The Ultimate Guide to Website Photography | Denver Website Photographer, Underexposed®
You know you need a website, but what about photos for your website?
Between the noise of social media, Google, Ads, websites, and new AI tools popping up every day, a simple website with stock photos and some general information for your business isn’t going to cut it anymore. In other words, it’s not going to be effective for your business to gain traffic, attract potential clients, and convert them into paying customers.
As a branding photographer and website designer, I’ve seen how the right photos for your website can help your website feel authentic to you, resulting in you sharing it more, as well as attract your ideal clients into what you have to offer them, potentially turning them into paying clients. In this article, we’re covering everything you need to know about website photography, how to get the right photos for your website, and what to look for in hiring a website photographer.
What is Website Photography?
Website Photography might be called different things depending on who you talk to – your website designer, your photographer, etc. Any photos for your website that are created for you and your business, versus generic stock photography, may be referred to as Branding Photography. Business Branding Photography or Personal Brand Photography focuses on helping corporations, small businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals create visual content (photos) reflecting their brand’s unique identity and story to help attract their ideal customers to work with them. Product Photography for product-based businesses may also be referenced which include custom images of products for a shop or showing how products are used in a lifestyle setting. Headshots are typically included in Branding Photography, but also include headshot photos for multiple people in a business – a team, the leadership team or founders, board of directors, or include heads of different departments. We will go through these more in detail through the rest of this article and how each of them are tools to make your website more effective.
Why Does Website Photography Matter?
Think about a website you recently visited. Whether you clicked on an ad, Googled a specific brand or product, or wanted to learn more about a company or brand, your first impression of that site mattered. If a website feels generic, is messy, overwhelming, or leaves you feeling more confused about what the product, company, or brand actually does, it’s likely that you hit that little red x before you even really understood what was happening in your brain. On the other hand, if a website feels inviting, is crystal clear what they do and who it’s for, and clearly illustrates to teach you more through photos, graphics, and text, you’ll actually find yourself continuing down the rabbit hole scrolling through their entire site, potentially leading you to the next step to make a purchase. THAT is exactly why website photography matters!
Choosing the Right Photos for Your Website
Stock Photos vs. Branded Photos
Stock photos can offer much more convenience for finding and downloading images to use for your website or marketing materials, however, they may actually be hurting your business – find out why here.
I think free stock photos can work as a great placeholder when first designing your website or adding new pages or content, and typically will recommend this. However, custom branded photos will actually help your business and increase your marketing effectiveness:
Branded photos are custom created to illustrate and represent your brand – which includes your vision, target market, mission, values, as well as color palette, theme, logo, tagline, etc.
Branded photos are designed to convey your message to your target audience – which is exactly what effective marketing tools do.
Branded photos actually show the real experience your products, services, or events offer to potential clients, effectively selling your offers.
Branded photos work to make your business, brand, products, and services stand out from your competitors – which is the goal of a great branded photo to be the most effective.
What Kinds of Photos Do I Need For My Website?
The kinds of photos you’ll need for your website depend on your business, website setup and design, and call-to-action (what action you want website visitors or potential customers to take when they get to your website). To get you started, here are a few ideas to consider for your website:
Photos To Show What You Do
For your website to be effective, your images must clearly illustrate what you do to speak to potential customers. These can be images showing what it looks like to deliver your service, images of your products and how to use them, and other images that represent your brand in-action. These types of photos could include product photography, branding photography, and other lifestyle photography using your product or delivering your service. The goal for this is for the person who lands on your website to know exactly what you do, just from looking at the photos included on your website.
