Photography Style

To convey the advanced nature of our work, use professional photography.

The images should resonate with humanity and warmth. Even if people are not in the shot, the subject should have a human context. Show people with natural expressions, and let the subjects convey our commitment to health care and our optimism about the future.

Use unusual points of view and interesting cropping to create dynamic compositions. If these are the technical aspects of our photographs, their soul is reflected with light.

Allow light to play a role in the images. Whether it’s light coming through a window, illuminating someone’s face, bathing the background or pulling the viewer into the scene, light is the visual metaphor for our bright future.

Let your photographs suggest that light is guiding us toward new discoveries, illuminating the way toward better health in a better world.

Using original UTMB photography (images captured of our people, places and things) is almost always preferable; it adds authenticity and credibility to our story and strengthens our brand. When shooting original photography, use the examples shown and follow UTMB's style considerations to capture the essence of how we wish to represent ourselves. 

UTMB offers a digital image library to help maintain brand identity, enhance the visual appearance of our institutional web sites, and provide a robust (but not all-encompassing) online source of vetted and approved images. The resource (Razuna) is designed to serve web and other general applications for the UTMB community. Its use is free to members of the UTMB community but registration is required and access must be granted. 

Permission is required to fly a drone on any UTMB campus; requests are managed through Environmental Health and Safety. Restricted airspace regulations must be followed at all times (the Galveston campus is home to two heliports). There are current aerial photos and video of all four UTMB campuses available in Razuna, our digital image library.

Patient privacy is a paramount concern in any clinical setting. Any patient who will be interviewed, videotaped or photographed by a UTMB department and/or within a UTMB facility must first sign a UTMB-approved, HIPAA-compliant consent form. Extreme care must be taken to ensure no other patients and/or protected information are ever captured in the background of UTMB photos. 

In the event that original photography does not exist or cannot be used or created to help tell a specific story, stock photography can be used. Always abide by usage rights from the stock photography provider. Apply the same style guidelines to purchased images as would apply to UTMB-created photos.

In general, use caution using "free" image repositories. 

Professional photography and videography services are offered by UTMB's Academic Resources Photography & Videography divisions, available on and off campus for event, clinical, product, promotional or portrait needs. As a cost recovery center within Academic Resources, a modest and market-appropriate fee applies for services provided by this area. A massive library of archived images is also available. Clients may schedule a portrait in the center's studio, or a make an appointment to browse the digital and film archives.

Visit the website for more details on UTMB Photography and Videography

Observe and respect copyright laws on images (and other content).

Never assume it's OK to use an image you found on the internet. You need to be certain an image is in the public domain or otherwise free to use or share before you incorporate it into a project.

Always get permission from vendors when using images of equipment or materials.

Image Quality & Size

Start with a large file size and crop/resize/compress to your needs. Never start with a small image and try to scale it up or distort the proportions of the original image. 

When using images online, be sure to optimize the image for use on the web. This means the file size, dimensions and quality are appropriate and we are not asking our visitors to use unnecessary data while viewing our web pages.