A press photo pack should let an editor recognise the story and choose a usable image without reconstructing the shoot. Sending every finished photograph can transfer the selection problem to someone who knows less about the project. Prepare a small editorial set with clear alternatives and enough factual context for each image to stand on its own.
This is different from delivering the photographer's full agreed collection to the commissioning client. The press selection is a later, deliberate use of that collection. Confirm which images may be supplied for that use and who is responsible for preparing the release package.
Select for an editor who has not visited the project
Choose an opening image that identifies the relevant subject. Add alternatives only when they offer a genuinely different editorial option: a different orientation, a person central to the story, an explanatory detail or a view that makes the location understandable.
Do not include several near-identical favourites without indicating a preferred selection. Nor should every image depend on the release text for basic identification. An editor may consider one photograph independently, pass it to a colleague or place it beside a shorter account.
If the story concerns a contractor's specific contribution, select photographs that support that contribution. An impressive whole-building view may be useful context, but the caption should not imply that the contractor delivered everything visible.
Write captions as factual image descriptions
For each photograph, record what is shown, the relevant project or location, the people who need identifying and the date or project stage where it affects meaning. Name the supplied image reference so the caption cannot easily migrate to a similar photograph.
The IPTC Photo Metadata User Guide distinguishes the descriptive caption from accessibility alt text. A caption can supply factual scene context; a publisher still needs to decide the appropriate text alternative for its actual placement.
Keep promotional claims out of the basic identification. An editor can evaluate the supplied story separately from the statement that a particular photograph shows a named person in a named space. If a detail is uncertain, resolve it or make the uncertainty visible rather than converting a convenient guess into a confident caption.
Give alternatives a reason to exist
A wide and a tall photograph may offer useful layout choices, but check that each independently shows the intended subject. Do not call a severe crop an alternative if it removes the feature that makes the story relevant.
Separate photographs prepared for editorial use from images with embedded campaign headlines, decorative frames or a designed promotional lock-up. The editor may need an unbranded picture to fit a publication's layout. Supply that only where the agreed photography and usage arrangements allow it; do not assume a finished advertisement is also a suitable press image.
Provide the confirmed credit wording and a contact for factual or image-use questions. Keep that information close to the images rather than burying it in an unrelated email chain.
A hypothetical opening announcement
A fictional construction business announces completion of a workplace refurbishment. The initial pack contains many reception images and a group photograph with no identification. The revised selection contains one clear project view, a useful interior alternative and the group image with an accurate caption explaining who attended.
An editor can now choose between a building-led and people-led account without inventing names or requesting the whole shoot again. The smaller selection does not promise coverage. It makes the supplied material easier to evaluate correctly.
Check the pack as a recipient
Open the proposed delivery in the form the recipient will receive. Can each image be matched to its caption and credit? Are the selected photographs the approved versions? Is a reference to an embargo or other agreed restriction visible where relevant?
Remove obsolete alternatives and internal selection notes from the external pack. Keep the wider commissioned library within its existing arrangements. A press photo selection should be a purposeful editorial handoff, not an accidental release of everything associated with the photography job.
Discuss any press-photo requirement with Live Images when scoping dedicated photography. Identify the likely editorial uses and who will prepare and authorise the eventual external selection.
Prepared with AI assistance for Live Images. Planning guidance is general; suitability and production scope must be agreed for your project.