The Perfect Images For Your Website
So you’re all ready with your brand-new business, you’ve got a cute logo designed, a colour pallet picked out and now your web designer is asking for photos for your website! Wait..photos? You didn’t think of that yet! Don’t worry you don’t have to go spend all the dollars on a pro photographer for ALL them, you can use some great FREE stock photos as well.
When picking using free images, make sure you keep the look consistent! Picking a colour scheme or filter vibe and sticking to it will make your website or socials look a lot more cohesive and professional. It can take a little bit of extra time to do this but the payoff is totally worth it. Think about your ideal client/audience as well! If you’re ideal client is a chilled out, linen wearing vegan woman in her 30’s, don’t pick images that are bright, bold, pink and busy! Anyway..here are a few options
Use Free Stock Photos
Guys, there are SO many free stock image websites floating around these days, and some of them have REALLY nice images on them! I myself have used loads of images from Unsplash to create my templates. I had a specific VIBE in mind and was able to click on one image that would take me down a rabbit hole of similar images! You can create collections and keep them for later as well. Some other great free sites are Pexels, Pixabay, Styled Stock, Stocksnap & Burst.
DIY!
We’ve all got phones OR a camera right? Why not take a few yourself? I take a lot of my mock-up images myself, because I was sick of seeing the same mock-up images on every graphic designers site and wanted mine to feel more ME. I just find a nice bright spot in the house, and make a little scene and go for it!
I like to get inspo from Pinterest or Instagram first before creating the scene, and then can add some nice little touches to get the look I’m going for.
If you need some headshot or portrait images, you can always ask your housemate, family member or partner to help you out for a sec. I’ve totally done this like..Ummm can you take a pic of me drawing on my Ipad please?? OR if you get embarrassed taking pics like I do, get a little tripod and set up your camera timer!
Once you’ve taken your lovely photos, you want them to look a bit special. I edit mine in Lightroom on my computer, but you can also use the app on your phone it’s so much fun! There are about a million people selling Lightroom Presets too, I bet you’ve seen them on some influencers accounts, and they’re actually so good to use! You’ll get the same feel to ALL of your images by using the same filter and this creates a nice, unified feel to your website or socials, and ultimately your brand.
Hire Someone!
If you’ve got the budget DO IT! Having beautiful, professional images that are unique to you and your brand is a huge asset. It will make you look SO legit and professional and the photographer knows what they’re doing so you don’t have to F@#k around trying to get that good angle. You can book your photographer for even just an hour and imagine how many images you can get in that time that you can stock pile and scatter throughout your Instagram? When I worked with a local freelance photographer last year for my business, I made up a little mood board, so I could show him the look and vibe I wanted to go for, and it really wasn’t as awkward and scary as I thought haha!
I know right now with the current isolation rules ect, this might be a little difficult BUT I do know there are some photographers still working, just being 2 metres away from the client OR why not book your photographer now for when this is all over?? You could get a “Gift Voucher” with them if they offer one and use it in the future. I KNOW they would appreciate that! I’m already planning on getting a bunch of new brand pics for my website and socials and cant wait! I LOVE having fresh images!
Well, those are all my tips and tricks for finding good images for your website and socials. I honestly believe it’s one of THE most important things when it comes to having a beautiful, engaging website.
Lucy xx