4 Actionable Tips for Making Website Photos Better

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First impressions carry just as much weight in the digital world as they do in the physical one. The way your site visually captivates its visitors usually translates into bigger profit and success. And what could be more important for the good looks of your website if not the pictures you choose to decorate it?

If you want your pictures to work their hardest, as in creating an aesthetic, know some basic aspects of taking a good photo for social media, and be SEO gold, then be sure to read out tips for making your website photos infinitely better.

It’s Not a Phase, It’s a Signature!

Nowadays, it’s all about being different. No, we are not talking teenage rebellion, but a necessity to stand out to create a brand. That means choosing a concept. And. Sticking. To. It!

Don’t turn your website into a melting pot of odd pictures. Become a scrupulous matchmaker for the images you choose to create your own unique visual style. Whether it’s the color palette, the usage of filters, or the composition – don’t let a single image be different and stick out like a sore thumb. Your aesthetics should be consistent.

What if you have an eye candy of a website, but it still fails to work? Then consider your choice of images. Does it speak to your primary focus group? Are the images relevant to the content of the website? Connect and balance of these aspects, and you’ll have a site that not only looks good, but also works good.

Can You Pick the Right Pic (Format?)

TIFF, BMP, JPEG, PNG… Get constantly confused by those acronyms? Let us make it easier for you. Just ditch the first two and only stick to JPEG and PNG when working with images for your website. But keep this firmly in mind – those two are quite different. Let’s look at these formats separately.

  • JPEG is the perfect format for photographs. When compressed, this format still manages to keep all the colors of the image intact. And although the quality of the image might slightly be affected, JPEG allows a remarkably fast load time. So it’s probably a small price to pay when such a parameter is at stake.
  • PNG is mostly used for images with large flat color areas, texts, and infographics. The format effectively keeps decent quality of the image even when compressed. The only downside is the relatively big size of the image, but this is an inevitable sacrifice if those crisp lines and big chunks of color are a thing of importance.

If you need more information on the differences between the formats, as well as their major pros and cons, make sure to have a look at this JPEG vs PNG article.

Quality is the Priority

Have you ever bought an expensive piece of clothing with disgustingly cheap buttons? Even if you haven’t, you still get the idea – never underestimate the importance of quality in every detail.

Free image stocks are a true blessing for any web designer, but even they sometimes fall short on quality. And what if you have to take photos of your own, while substantially lacking the funds to hire professionals?

Luckily, you don’t have to be a pro to end up with decently looking pictures for your website. Almost any flaw of a picture can be remedied in post-production. Let’s look at the most common maladies and the ways to fix them.

  • Composition. Not all people know its rules, but still inevitably feel that something is wrong with the picture. Remedy that using either the rule of thirds or the golden ratio principle. Just crop your photos accordingly and see as they instantly improve.
  • Sharpness. Well, blurred images are only good when it is an intentional artistic effect. Otherwise it’s an eyesore that just begs to be fixed. If you experience anxiety just thinking about using Photoshop to sharpen your image, there is an infinitely easier way to do it. Learn how to unblur the picture with PhotoWorks, hassle-free yet really efficient photo editing software.
  • Over- or underexposure. Poor lighting killed the shot? Fix the exposure of your picture digitally to restore its natural look. Almost every modern photo editor is equipped with the exposure fixing feature, so this should be a breeze for you.

So, make the best of what you’ve got, even if sometimes it means a bit of photo editing. After all, when it comes to image quality, your hard work will be rewarded (by Google, no less.)

What’s in a Name? SEO-Boost!

Have you ever stopped and considered the names you give your images? 0001.jpeg? Pic5.png? Scrap that habit! Give your images names that would describe the content. Don’t hesitate to incorporate keywords into the file name – help Google see what’s on the picture!

Never skip on giving for pictures alt tags, too. Remember – whatever is written will be regarded by Google.

Captions is another thing that will come back to bite you if ignored. Just think of this – your website viewer is so much likely to read the caption to a picture than any passage of your text. So take all the time you need to come up with catchy and fairly descriptive captions. Trust us – it pays off handsomely.

There’s no doubt that the website images game is complicated, but also so compelling and rewarding. Never disregard carefully choosing, optimizing, and editing your pictures as something tedious or optional, but rather consider it a do-or-die type of thing. Sadly, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. But if you want to learn more, take a more in-depth look at the ways you can optimize images for website.