If you are using photos in your brochure or marketing materials, there are a few things you can do to make your designer not scream. Whether you are using a professional photographer or taking your own photos, here are some tips.

1. Lighting. Make sure your subject is lit well and that the lighting is even. Be aware of shadows on your subject, whether it's a face or a product. If you're shooting outside, have your subject face into the sun and do their best not to squint. Don't park cars half in and half out of the shade, shoot buildings at the time of day when the sun is full on the side you want to present.

2. Cropping. Don't pre-crop the photo. Leave plenty of space around the subject. This gives your designer the freedom to use the shot either horizontally or vertically, in a circle or oval shaped frame, whatever. If the photo is cropped wide, there is lots of room for creativity.

3. Resolution. This is the big one. Please don't ask your designer to get photos off of your website. Those photos are meant for the web and nothing else. They may look good when you print them out at home, but in a commercial printing setting they will look blurry. The problem is low resolution -- there simply isn't enough information there to re-create that picture in the teeny tiny dots used in printing. You can solve this problem in a couple of ways: A. Hire a professional photographer, or B. If you're taking your own photos, set your camera on the highest resolution setting. This is the one that allows you to fit the FEWEST photos on your memory card, because there is so much more information in each photo. Make sense?

The idea here is to give your designer the most options possible for creativity. If the photos are lit well, your subject will look better and have more detail. If the photos are shot wide, there are design options galore. And if the photos are high-resolution, they can be bigger, more detail can be brought out, color can be better balanced and you can have an all-around better looking ad or brochure.