Photography information and advice is brought to you by Kenny & Sons.
Photography is one of the most important aspects of a website. It can also cause some of the biggest issues when it comes to designing a website. The Internet is a visual media, and visitors to your website judge with their eyes. Using strong, fit for purpose photography is just as important as good design and will greatly increase user experience on your site.
A word on stock photography.
There is no denying that stock photography has its place. There are an abundance of stock photography websites, such as Shutterstock and Alamy, with millions of photographs for you to choose from. But the fact is that the stock photography industry is still best suited to the market it was created for- newspapers and magazines.
It is generally best to avoid using stock images on your business’ website. One of the main reasons for this is that it’s pretty easy to spot stock images. This immediately reduces the authenticity of your website, and therefore your business, to visitors.
There is a lot of research showing the issue with trust when buying online, and this doesn’t just relate to eCommerce websites. If the stock photography on your site adds an element of doubt in a visitors mind, it may potentially lead them to look elsewhere. This leads us on nicely to our next point.
People buy from people.
While this isn’t completely true in today’s world- it’s still a relevant point. Particularly for small businesses. If you are a small, family run business, the photography on your site is a great opportunity to reinforce that and actually show visitors the people involved in the company. We recently shot a set of images for a Corby-based recycling company’s website and not a single photograph was taken without a member of the family behind the business in it.
Fit for purpose.
Many designers will tell you to ‘just buy stock’ images for your website. We can’t stress enough how much of a bad idea this is. You need photography that has been taken by a professional photographer, and that photographer should have been briefed by the client (you) and the designer. Designers are actually making their life a lot more difficult in recommending stock, as it makes fitting the images on to a web site a lot more difficult- if not impossible.
Control over the shoot.
One of the biggest benefits of shooting photography for the purpose of your website design is being able to direct the shoot- both creatively and technically. A good professional photographer will most likely have their own input into any shoot, but the input from the designer is critical to ensure that the images will work in their design. Likewise, client input on how they would like their product portrayed is extremely important as the chances are, they know their product better than anyone.
Match the tone of your copy and the tone of your images.
Another major benefit of shooting specifically for your website is that you will be able to make the photography compliment the words. This might sound strange, but if the tone of the words on your site is relaxed and happy, the photography should be too. Likewise, if your site is very professional and corporate- the images should reinforce this.
Work with a professional.
Choose your photographer carefully- anyone can call themselves a ‘professional’ photographer these days (the same goes for web designers!). A professional photographer is not just someone with an expensive camera- they should ask questions about your business and the goals of the website
Conclusion.
A website will be let down by its weakest link. Good photography can really boost a websites overall success, and it can also hinder it.
Thrapston-based Kenny & Sons are one of very few web design agencies that offer a photography service in house. Our photographer has over fifteen years’ experience and has worked all over the world shooting projects for brands such as Mercedes Benz, Barclays, Emirates and Ford to name a few.
Contact Kenny & Sons
Tyler Way, Thrapston, Northamptonshire, NN14 4UE
01832 420 010
hello@kennyandsons.com
www.kennyandsons.com