It is vitally vital when you are building a web site that you get the choice of photographs correct. But, for something that sounds so easy, I am regularly startled and how difficult the job is made to be by several people. Follow these straightforward ideas to keep it simple!
There are many problems and pitfalls that you can fall for when choosing the photographs for your website. Yet, there are only several things to think round, which loads of people merely cannot see.
The first is the shape of the photograph. It sounds easy, but lots of people just do not get it. Look at the position available on the site, or the space holder that is already there and this shows you what to look for.
If you are looking for a photograph to fill a banner at the top of the page, then the shape is going to be that of a letterbox, whereas if it is running down the side of the page, you need a postbox shape. Most photographs before they are cut are either wider than they are tall (landscape) or taller than they are wide (portrait).
Yet plenty of times I have been given a portrait shape photograph and told that I should insert it into the top banner of the website! Yes, a landscape photograph might be suitable for being cropped to letterbox, but maybe not a portrait shaped photograph.
And when I explain the problem the usual reply is along the lines that I am a web site designer, might’t I sort the picture - after all, I am a professional. Sadly, insults do not get the photos sorted.
The second problem is always the size of the photograph to be used. Only today I was passed a handful of photographs that were, on the screen, no more than an inch across. Yet the space they were intended to fill was round three times the size of the photograph. Yes, I can expand them to this size and the usual insults are passed that I am professional and should be able to handle them, but if the basic quality is not there in the photograph then I cannot handle it.
Lastly is the actual quality of the composition of the photographs in question. Not a lot of customers might take high quality photographs, perfectly framed and with the lighting spot on. I do have several customers who regularly supply photographs of this quality, but lots of cannot. It is a skill that takes years to learn and loads of expensive camera equipment to realize.
It is far better to go to a stock photograph website and look through their collections if you are just after generic photographs. The quality of the images available in the best collections is superb, yet the photographs each cost next to nothing. The small price of buying a suitably sized and shaped image from a professional supplier is well worth it for the lift that it gives to the website or individual webpage.
Watch the shape of your photographs, watch the size and be certain that the quality of the composition is nothing short of perfect and you are a step closer to a better web site!
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