Branded photo of a private chef cooking and preparing food
Photos To Show Who You Help
You’ve probably heard the phrase in business and marketing, “If you’re speaking to everyone, then you’re speaking to no one,” right? While this is true for your marketing messaging, this is also true for your marketing photos. The photos on your website should also either include your type of ideal client, or appeal to your type of ideal client in order for them to know that your product/service is for them. You wouldn’t see images of moms and children on a website for a product designed to help men choose the right work boots, just like you wouldn’t see images of a group of teenagers on a website for a product designed to help babies during their teething phase. Consider thinking about your targeted client, and not only who they are but what appeals to them that you could include in your website photography. The goal for this is for the person who lands on your website to know whether or not your product or service is for them – drawing them in to learn more or filtering out the people it’s not for.
Branded photo of woman checking in for her chiropractor appointment
Photos To Show Who You Are
You may have also heard the phrase, “People buy from people,” and in today’s age, this is very true. Many people don’t want to just buy products or services simply for a need (not always true of course), but more and more people are buying more consciously – more purpose-driven. People want to connect with brands and the people behind the business, resonate with what they stand for, and make a more conscious buying decision that supports that. This is especially true for solopreneurs and small businesses – your people want to connect with you. So whether you are the face of your brand, the owner and decision-maker, or the leader of your team, consider including photos of you on your website. This might look like an about section and page with your headshot, an “Our Team” section with headshots of you and your team members, or branded and lifestyle photos of you doing what you offer – speaking, teaching, providing your service, etc. The goal for this is for the person who lands on your website to get to know you, connect with you, and start to build a relationship with potential customers through photos of the real people behind the business – this is where that “know, like, and trust” factor plays in.
Branded photo of consultant showing her personality and brand value of having fun
Photos To Show What Your Brand Is All About
Throughout your entire website, each of the website photos selected should look and feel cohesive to your overall brand. This becomes a very important job for the branding photographer that you choose to work with (and believe me, not all branding photographers know what branding really is and how to capture it in photos – because it’s way more than just a pretty picture). From your branding photos and lifestyle images, to product photography and headshots, each photo should “look the part” of your brand. You might also consider some textured images or images of elements that also tie into your brand. For example, a surfboard rental business may also include images of palm trees, sand for texture, and waves. Or a daycare business might also include images of smiling children, toys, and playmats for texture. The goal for this is for the person who lands on your website to feel that all of your website photos cohesively tie the look and feel of your website and visually see what your brand represents.
Branded photo of fitness studio exhibiting teamwork and encouragement brand values in the workout room
For more information and examples of all of the above types of photos, check out my branding photography portfolio and information here.
Technical Aspects for Effective Website Photography
Not only do you need a variety of the types of photos for your website, but there are also technical aspects that are important for making your website effective and high-performing. Here are some things to consider to ensure your photos for website are both stunning and functional:
High Quality Images
Have you ever landed on a website that had blurry photos, pixelated images, or a mix of high quality stock photos in tandem with poorly-lit selfies? Most people won’t stick around long on your website when that’s the case. High-quality, high-resolution images are essential to promoting your brand’s professionalism and appealing to potential customers. Technical aspects should include a resolution of at least 72 DPI (dots per inch) for website display.
JPEG or PNG File Formats
Typically, all of your images for your website should be one of these file formats – JPEG or PNG. JPEG is ideal for website photos with many colors. You will probably use PNG files for photos or graphics that include transparency.
Image Compression
To help improve the overall functionality and ranking of your website, you’ll want to optimize your photos for the web by compressing them without sacrificing the quality. Use a tool like TinyPNG to reduce your image file size. This will help your website load faster and improve user experience.
Image Orientation
Based on the layout and design you choose for your website, you will need to keep the orientation of your website photography in mind to shoot for the photos you need. Some websites will need long, skinny, horizontal banners at the top of each page. Other websites may use a lot of circular or specific shapes for their photos. As you are planning out your website photography and shot list, consider if the image orientation should be landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) to best fit your website and design.
