How To Take Better Photos for Your Website (or anything Really)
Photography is like gardening. Knowing a few basic things can get you 80% of the way there…but most people who know something about the topic can’t stop at the few basic things….so you end up overwhelmed.
I’ve taken a couple photography courses and taken notes from a few photographers online. I still have no idea what I’m doing. But here are my notes from the Internet that I’m using to try to get better.
Lighting
- Golden Hour (the hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset) is the best time of day to take pictures outdoors.
- Front light is the worst kind of light. This is where your main subject is lit from the front. Avoid this if at all possible.
- Backlight is the best kind of light for website photography. This is where your main subject is lit from behind.
- Cloudy weather is great unless shooting pictures of people.
- Side light / window light adds drama to photos and can be used occasionally for website photos.
- Silhouette is similar to Backlight, it just changes based on how you expose the image. Rarely used on websites.
- Making flash photography look good is difficult and not recommended for beginners.
- If you are taking a picture of an object, just use Portrait mode on your phone.
Composition
- Rule of Thirds: break an image down into thirds horizontally and thirds vertically. Place your subject(s) where the lines meet is visually appealing.
- Centering: put the main subject of the photo in the center either horizontally, vertically, or both horizontally and vertically.
- The more you can harness “Rule of Thirds”, the better your website photos will be.
- Incorporate “leading lines” that point the viewer back to the main subject of the photo.
- Symmetry is an added composition element that is very balancing and pleasing to the viewer
- Control your background so that it isn’t distracting from the main subject of the photo. Blurry backgrounds work best for website photos.
Most of these are from the founder of Bauman Photographers. Others are from Reddit threads and YouTube videos. The infographic seems to have originated from Postalgia, but I can’t confirm.
