You know the photos. The handshake over a desk. The smiling team in a bright office that definitely isn’t yours. The headset-wearing customer service rep. Everyone has seen them a thousand times, and that’s exactly the problem.
Why stock photos hurt
When someone is deciding whether to get in touch, they’re really asking two questions: can you do the job, and will you be nice to deal with? A stock photo answers neither. It tells them you didn’t have a real photo to use, and it makes your business look like everyone else’s.
Real photos do the opposite. They show your face, your place and your work. People feel like they’ve met you before they’ve picked up the phone.
The photos that matter most
I spent sixteen years as a photographer before I built websites, and these are the shots I’d prioritise for almost any service business:
- You. A relaxed portrait that looks like you on a good day, not a passport photo.
- Your space. Your premises, treatment room, workshop or van, so people know what to expect.
- Work in action. You doing what you do best. This sells better than any finished-product shot.
- Your team, if you have one, so people know who they’ll be dealing with.
- What you make or sell, looking as good as it does in real life.
Doing it yourself on a phone
A modern phone can take perfectly usable photos for a website. A few tips:
- Shoot near a window in daylight and turn the overhead lights off
- Wipe the lens first. Really. It’s usually covered in fingerprints
- Hold the phone at eye level and keep it straight
- Take landscape and portrait versions, because websites use both
- Tidy the background, then tidy it again
- Take far more than you need and keep the best few
When it’s worth getting a pro
If photos are doing a lot of the selling, like a clinic, a restaurant, a venue or anything visual, it’s worth it. Same if you’re about to spend money on a new website or ads, because both work much harder with good pictures behind them.
I shoot portraits, spaces, products and short video for local businesses across the New Forest and Hampshire. If I’m building your website as well, I can shoot it as part of the same project, so the pictures and the words are planned together. That’s how The Wellbeing Barn, Jack Kempton Golf, Amalfi and Solent Reflection Therapy were made. See recent shoots.
