The words, layout, colours and pages are important parts of the website design, and so are the photos you will use on the website. But, how do you get photos for a website? There are a few ways you can do it
Designing a website, or web design, can be done by a web designer or by yourself.
You might be part of an in house team, working for a company, to design or update a website. Or, if you work for yourself, you may be doing the whole we design thing yourself using one of the many platforms that are available like WordPress, Squarespace, Wix etc.
1. Use an online marketplace or ‘stock library’ to get photos for your website.
There are many websites and services (e.g Envato) with millions of photos you can use for your website. You will find photos of practically everything and they are usually searchable so you can find photos that illustrate what you do. I’ve worked with people who are clinicians and used stock photos (and video) to illustrate what that person does. You simply search for terms related to your business and you get to see lots of photos to choose from. Then, you can select and download the photos that you want to use. The photos are licensed in different ways, so make sure you are allowed to use them for your website commercially and check how long the license for the usage of the photo is for.
Benefits of using stock libraries – quick and east way to get photos which show what you do, relatively cheaply
Downsides of using stock libraries – sometimes the mages are bit generic, they could be used by other people so you might see the same photos on other websites.
2. Take your own photos or ask a friend / colleague
A decent option may be to take the photos yourself, either sing a camera you have or your phone. f you want some photos of the things you make or the things you sell, you can look up tutorials on how to take decent pictures yourself for your website. You could do the same if you need pictures of yourself, either do a selfie, use an older photos, or as a fired to take it.
Most of use know someone who is into photography, either a fiend or a colleague. You could ask them and they may jump at the chance of doing it instead of their normal working day, as a favour and for a small amount of money.
Benefits of doing your own photos – cheap or free and you have complete control of the photos, photos could turn out great.
Downsides of doing your own photos – quality may be variable, the photos may not turn out great and then you have a problem. Could waste time.
3. Use AI
Loads of online image generators exist. They can do everything form convert a random photo of you into a professional looking headshot to creating a very specific image of something that you promote.
Nano Banana, Chat GPT and many others exist and they are getting better all the time. Definitely worth exploring.
Benefits of using AI to create your website photos – can be done from your desk, should be relatively cheap and quick, can get photos of anything you want. Results can be very realistic and good. Works very well for fashion and product shots if the physical item doesn’t yet exist.
Downsides of using AI to create your website photos – the results can be a bit unpredictable and can sometime look a bit iffy. Need to watch for hallucinations (e.g. 8 fingers). Can actually be quite time consuming to tweak and get the right image for your website.
4. Use a photographer
You could use a photographer. This means you pay someone like me to do your photos for your website. You can brief them on what you want to be done and then they will arrange the photo session so you get the photos you want fr your website. Using a photographer means you get real photos of real things happening in your actual business which is useful if you want to be sure you are looking authentic and if there are specific things you want to show. Usually a photographer will create a range of photos for you website that you can use over time, and they can be of people, things happening, culture, and can also e indifferent shapes and sizes for different parts of your website.
Benefits of using a photography to get photos for your website – he or she will take photos of the actual people and things happening. They will be able to suggest things and help you get the best photos. Can be quite quick.
Downsides of using a photographer to get photos for your website – it’s probably the most expensive item listed her. you will need to arrange tie for the photographer to physically come to your office, or your goto their studio. You will need to coordinate so that staff are available if they need to be photographed.
