Anthony Howard, a senior in chemical engineering, is lifted up in the air by his team mates to catch the ball as it is thrown in from the side line. When the ball goes out of bounds it is thrown back in bounds from the sideline and the opposing forwards "jump" to gain possession of the ball.

Just as with headlines, bigger is better. When the paper instilled a big-photo mentality, staff members heard compliments from the readers. Often, it’s the photo that acts as the gateway for readers to enter the page. Photos matter.

Like what makes a good story, what makes a good photo is a matter of debate. One way to look at what makes a good photo is to look at the content: people doing something unusual.

Photos without people are rarely interesting to our readers. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that given the limited space in a printed publication, photos without people have no business on the pages of the paper. To take that one step further, it’s not just people, it’s people doing something, not just staring at the camera. And they need to be doing something unusual, not working at a computer or talking on the telephone.

Rob Bradley (04) Move up close Fill the frame and use low depth of field to isolate the subject from the background.

A second way to evaluate a photograph involves looking at the technique, the content and the meaning. Start by looking at the technique: focus, depth of field, appropriate use of shutter speed, quality use of light. These are things the photographers should all be trained to do and should not put any photos on the server that don’t meet the minimum standards of technique. Then evaluate the composition. The photo should follow the rule of thirds and might contain strong composition elements such as repetition of shapes, leading lines or framing. Often, a photo that is not so strong in terms of composition can be improved with careful, and tight, cropping. Finally, look at the meaning of the photo. Strive to publish pictures that have meaning beyond the obvious and go beyond the surface to tell a story that the viewer will find interesting.

Wakeboard club president Bret Paterson lays out sideways during a wakeboarding practice. The wakeboarding club is currently on its first year off of probation.

Make sure that they’re compelling, contain action and with people, if possible. Emotion matters. It matters more so than an interesting angle or great acrobatics in a sports shot. Make sure they give you those shots because photos like that give so much more depth to your design.

Just like headlines, each page needs a defined hierarchy between photos. The lead photo should dominate the page. No other photo should match its magnitude. After the lead photo establishes a center of visual interest, subsequent photos should be of contrasting size and shape. For example, if the dominant photo is a large vertical, somewhere  on the page should be a small horizontal.

While the photo editor will pick and crop the photos, the reporter, editor and designer may ask to look at a wider selection of edited photos to see if there are alternatives that may fit better with the headline. Perhaps the photo was cut too tightly or at a proportion that does not lend itself well to the rest of the design.