Optimizing Images for SEO
When it comes to improving your website accessibility, functionally, and optimizing your images for SEO ranking, it’s important to consider the metadata and alt text for your images, as well as image compression as discussed above. Based on the SEO keywords you want to rank for, you’ll want to think about renaming your images before uploading them to your website, including relevant image descriptions for each image in the Alt text, and updating your webpage SEO description and site metadata with your keywords as well.
Are smartphone photos good enough for my website?
Not generally. Especially when promoting a business and brand, you want your website and marketing materials to exude professionalism, as well as look and feel cohesive with your other photos and imagery across your website. It’s challenging to get high-quality, well-lit, branded, cohesive images from a smartphone. However, these types of photos are actually great for posting on social media to show working behind-the-scenes, out in your community, working with customers, etc.
How many photos should I include on each page of my website?
This depends on your business, website design and layout, and purpose for each page of your website. However, I would say 3-5 photos per page is a great start. Think of your images as a communication tools as well as the writing on your website. If your website is too wordy, people won’t read it – especially this day and age. Use images to convey some of this message, help headlines stand out, or use graphics to illustrate a process or steps in tandem with the message on your page.
Copyright and Website Photography
Let’s talk about copyright for your website photography. It’s easy to think that you can use any image on your website, but that’s simply not the case. Copyright infringement is a legal offense and could result in fines. Here are some things to consider when it comes to your website photography, images, and copyright terms.
Branded photo of coach or therapist working with a client
Stock Photos Website
There are many websites that offer free stock photos or paid (licensed) stock photos that you can download and use, however, the use license can be tricky. As we discussed earlier in this article, stock photos will never be able to fully represent your brand and help you/your business stand out. However, if you need to find and use stock photography, make sure you pay attention to the use license you are paying for. Many websites will offer a personal-use license and a commercial-use license, but both may include stipulations depending on the site. As a business, you would need to use the photos for commercial or marketing purposes, which often require a more expensive use license. Usually, I recommend investing that money in your own branding photography shoot instead.
Branding Photos
If you decide to go the route to hire a photographer and design your own branding photography session, something you need to be aware of is how the photographer will need to be credited or if there are copyright or licensing terms included in your contract. When you hire a photographer, in order to book a session, they will send you their contract to review and sign – this is where you should pay attention to this information and ask questions as needed. As a branding photographer, I have had some companies who didn’t want me to use their branded photos on my website, and I’ve had others who’ve needed specific use licensing for how they wanted to use the photos in their marketing. It’s a good idea to get clear on what you need the photos for, how you want to use them, and if there are any other requirements for use you will need. Then, when you are hiring a photographer, ask these questions first.
Many times, the photographer may want you to cite or credit their images with their information. This may look like including the photographer’s name or website link when using on your website, or tagging the photographer’s social profile when posting on social media. Make sure you understand your photographer’s requirements, ideally before booking your branding photography session.
Can I Use Google Images On My Website?
In general, I would never advise you hop on Google, search photos you’re looking for, and save them to your computer to use on your own site. This will get you into trouble. Because Google searches the internet and pulls images based on your search terms from other websites, the images that come up are not yours, and more than likely not free to use.
Can I Use Canva Stock Photos On My Website?
Canva has become a great tool for creators, small businesses, and even large companies and includes their own stock photos for use in your designs. Should you use Canva’s stock photos on your website? Canva does allow you to use the free stock photos or Canva Pro stock photos for personal and commercial use – so technically yes. Keep in mind that many other people and businesses will be using these free stock photos too, so using them are not going to help your website or marketing materials stand out.
Can I Use Social Media Photos On My Website?
Just because photos are posted on social media for everyone to see, doesn’t mean that these photos are free for you to use, especially commercially for your website. Most social media platforms do allow you to retain the copyright of your own photos, however their terms of service could also include that by accepting and using the platform, you grant them a use license as well. Regardless, you cannot use someone else’s photos, especially for your website. However, something you might consider when it comes to social media is how customers are using and posting about your product/service. If you see a customer posting about your product and you would like to use the image or the post as social proof, a testimonial, or an image on your website, you might consider reaching out to them to get their permission to use it.
