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Picking images that actually work
Generic stock photography is worse than no image. Your own mediocre photograph of real work beats a perfect photograph of strangers.
Key points
- An image must add information, not fill space.
- Real photographs of real work outperform stock in every measured comparison.
- Three hours with a photographer once a year solves the problem permanently.
The default image in business advertising is a smiling group around a laptop. Everyone has seen it, nobody believes it, and it appears on four competitors' websites simultaneously.
What an image is for
An image should do one of three jobs: show what the customer gets, provide proof that the work is real, or orient the reader in a long text.
An image doing none of those is filling space, and filling space costs load time, attention and credibility.
A picture of your actual van outside an actual house is worth more than any stock photograph, because it can only be yours.
The case for your own photography
Real photographs win consistently, and the reasons are practical rather than aesthetic.
They show your actual work, which is your actual proof. They show your actual people, which is what local customers respond to. They cannot appear on a competitor's site. And they date honestly, which reads as continuity rather than staging.
The quality gap matters less than expected. A decent phone photograph of a finished bathroom, taken with the lights on and the clutter removed, outperforms a professional stock image of a different bathroom.
The annual photography day
The most efficient solution is one booked half-day a year.
| Shot list | Count | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Team, individually and together | 10 to 15 | website, letters, press |
| Work in progress | 20 to 30 | articles, social, brochures |
| Finished results | 15 to 25 | portfolio, advertising |
| Premises, vehicles, equipment | 10 | about page, local advertising |
| Detail shots, hands, tools, materials | 15 | backgrounds, social |
Roughly eighty usable images from one half-day covers a year of publishing.
Selection criteria
- Can you tell what it is in one second? Ambiguous images are decoration.
- Is there a person in it, and are they looking at the thing you sell? Gaze direction measurably steers the reader's attention.
- Is it recognisably here? Local cues in the background build trust in regional advertising.
- Does it survive cropping? The same image will need a wide banner and a square thumbnail.
Technical hygiene
Images are the most common cause of slow pages. Three rules cover most of it: maximum 1920 pixels wide, modern format at reasonable compression, and a descriptive file name rather than a camera reference.
Add a genuine alternative text describing what is shown, both for readers using assistive technology and because search engines read it.
What to avoid entirely
Handshakes over desks. Headsets. Arrows pointing upward. Puzzle pieces. Anything with a lens flare. Groups of strangers laughing at a screen. Each of them signals that no real photograph was available.
Frequently asked questions
When is stock acceptable?
For abstract concepts where no real photograph exists, and for backgrounds. Never for people who are meant to be your team or your customers.
What does own photography cost?
A half-day with a regional photographer typically runs £400 to £900 and produces material for a year.
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