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 website.


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


Accessing School-owned Photography

The School also has an extensive collection of images, including building interiors and exteriors, faculty photos, and more. If you are interested in these images, please contact the BSPH.DesignTeam@jh.edu, and the design team will get back to you as soon as possible.


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Affairs sets up photo shoots for select faculty needing a branded headshot (folks who are new or whose current photo is outdated).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, please contact the BSPH.DesignTeam@jh.edu.


Stock Photography

BSPH's Office of External Affairs has an account with Getty Images offering thousands of royalty-free images, icons, and illustrations. These assets are intended for marketing purposes only and not for personal use.


For details, see Accessing Stock Photography.


Tips for Image Selection

  • Make sure your stock images look realistic. Avoid images where everyone is smiling too much. Getty suggests using keywords in your searches 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 pull back to more environmental shots for larger images.
  • Cropping photos is an important tool for placing more emphasis on specific parts of a photo while removing extraneous visual information, strengthening the story you want 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 head sizes 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 snapshots when possible. Make sure the selected images are of 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