How to Book a Branding Photography Session
If you want to learn more about Branding Photography, check out my The Ultimate Branding Photography Guide.
This guide will teach you the value branded photos can create for your business and brand, how to find and hire a great branding photographer, the biggest mistakes to avoid, tips for a successful branding shoot, how to prepare for your session, and more!
Branded photo infusing a coach’s fun and vibrant personality reading a book she uses with her clients
“I flew to Denver to collaborate with my business development consultant when I was preparing to start my own company. We needed a photographer who could support me with the visual branding components, but I was under a time crunch since I had limited time in Denver. When we reached out to Danielle, she asked us a LOT of questions to understand my business and what kinds of images could help support my brand. After interviewing several other photographers, we went with Danielle because the types of intake questions she asked told us that she knew exactly what we were looking for and how she could deliver.
The photoshoot day went incredibly well. Danielle had everything we needed to make it a fantastic experience. She was knowledgeable, personable, creative, and genuinely fun to work with. I felt like I was in good hands. When I got the gallery of images back, holy WOW! I had SO MANY great shots to work with! My website is going to look FANTASTIC! I would not be so confident about launching my new brand if it wasn’t for Danielle’s incredible photos. I HIGHLY recommend Underexposed Photography!”
Create Your Website Photography Shot List
Before your branding photography session, I recommend creating a shot list to identify which photos you will need to capture during your session so you can get the most out of your time and investment. You might also work with your photographer, website designer, marketing agency, business coach, etc. to put this together.
To help you do this, download my Free Branding Photography Checklist here to help you understand the types of photos you need to effectively market your business, why they matter, and how they help increase your revenue!
Closing Notes
Investing in high-quality website photography is crucial for creating a compelling, branded website that speaks to your target customer. Whether you end up choosing stock photos or branded photos, it’s important they align with your brand identity and effectively communicate your message to potential clients, as well as look and feel cohesive throughout your website. Remember, your website's visuals and images are often the first thing potential clients see – make sure they set a lasting first impression. By focusing on authentic, high-quality images that resonate with your audience, you'll create a website that not only looks great but also drives engagement and conversions, which is exactly what you want!
Ready to Book Your Website Photography Session?
If you’re ready to book a website photography session, let’s chat!
I have had the honor to travel to and had clients fly to work with me from Las Vegas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Iowa, Florida, Canada, Finland, and more! Whether you’re near Denver, Colorado, traveling in, or interested in flying me in, I’d love to chat with you!
The best way to do a shoot — make a Mini Business Retreat out of it! My out-of-state/country clients will take a weekend or few days to fly into Denver, have their photoshoot, and spend an extra day workshopping their business making the trip into a business retreat! (Plus, it’s a write off!)
I have a professional Hair & Makeup Artist and location recommendations to design your Website Photography Session. In addition, before your session, I send you a questionnaire to design your session and we book a Zoom consultation call to discuss wardrobe and prop options, details for your shoot, and answer any questions you have.
“I worked with Danielle for the third time and, as always, she killed it. I continue to use her services for business headshots and branding photography because she’s easy to work with, communicative, well priced and her work is out of this world. I will continue to utilize her services as long as she is still photographing. Thank you, Danielle!”
Underexposed® is proud to be an LGBTQ Ally and Foster Friendly Business, so all identities, cultures, abilities & genders are welcome and supported.
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Not only can I help you with branding and website photography, but I can also design you a custom Squarespace Website for your business. As a fellow entrepreneur, I understand the frustration of DIY website attempts and disappointing designer experiences. That's why I offer a personalized, stress-free website design service that goes beyond just creating a pretty website. I’m your one-stop-shop to help you design your logo and branding, design your website, take your branding photos, and more! I can even recommend and integrate additional features and systems into your website and help coach you through starting and growing your business to the next level.
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