How to choose photos for your website

Photos decide how your website feels before anyone reads a word. The good news: a recent phone and a little planning are enough for most small businesses.

Real beats perfect

Photos of your real place, team and work build trust. Stock photos of smiling strangers do the opposite; visitors have seen them before. Use stock only for backgrounds or ideas that are hard to photograph.

A simple shot list

• Your entrance or storefront, so people recognise it when they arrive
• The space inside, from a corner, in daylight
• You and your team at work, not posing
• Your products or results, close up
• Details that show your style: materials, tools, a signature dish

How to take them with a phone

• Use daylight from a window; turn off mixed lighting
• Clean the lens and the space
• Hold the phone straight and shoot at eye level
• Take horizontal and vertical versions of the important shots
• Take more than you need, then pick the best ten

Respect people’s rights

Ask before you publish photos of customers or staff, and only use photos you have the right to use. Images found online usually belong to someone.

Keep them light

Large image files slow your site down. Good website tools resize and compress images automatically; on altoda this happens when you upload them.