because many newspapers enjoy considerable coverage areas and circulation, a significant number of people will see your handiwork. This exposure is critical in the early days of establishing yourself as a freelance or professional photographer.

The clips, or published samples of your work, that you receive from newspapers could ultimately land you another gig somewhere down the road. As you publish your photos in various media outlets, be sure to collect at least one copy of all your published works. Organize all your samples nicely into a portfolio album so you have something to show prospective employers and freelance clients.

If this is your first time contributing to print media, or even if you’ve been submitting work for a while, review the following tips to help you streamline the submission process.

Tips for Submitting Photography Work to a Newspaper:

• Get captions: Newspapers require captions for all photos published, so keep this in mind as you plan your shots. Shake off your shyness and remember that you may have to approach your subjects to get their name and other identifying characteristics. When captioning photos with more than one subject, make your identifications from left to right.
  
• Shoot large now, crop later. By now you should be fairly familiar with your digital camera’s settings. Shoot your images at a relatively large format (about 1mb per image) and fit in as much of the total picture as you find necessary. When you open the files on your computer, consider cropping when you can see a larger version of the image on your screen.
  
• Shoot lots of photos to ensure you have at least a couple of great ones. You can always delete the surplus of unnecessary photos, but it can be very difficult and sometimes impossible to go back and get more photos if you find the ones you took in the first place to be insufficient.
  
• Don’t be shy. Find a good position to snap your desired photo and shoot away. If you miss a shot, don’t worry about it because chances are you’ll find another great shot momentarily. If you have the opportunity, don’t be afraid to ask your potential subjects to assemble for a group shot. Don’t forget to take names!
  
• Adjust the settings for lighting and other factors, but don’t stress out. Use flash when shooting indoors unless the area has much lighting available. Though newspapers publish a number of full-color photographs in every issue, color costs significantly more to process than black and white. If your images don’t come out 100 percent perfect, realize that there’s a good chance your images will be converted to grayscale. Strive for the best images you can achieve, but relax and breathe – remember to enjoy what you are doing!
  
• Before you submit the images to your editor, be sure you know what format he or she is expecting. This means you should know what type of file format the editor expects – RAW, jpeg, bmp, tif, gif, etc. You should also find out if your editor expects a CD containing all your images or if it is acceptable to email your photographs to the editor.
  
• Newspapers often work with relatively strict deadlines. Find out when your photos and captions are due and adhere to that deadline. Many times it is easiest to get everything done in one shot – go out to the event and shoot, come home and review your images, select the best shots, edit them, caption them and send them over to your editor.
  
  A newspaper is a great place to publish your photos and if you are talented and responsible, it could turn into regular work. Once you’ve gathered some clips, you may even be able to find a staff position with regular paychecks and benefits. Depending on your preferences of what you like to shoot, newspapers provide a lot of variety in terms of subjects – from sports and children’s events and activities to formal galas, crime scenes and other exciting scenarios.