Winning web site photo techniques
Making photos look great and download quickly

Using photographs on a web site is a powerful way to convey information and evoke feelings. You can include photos of your products and friendly staff to help potential customers feel more comfortable about doing business with you. You can help visitors feel emotions that complement your business by including illustrative photographs, such as smiling faces, pleasant landscapes, or dramatic images.

Unfortunately, many web sites drop the ball—the photos take a long time to download, they're blurry or jagged, or convey emotions that conflict with the business image. In short, they make the business look unprofessional.

By spending a few minutes to consider how the photographs on your web site are working, you can ensure your web site visitors see your site—and your business—in the best possible light.

Tips:

• Start with great originals.
  Use only the best photos, technically and aesthetically. Make sure the images are sharp, properly exposed, and composed well. The subject should prominently fill the frame. Use additional photos to show details, if needed. Great photos can help your potential customers answer their questions about your product.
   
  Also make sure the photos convey the feelings you want. If the photos include people, how to they look--happy, energetic, relaxed, disinterested, confused, bored? How do illustrative photos look--fun, peaceful, light, dark, moody? Make sure the photos evoke the emotions you want your web site visitors to feel.
   
• Balance file size with image quality.
  Fast web sites are good web sites. I haven't met anyone who likes waiting for slow web pages to display. On one hand, you want your photos to download as quickly as possible (smallest size). On the other, you want them to look outstanding (best quality). You can't have both. They key is to balance the two—keep the file size small enough so the photo downloads quickly, but large enough so it contains enough resolution to appear sharp and clear.
   
• Avoid resizing photos on web pages.
  When creating web pages, a number of problems can be caused by specifying any dimension for a photo that is different from its original size.
   
  • If you resize a photo smaller...
    Resizing a photo smaller can slow down your web site performance. A resized photo is the same file size as the original. For example, if the original photo is 100K, the entire 100K must be downloaded before the photo appears on the web page, even if it's been resized to 25% of the original dimensions.
     
    The solution is to save and use a separate, small version of the original photo. It will display much faster. You can easily add a link to the full size (original) image so your web site visitors can see the larger version.
     
  • If you resize a photo larger...
    Resizing a photo larger can result in a blurry, jagged look. The problem can appear subtle or severe, ranging from objects having rough or jagged edges to the entire photo looking blurry and out of focus.
     
    The solution is to save and use a separate version of the original image with the actual dimensions that will be used on the web page.

Following these simple tips can help ensure the photos on your web site convey the professional image you want.

Need help making your site's photos look their very best? Consider our photo optimization services.