Photography: How to get the right photographer for my website design?
Have you ever seen your favorite stock image on someone else’s website? It happens. If you’re in the process of creating a website or have a website that you want to take to the next level, you very well might need to invest in custom photography.
Custom photography plays a significant role in the overall look and feel of your website. Not only do great photos bring aesthetic value, but they also add authenticity as you are the exclusive owner of custom imagery — apart from the millions who might choose the same stock photo.
Photography is expensive, as photographers know their value. But there are some strategic ideas you can consider when it comes to using a photographer vs. purchasing a stock image.
When you are the product: Lifestyle photographer
Consider a photographer with this self-description to capture something more than your run-of-the-mill headshot. A lifestyle photographer knows how to tell a story and uses poses and surroundings to give prospects an engaging idea of your personality.
If you are a lynchpin to your brand, and especially if you’re a service-based business where you will be the primary person offering services, a lifestyle photography session is highly recommended. You can get the “headshot,” as well as other shots of you in your environment, doing your work. These can be useful on your site, ad campaigning, and in social media.
To tell your product story: Lifestyle photographer
When you sell a product don’t forget to tell your brand and product story with imagery. Lifestyle photographers come in to play when you want to relate to your audience, reflecting back to them the lifestyle that your product enhances or creates.
Of course, if you’re selling a product online you’ll always need that white background shot. But photos that expand the vision of your product are great to enhance the quality of a website, but can be a great add to your social media library as well.
When you sell online: Product photographer
For perfect, studio lit imagery, look for a product photographer that has significant work in creating those super slick shots. Usually, they can also execute the straight-forward, white background shots needed for most e-commerce sites and is required on Amazon.
If you only need white background shots for an eCommerce store, check out mail-in product photography services. These are exactly how they sound — you mail your products to them, they photograph them, and for a fee, they’ll mail them back.
A mail-in service may be the most economical one for products that are easy to ship and at a reasonable dollar value. If you’re selling the next best Pelaton, or a pricy high-end jewelry line, hiring a local product photographer that you can be on set with s probably the better option.
When the product is food: Food Photographer
If you’re a restaurant, chef, bakery, or catering business, your food is your product and it should look its best. There are photographers who specialize in photographing and styling food.
Food stylists can range from the kind that have been known to put soap in coffee to get “freshly-poured” bubbles or take a lighter to chocolate to get that perfect ooey-gooey melt to the kind who will arrange natural food and props to get the most delicious effect.
Many food photographers are also food stylists, so be sure to ask if they’ll be doing the styling. If not, ask what food stylist they recommend. Styling is imperative so one way or the other, make sure one is on set!
When a home is the product: Residential Interiors/Exterior Photographers
If you’re an interior designer and have just finished a major project, whatever you do, don’t take the photos yourself. Hire a photographer that specializes or has a significant portfolio shooting interior spaces.
Lifestyle photographers often photograph interiors, but you can also search for an architectural photographer who specializes in shooting spaces both indoors and out.
When a building is the product: Commercial Interiors/Exterior Photographers
If you’re an architect or a commercial interior or exterior designer, your best bet is typically an architectural photographer. These photographers specialize in shooting large spaces
Capturing large spaces can involve multiple shots with different lighting setups and heavy photoshop retouching that composites all those shots into one. It’s an art, so make sure you find someone with a portfolio dedicated to this type of work.
Before you hire anyone
If you’re planning a redesign of your website, or are designing a new website, first work with your creative team to wireframe out the site. Wireframes are typically rough diagrams of each page with gray squares to represent images and “greeked” text to show copy length. If you understand where images will be placed, it will help you focus on getting the images you really need.
Not only will it help you create a shot list of images you’ll need for your website, but your creative team can also communicate with the photographer letting them know the types of compositions that will work well with the website design — for example, if they’ll need room in the image to place text.
Merrygood is experienced with working with all photographer types. We’ve created organized shot lists for our clients that saved thousands by making the shoot time shorter. We’re also able to communicate with the photographer to ensure we’re getting assets that will work on your website and contribute to the vision, instead of confusing it.
Give us a shout if you’re thinking about redesigning your website — we’ll be your guide for it and the assets you’ll create.