1. High political sensitivity, policies, rich experience and good "balance" ability. Foreign publicity reports take the long-term and fundamental interests of the country as the highest criterion, and have the function of serving the reform, opening up, modernization and the overall foreign strategy of the country. Therefore, when a photo editor controls a graphic manuscript, no matter whether he writes or edits it himself, he can't just consider the problem from the perspective of news reporting, but also consider the above factors.
At the same time, after defining the positioning, policy and target readers, before starting to assemble manuscripts, we must make clear what each group of graphic manuscripts brings to readers: news? Information? Opinion? Meitu? Without these basic points, the picture report will lose its value. Be clear about what is a good topic; How to evaluate the quality of a picture; Whether a group of manuscripts has reportable value; How to organize column manuscripts; How big a page can be formed; Whether it is possible or necessary to serialize and so on. Therefore, the editor's sensitivity to topics and themes is the basis of editing work. In the comprehensive pictorial (or periodical), the photo editor should plan or participate in the reporting of some political, economic or major events, which requires the editor to have foresight, be familiar with national and world events, grasp social trends, have foresight and control in topic planning, column hosting and manuscript editing, and organize and structure each group of photo reports.
In the practice of running a journal, there are many pictures that can impress readers. Besides the content and form of the picture itself, its discoverer, the editor, also plays an important role in the use, location and size of the picture. Otherwise, it may be ignored by readers. In this sense, planning is very important for editors.
2. Master photography theory and be familiar with "lens language". A person who doesn't know the theory and skills of news photography and photographic expression can't have a unique eye among thousands of pictures and pick out the best pictures that are most expressive and meet the requirements of the times and technology. At the same time, the photo editor is not passively waiting for the appearance of good pictures, but must have strong planning ability, be able to actively raise topics, plan interview and report plans and operate them in detail.
Different from simple text editing, pictorial editors may not necessarily pick up the camera for professional photography, but editors who can do professional photography will certainly become good pictorial editors. The photo editor of Life magazine publishes more than one million photos of the world's most famous and creative photographers every year.
In addition to the ability to edit pictures, picture editors should also have a certain aesthetic foundation. In a large number of pictures, choosing the pictures that are suitable for the idea of topic selection should not only reflect the theme, but also know how to use and express technical means such as composition, light and color. Controlling a group of pictures, just like a band conductor, should not only show the main theme of music, but also take care of the performance of every voice and instrument. At the same time, we should also consider the harmony of melody, pay attention to the internationalization and diversity of expression means of publicity publications, and study readers' reading interests, aesthetic habits and flexible and diverse expression means.
In terms of photography, besides news, reportage and artistic pictures, photo stories and thematic photography reports provide living space for in-depth reporting of pictures. Picture editors should pay attention to the readability, interest and visual sense of pictures while choosing various means of expression. The big picture should be as big as possible, and the auxiliary picture should be as small as possible, which can not only attract readers' attention, but also ensure dense information.
3. Deep cultural accomplishment and solid writing skills. Some people think that the writing level of photo editors is not necessarily high. In fact, literary literacy is indispensable for pictorial editors. The picture itself is a visual language, but it can't explain everything, such as the description of the background of the picture and the purpose of using the picture. And it needs a picture editor to express it in various styles according to different contents. The title, article, picture description and the whole set of pictures should complement each other. Rational expression and moving people with emotion are the characteristics of pictorial articles, and at the same time, we must ensure that the pictures and texts are "slim". Concise words and appropriate pictures are the basic requirements of pictorial manuscripts.
4. Say something else. In addition to the above-mentioned essential requirements, editors in the era of reading pictures should also have two other conditions: one is passion and the other is love. External communication is a career, which requires endless passion for innovation and love for the cause, as well as professionalism.
Pictorial editors are social activists, so good communication and coordination skills are essential. In the past 50 years, Pictorial has not only trained a group of famous photographers, but also established a high-quality and first-class photographer team in China. Every graphic editor should establish his own team of authors to provide photo support for the columns and manuscripts he presided over. At the same time, it is also the tradition of Pictorial to invite celebrities to contribute to the journal, which not only makes the manuscript more authoritative, credible and eager to read, but also constantly enhances the popularity of Pictorial. All this work is testing the editor's ability of organization, coordination and social activities.
In addition, the photo editor is an image connoisseur with high aesthetic consciousness and visual perception, unique discovery and bold judgment. We should be educated, constantly update our knowledge, enrich our knowledge structure and expand our knowledge, such as design, typesetting and processing. After the publication of a group of graphic manuscripts, editors and designers need to communicate constantly and make suggestions constantly, in order to reflect them most successfully and convey their information to the audience.