If you are looking for new ways to spruce up your website with a fresh look, then replacing your website images with some new photography could really help your website pages to come alive again!

Nowadays, smartphones provide great quality when taking photographs. Smartphone photos are clearly visible, rich in colour and offer a good depth of field, even when closeup.  For websites, using photos taken on an smartphone can be adequate in resolution as unlike photographs used for print, the display quality required for digital screen only needs to be 72dpi.

In addition, you may want to include lifestyle shots which will appeal to a certain type of customer or reflect your type of industry sector. This style of imagery looks great on website banners and can illustrate certain services / call to actions.  Please remember that it is illegal to copy images from another website without consent, so always choose royalty free images using a reputable image source.

Taking photos of products

Generally, websites will illustrate products in situ or on a white background. If you are looking at a cost-effective way to include new photos on your website, then you could try the following using a smartphone:

  • To feature your products using a white background, you don’t have to use the latest photography equipment, instead you can take photos of your products against a white wall, a white sheet of paper or even a bed sheet / table cloth will work.  The main point to this is so that the designer can visibly see a clear edge around the product which they can then cut around using a digital programme like Photoshop.
  • When taking products in situ you will need to consider the following – clearing the space so that area around the product looks clean and tidy, ensure the product / person is visibly clear in the photograph, use a light space to take the photo, consider the inclusion of safety equipment if it is required to be visible in respect of your industry sector.

Top tips for taking a photo

  • It is always worth taking photos of your products at the highest level of quality available on your smartphone device, encase you want to use the photos for other promotional material at a later date.
  • Take the photo slightly zoomed out (not too close). Designers can always crop an image but can never add the subject back in!
  • Try to take the photo in a visibly light room and if you are taking a photo outside, then capture it on a slightly overcast day to reduce too much shadowing.

Choosing royalty free lifestyle shots

  • Consider if your images work well together i.e Is the tone of each of the image similar? Do they have a theme? Which images work best together?
  • Finally, when looking at royalty free images to include in a banner for instance, consider the size of the space. Generally, website banners are rectangular strips, but the scale of a photo is closer to a square than a rectangle.  Ask yourself are you able to feature the main content of the square photo into the rectangular banner as you will need to allow space around the outer edges for some cropping.

For further information on improving your website and to discuss your website developments, please get in touch