Pictures and images of a book have the strength to draw the interests of a reader, giving the reader an idea of what the text would revolve. Apart from enticing the reader to get engaged with the text, they also help the reader to gather complex ideas instantly. It is therefore important for authors to use the right pictures in their publications, in the right way.
Pictures can be used to highlight important concepts to gain attraction, as readers skip pages by only reading headlines and captions. A picture and a brief description would help in getting the required attention. Pictures used should merge with the publication, and therefore a sense of consistency should be evident throughout the pictures. The use of a single accent color or a small palette or a distinct graphic style can contribute to it. Using a common model for the story at a similar camera angle, with a consistent lightning adds to the consistency.
Animated images whenever used should be used wisely. This is because animation strikes big and grabs all attention, thus distracting readers from the point made. A For online publications, as far as possible use animations only when necessary like demonstrating a product use.
Now comes the size of the image. It is important for you to know the size and resolution of the image to be used, beforehand. Although you can change these, it is not always possible and at times you don’t get good results. Enlarging a picture decreases its resolution, reducing its pixels per inch or its dpi and reducing an image increases its resolution or its dpi.
Pictures with a low resolution will have a blurred appearance. However those with a high resolution tend to have a big file size, which makes it difficult to open, edit and print. If the color pictures are to be printed by a commercial printer, the resolution of these should be between 200 to 300 dpi. Higher resolution of up to 800 dpi should be okay but a lower resolution isn’t suitable. However, if the pictures are intended to be used online, then a resolution of about 96 dpi is sufficient, which is compatible to computer monitors.
Choosing an appropriate image file format is important too. This is again based on the way the image is to be used like whether it is a line art, animation or photo.