Photography is the most common reason a website launch slips by a month. The copy always gets written in the end, but nobody has the photographs, nobody wants to deal with them, and eventually something from a stock library gets dropped in so the thing can go live.
This article is about when a shoot is worth it, when a phone will do, and what to ask a photographer for so the pictures fit the site. Photographs are not decoration. On most sites they are the only proof that the work you write about exists.
Short answer
- Your own phone photo is almost always better than a perfect stock image. Readers recognise stock.
- A shoot pays off when the sale rests on the pictures: production, premises, product, people.
- Stock is fine for backgrounds and abstract motifs. It is not fine for people who are supposed to be yours.
- Photographs should be shot to the layout of the site, not delivered afterwards and cropped. Room for text has to be planned in advance.
- The expensive mistake is not a bad photo. It is a shoot from which three frames get used because the rest fits no section.
Three options and when each applies
The question is not which is best but which is best for that part of the site. Most companies use all three and that is fine.
| Where | What to use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| People from the company, portraits | Always your own | Stock does the most damage here. Someone else's face passed off as yours is a credibility problem |
| Production, plant, workshop | Your own shoot | Nobody else has those pictures and at a manufacturer it is the strongest content there is |
| Finished work, completed jobs | Your own, phone is fine | What matters is that it is yours. Quality comes second |
| Products in a catalogue | Your own shoot, consistently | Inconsistently shot products look like a junk shop even when they are new |
| Section backgrounds, abstract motifs | Stock is fine | Nobody is looking for your company there; it is about colour and mood |
| Article illustrations | Stock or your own archive | A sensible compromise. Put the time into photos of the work instead |
What to ask a photographer for
This list is worth sending to a photographer you find yourself. It saves one round of misunderstanding.
- A list of the sections being shot, with the shape each needs. Landscape, portrait, square, and where the text will sit.
- Empty space in the composition. A photograph a headline will run across needs a calm area. Without being asked, a photographer will not do it, because on its own it is the weaker frame.
- Margin for cropping. The web has many screen sizes, so every photo gets cropped somewhere. Shoot to the edge and you get cut off heads on mobile.
- Full size source files and a licence with no time limit, covering social media and print. Settle this in advance, not once you like the pictures.
- Consistent colour. Photos from one shoot should hold together, and anything added later has to match the same mood or the site falls apart.
Shooting it yourself: five things that decide it
A phone is enough for most of what a company website needs. The difference between a usable and an unusable phone photo is not the device.
- Window light, not flash. Stand so the light falls on the subject rather than behind it. A phone flash makes hard shadows and drags the clutter behind into view.
- Tidy the frame. The most common reason a shop floor photo is unusable is not quality but the mess in the background. Two minutes of tidying does more than a better phone.
- Hold it level and shoot at eye height. A tilted horizon is noticed even by people who know nothing about photography; they just cannot say what bothers them.
- Take more, and differently. Ten variants of one shot cost a minute and one of them will fit the layout. A single frame never does.
- No filters. A phone filter dates within a year and cannot be reconciled with the rest of the site. Leave the treatment to whoever builds the site.
An engineering company's site with a stock photo: a smiling pair in clean overalls beside a machine the company does not own. A buyer spots it in a second and deducts it from the credibility of the whole site.
Ten photographs from the company's own hall showing the real floor and the people who work there. They are not perfect and that is exactly why they work: they show the place exists and what it looks like.
Photographs and site speed
A photograph is by far the largest file on an ordinary page, so it decides how fast the site loads. This part is the supplier's job, but it is worth checking after them.
- One photo, several sizes. A phone should not download a frame meant for a large monitor. If the site sends an image wider than two thousand points to a phone, something is wrong.
- Modern formats. The same photo in a newer format is usually tens of percent smaller at the same quality.
- Dimensions in the code. Without them the page jumps around while loading, which is one of the things search engines measure.
- The photo above the fold should load first. And conversely, photos further down should load only as somebody scrolls to them.
The honest part: when you do not need a shoot
- When there is nothing to photograph. Consultancy, accounting, software services. There a shoot ends in staged office pictures that tell nobody anything. A portrait is the only thing worth doing.
- When you already have an archive. Plenty of companies hold hundreds of photos from trade fairs and jobs and never used them because nobody went through them. Going through an archive is cheaper than a shoot.
- When the premises are changing. Photographing a hall a month before you move out is wasted.
- When you have no page designs. Not that you do not need photography, only that it is too early. Designs first, shoot second.
And when it is worth it even if you would rather not: when you sell something a customer cannot touch. Manufacturing, premises, trades, food. There a photograph substitutes for a visit and it is the cheapest substitute there is.
How we handle it
- We shoot after the page designs. The brief then makes clear how many photographs are needed, in what shape and where the text will go. Without that you shoot blind and half the frames go unused.
- Photographs are not pictures in frames here. They blend into the section background and share one colour treatment, so varied frames hold together. You can see it on this site.
- Processing is part of delivery. Several sizes, modern formats, dimensions in the code, and priority loading for the one above the fold.
- If you have an archive, we go through it. It often turns out no shoot is needed, only that nobody ever looked at what the company already has.
And the honest other side: a shoot does not pay off for everybody. For a consultancy or a service with no physical operation the money is better spent on copy and measurement. We say so even though we sell photography.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need my own photos, or will stock do?
For the people in the company, for production, for premises and for finished work, always your own. Stock is fine for section backgrounds and abstract motifs where nobody is looking for your company. Someone else's face passed off as your employee is the worst option and readers spot it.
Are phone photos good enough?
For a trade or a smaller company usually yes, provided they are yours, shot in daylight, with a tidy background and the phone held level. Your own average photo reads better than a perfect stock image. For a product catalogue and for portraits a photographer is worth it.
Should the shoot happen before the website or after?
After the page designs. The designs make clear how many photographs are needed, what shape they should be and where text will run across them. Shooting before the designs is the most common reason five frames out of two hundred get used.
What should I watch for in a photographer's contract?
A licence with no time limit covering the website, social media and print, delivery of full size source files, and shooting to a list of sections including shapes and space for text. Agree it in advance, because after the shoot it is too late.
Do photographs slow a website down?
They can, and they are usually the largest single item on a page. The fix is one photo published in several sizes, a modern format, dimensions stated in the code, and photos below the fold loading only as you scroll. It is the supplier's job, but worth checking.
What does a shoot cost?
It depends on the scope and on whether it happens at your premises or in a studio. We quote it individually, because the difference between half a day in one hall and three days with a product catalogue is substantial. Before you commit, go through your archive: half the photos often already exist.
Summary
- Your own phone photo is almost always better than a perfect stock image.
- Stock belongs on backgrounds and abstract motifs, not on people who are supposed to be yours.
- Shoot after the page designs. Otherwise five frames out of two hundred get used.
- Ask the photographer for shapes per section, space for text, cropping margin and an unrestricted licence.
- Shooting it yourself: window light, tidy background, held level, several variants, no filters.
- Photographs decide site speed. Several sizes, modern format, dimensions in the code.
- For a service with no physical operation a shoot does not pay. That money belongs in copy and measurement.
Not sure whether you need a shoot
Send us a link to the site and tell us what photographs you have. We will go through it and say what can be used from the archive, what is worth shooting and what you can handle on a phone yourself. If the answer is that you need no shoot, we will say so.