Photography brings the CU Denver brand to life and represents our values and personality, showcases our content, highlights our people, and celebrates our community and campus. Below are some guidelines for choosing photography.
Tone & Style
Capture and showcase how our campus connects people, places, and the community.
- Show collaboration with others when possible
- Authentic interactions (not posed or forced)
- Engaged with others or in what they are doing
- Displaying positive/natural emotion
Composition
Keep things simple and engaging.
- Photos should have a singular focus
- Backgrounds should be simple
- Try to mix group and single-subject shots
- Highlight the campus environment
Feature/Subject
Use real students, faculty, and staff to portray authenticity and connection with the individuals who make up our CU Denver community.
- Show faces whenever possible to highlight emotion and human connection
- Capture social gatherings around campus
-Spotlight educational experiences
- Student and teacher interactions
- Students working together
- Faculty members teaching
- Ensure subjects present themselves in a professional manner
- Avoid images where the subject looks posed
Lighting & Color
Create a vibrant and energetic feel that captures the energy flowing through our campus and people.
- Lighting should always appear natural
- Avoid harsh highlights or shadows, particularly on faces
- When possible photos should have vibrant colors
- Color balance should be corrected on all photos
- No hot spots or neon tones
- Effects like motion photography for added energy should be used sparingly
- Lighting and color should enhance the focus not detract from it
Locations
Align locations with content that captures the campus and community environment.
- Showcase areas around campus
- Exterior shots
- Location to the city
- Interior social gatherings
- Classroom/lab experiences
- Avoid easily recognizable off-campus settings (e.g., sign of Union Station in the background)
Photography Sizing & Optimization
For digital platforms
We get a lot of questions about how to use images on the web. What size they should be? What dimensions? We have a few general recommendations and some tools to help you out! See links below for image size guidelines and optimization guidelines.