Dear Editor
I understand your role in reporting the news objectively, and I appreciate the effort to maintain impartiality. However, at the risk of backlash, I can’t hold my tongue any longer. I just downloaded Sign Bird’s ’10 Tips to Improve your Billboard Photos in 2024′, and no real disrespect to this company as I’m hoping they had the best intentions, but mostly everything in here is dead wrong. I mean, again, in my opinion, even the photos that they use as examples are not adequate shots of a billboard.

We have discussed this matter before, and I know this company has been getting huge press in the last couple of years about their state-of-the-art “drone shots” and some of their advice makes a lot of sense regarding shutter speed and other tricks to better quality reproduction of the shot such as lighting, etc. HOWEVER, it all starts with where you take the photo from, and in my opinion, they are completely missing the boat and it needs to stop.

Regarding Aerial Shots: Aerial shots top Sign Bird’s guide, presumably a key revenue source for them. However, I find it counterproductive to mislead billboard operators into thinking that to increase sales, they need to focus on shots and or video taken from 500 feet in the air. I think this is more hurtful than helpful. I ask you, who sees the advertising message from 500 feet above the sign face? Now I haven’t spoken to Geopath directly about this demo, but to my knowledge, they are not measuring blimp pilots or birds in their counts; therefore, a drone only shows how pretty the surroundings are. And quite frankly, aerial spacing between sign face and point of interest is what a map is for. Not a drone. Presenting an aerial view to a savvy media buyer raises suspicion rather than admiration; it suggests the operator might be concealing something; This sign must have some type of obstruction.

I believe that Sign Bird is missing the #1 cardinal rule in OOH photo-taking. Always take the photo as the advertiser intended their message to be seen. Meaning. If it is a roadside product (i.e., bulletin, wallscape, street furniture), take the photo as the driver sees the ad’s face. I mean even Signbird’s description of where to take the photo is somewhat off.

We take photos extremely seriously at our company. As a matter of fact, the majority of our photo-taking is a two-man job. Yes, that’s correct. One person drives, and the other person shoots out the windshield. If there is going to be a glare on the windshield from the sun or whatever, the picture-taker sticks their head out the sunroof and snap, snap, snap. Not glamorous, sometimes cold, and definitely windy, but in our opinion, it’s that important, and we practice this as much as possible.

In an industry where the photo often dictates whether a buyer chooses one board over another, we need to elevate our standards and educate professionals on effective photography. Unfortunately, Sign Bird’s tips, in my view, undermine these efforts. At the very least, I urge a return to the basics – taking photos from the intended vantage point of the board.

Bob Wolfe
President
OutSelling, Inc.