Images on websites can carry subtle messages, and can be used to help push the key messages to viewers. I recently received some images for inclusion in a site that were taken by an enthusiastic supporter of a charity. While there were quite a few images, the ones I felt I could use were only a very small proportion.
The main reason is that a poorly formed image can actually send the wrong message to visitors on your site. Unless the image is impactful and /or appropriate, I will generally not use it.
I have listed some tips and common pitfalls where your volunteers take images for you, or you try to use them on your website.
Focus
A blurred image, particularly that part of the image that should be very sharp will not look very professional on a website. Blurred images often occur because of camera shake rather than focusing on the wrong thing. Indoor images can suffer in this way because the shutter speed is very slow (less than 1/50th of a second). You can get around this by using a flash or by using a higher ISO setting. Panasonic compact cameras offer a feature called intelligent ISO that looks after this for you.
Composition
As in my example, the composition sends a message. Is this person 65? (No!) more subtle examples where telephone poles come out of the back of people’s heads are another example to be avoided. When you look through the view finder/ LCD, take a moment to look beyond the object you are taking a photo of. Is there anything there that is distracting (the red car). In my case I also deliberately left the camera bag in the image. That too was an error.
Also related to composition is whether you have conducted any visual surgery on the person or object, hands cut off, feet cut off, top of the head missing. These things may be ok in the final image, but for raw input into publications and the web, make sure everything is in the image that needs to be in the image.
Implied relationship with any key messages or Appropriateness
Make sure the image is appropriate to the content. It is not necessary in all cases, however if you are trying to get a particular message across use images to support it. This can be difficult in some areas, on one site I used a stock image of a child curled up in a ball sitting by a fence. Clearly upset about something. The initial reaction from the client was to remove it, it was distressing. I agreed that it was distressing (from a parental point of view), but the emotions were to reach out and help the child, find out what was wrong. These emotions were tied to the content too, helping young children in difficult circumstances. Don’t be afraid to tend towards the unsubtle to provoke the right sort of reaction (in this case to help).
In other cases images are added just to make pages look more interesting. But do look at the whole picture.
Leave the developer space to work
I always encourage client photos to be taken with space around them rather than taken in close. This allows the developer to crop the image according to what the core focus needs to be.
Full size images
Don’t be tempted to shrink the images down, just send them to me straight off of the camera. I use a lot of high end image manipulation software that allows me to change practically anything. I have the most scope to get what I want out of an image if I have the whole thing, full size straight off of the camera.
We all know that full size images are inappropriate for websites because they waste download bandwidth, bloat the site, and make it slower. The last step I take is to shrink the image down to something appropriate for the site.
Landscape rather than portrait
I see a lot of images that are in portrait (narrow and tall), however for most people the viewing screen is wide and not very tall. Always take your images in landscape layout, they will be easier to fit on a website. Even to the extent that there is redundant information in the image. The developer can remove it. Square or landscape images are best for websites.
Equipment
You do not need a Canon EOS 5D Mk3 (circa £2000 just for the camera body) to take a good photo. Smart phones have good cameras in them. Just take care taking the images by examining what you are photographing before you take it.
It is also worth familiarising yourself with the camera and what it can do.
Sending them
One of the biggest problems is sending image files over the internet. It is quite easy to do using the services of WeTransfer.com it is free to use. Go to their website, use their web application to collect up to 2.5GB (A lot!) of images and send an email to someone.
When the recipient receives the email, it contains a link to the We Transfer website where you can pick up the images and download them. Very easy to do, costs nothing, and you can use it for anything.