The Communications and Marketing team of the Office of External Affairs is pleased to offer tools and tips for helping you find the best imagery for your new website.


While working on your website, you may need to pull images together for possible use. This page is an overview of options available from Communications and Marketing in the Office of External Affairs.

Accessing School-owned Photography

The Communications and Marketing team oversees a digital asset management system (DAM) that houses many School-related photos for use with BSPH projects. There is a wide range of images in the system, including faculty headshots, student life images (classes, studying, talking together), lab images, and many others from previous projects, including the Hopkins Bloomberg Public Health magazine. If you would like to receive a login and password to use our DAM system, please contact Josh Aspril.


Capturing New Photography

Consider hiring a photographer to capture fresh images specific to your Center or Institute. Our branding toolbox includes a list of local photographer vendors who can help tell your group’s visual story. All of the photographers on the list are already in the Johns Hopkins payment system.

Periodically, the Communications and Marketing team in the Office of External Affairs sets up photo shoots for select faculty needing a branded headshot (folks who are new or whose current photo is outdated). If you need help planning or arranging your photo shoot, or if you have a faculty member who may need a photo in the near future, again, please contact Josh Aspril.


See also " Accessing Stock Photography"

Tips for Image Selection

  • Make sure your stock images look realistic. Avoid images where everyone is smiling way too much. Getty suggests using keywords in your searchers like: “Authentic”, “Candid” “Real People” “Real Life” “No Make Up” “Real Bodies,” and “Not Posed”.
  • Consider the image size -- use close ups of faces for smaller photos and pulled back more environment images for the large images.
  • Cropping photos is an important tool to bring more emphasis on specific parts of the photo while removing extraneous visual information to strengthen the story you are wanting to tell. Don’t always center your subject and don’t crop your subjects’ limbs at the joint. When cropping faces leave some breathing room. For a series of photos, keep the cropping consistent and headsizes similar.
  • The brand of our School should also be maintained in the photography we select. Use high resolution professional photos and avoid out-of-focus photographs or snap shots when possible. Make sure the images selected are high enough resolution. Be sure all images have the permission of the photographer and of the subjects. Media release forms for both adults and minors are included in our toolbox.

More from the helpdesk

Working with Images

Additional Resources