Using pictures in the BMJ
BMJ 2005; 330 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.330.7497.916 (Published 21 April 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;330:916Data supplement
3. CROPPING TO DIRECT ATTENTION
4. WHAT WE DO USE & WHAT WE DON’T
Fig 1
Picture Credit: Liverpool Echo
Professor Dick Van Velzen BMJ 3/2/01 p 255
Here we blended two images, one of Professor Dick Van Velzen, the doctor at the centre of the
organs crisis, and the other of Alder Hey hospital. As the picture of the hospital on its own was too boring and we had already used a different pic of Van Velzen, we decided to superimpose the professor in front of the building because it made a better image, it was relevant to the story, and it was uncontentious. Of course it didn’t look real (as several readers pointed out), but that was not the intention. The two photos together become one illustration rather than a manipulated photo.
Fig 1
We make an effort not to use images where the individual is not competent to sign release forms, or to know that a photographer is present. Recently however, we used a cover picture that showed a homeless young man clearly in a mentally vulnerable state
This decision was made because the photo was part of a series made for an exhibition—Case Histories—by Boris Mikhailov, in which he highlights the problems of homeless people in his native Kharkov. Because the image had already been part of an exhibition that had been seen in many countries and appears on several Mikhailov websites, we deemed our use acceptable
Fig 2 & 3Figure 2 Figure 3 Where we need to illustrate mental conditions, we would normally use set-up shots (fig 2)``
or abstract concepts (fig 3)
Fig 2 Picture Credit: Veer Photonica
Fig 3 Picture Credit: Andrew Cockayne/Trevillion
3. CROPPING TO DIRECT ATTENTION (4 pics - 2 befores & 2 afters)
Some pictures have a lot going on around the central theme, and so cropping out distractions and irrelevancies can focus the attention immediately on the main point
Picture credit: AP
4. WHAT WE DO USE & WHAT WE DON’T
Pictures we don’t use
Masking a patient’s eyes like this is something we abandoned years ago .
This image of an AIDS patient is available on a public health site.
Picture credit: CDC
Pictures we do use
Here is an image of a patient with tuberculosis in a Russian prison who clearly knows the picture is being taken. It was one of a series taken for the World Health Organization’s TB advocacy programme in 2003 and appears on their website
Picture Credit: WHO/STB/Colors Magazine/J Mollison
Figs 1, 2 and 3 are from a commercial source, and so we expect the source to have cleared permission for use and sale with the individuals shown
Picture Credits: P Marazzi/SPL
Smallpox. An image available on a public health site and taken during a session at a rural clinic. The
mother must have been aware of the photographer, and no individual is identifiable
Picture Credit: CDC
Scanning Electron Microscope image of Purkinje nerve cells
Fig 1 B/W Informative but dull
Fig 2 Altered using false colour. Informative and eyecatching
Picture Credit: David McCarthy/SPL
Related articles
- Editorial Published: 11 November 1995; BMJ 311 doi:10.1136/bmj.311.7015.1240
- Education And Debate Published: 02 September 2004; BMJ 329 doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7465.566
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