MitchellMcquiston229

Choosing Stock Photos For the Header - An internet Designer's View

If you're thinking of creating your own header for your Web site, you can really benefit from knowing how a Web designer thinks when selecting photos.

Stock photos are available from the number of Internet sites and services. The price and quality vary considerably, but for the majority of us, inexpensive stock photos are we'll ever need. Two typical stock photo sites are Dreamstime.com and BigStockPhoto.com, but there are many more.

By the way, not long ago i was browsing a well-known, glossy magazine and recognized a stock photo I'd seen yesterday on Dreamstime.com. So, it's not necessary to be concerned about the caliber of inexpensive stock photos; the big magazines use them!

Why don't we observe how I would approach finding suitable photos for my client's header...

First, I'll ask my client regarding their business: their typical audience, and their market's gender and age bracket. I'll also want to know about the mood or feeling my client wants for the Web site. Using the solutions to these questions I can choose photos with the appropriate colours and ambience.

A piece of black bread on a glass

For example, a spa will want tranquil colours, usually light blues and pale greens, and photos of blissed-out people (typically women) obtaining a massage or facial. They might use smooth stones, a leaf or perhaps a flower to convey a Zen atmosphere.

A children's daycare on the other hand, will need primary colours (red, yellow, blue) and photos of energetic, happy kids. They might use clipart balloons, crayons or foundations in the header or for the navigation.

Note: Clipart objects, people, backgrounds, buttons, badges, icons, cartoons and other images can also be found on stock photo sites.

Now I will visit two or three stock photo sites and select photos according to my client's criteria and my own requirements for that header. (The Web designer's requirements are just as essential as the client's requirements.)

To locate appropriate photos, I'll enter keywords in to the search box. This is almost an art by itself. For any spa site, I would begin with probably the most general term "spa," and end up getting phrases like "happy woman massage," "massage stones," "tranquility, "wellness," "candles," "spa products," etc.

When I'm choosing photos, I'm automatically running them through my internal filter:

1. Performs this photo possess the right colours? Or am i going to need to modify them in Photoshop?

While colours could be changed in Photoshop, I'll try to find photos using the right colours. However, if I discover the perfect photo, however the colours are wrong, I will definitely consider changing the colours in Photoshop.

If the colours for that Web site have not yet been determined, I might base the colours for the header (and also the site) around the photo. Designers often do this, especially if they're using only one photo within the header. Pulling the shades in the photo will more often than not guarantee that the Web site will look pulled together.

2. Would be the people in this photo facing the direction I want these to face in the header? People (and objects having a "front" like a car or perhaps a teapot) should face toward the center of the header or straight ahead. Note: Flipping on the photo can lead to a strange looking image because of the play of sunshine and shadow.

3. Can one crop this photo to focus it better on the subject? Many photos have more potential when they are cropped in tight to the subject, often even a portion of the subject: a ladies eyes, the stitching on the baseball, half a golf iron on the tee, the bow of the canoe, brightly coloured rain slickers hanging on hooks, a rustic mailbox. Look at art magazines or book covers for ideas.

4. Is this photo portrait or landscape style? Portrait style is tall, instead of wide. Landscape style is the opposite. Inside a shallow header, landscape-style photos will fit better. A portrait-style photo must be reduced considerably in dimensions to fit a shallow header and could not work on all. However it might work if cropped in close to the subject (see #3 above).

5. Can one make use of this photo because the entire header? To use a photo for the entire header, you will have to be able to have a slice from the image that tells a tale: a lone tree in a field, a mountain climber with arms upraised on a mountain vista, a jogger on the stretch of deserted beach.

6. Will I need to find several photos to tell the story? If I use multiple photos will they look great together? Will the photos blend well into a montage or will they look better like a row of individual photos? In either case, I'll be looking for photos that complement each other and also have fairly neutral colours (unless I'm likely to deliberately emphasize some element in the photos).

Finally, if I find a photo near to what I want, although not quite right, I'll do a few things. I'll locate the photographer's portfolio and check to ascertain if she or he has taken similar photos, maybe utilizing the same model or scene. Often this can open up a whole arena of photos that I may have overlooked.

I'll also employ the "similar photos" tool which brings up a batch of photos with similar keywords to the one chosen. Not the keywords I typed in to find the photo originally, but keywords the photographer gave when they uploaded the photograph towards the site. This could open up yet another realm of photos. Sometimes these paths lead nowhere, but they're always worth a try once the photo is near to, but not quite, right.

I still won't buy any photos at this time. I'll simply add the photos I've chosen to some lightbox and email it to my client to provide them an opportunity to comment on the photos and veto ones that don't fit their vision for the header. After my client has finished evaluating the photos, hopefully I'll have some great ones for the header.

I still won't buy any photos. Instead I'll use the "comp" versions of the photos to create the header. These versions are adequately sized to make use of within the header, however they possess a watermark on them. Basically plan to slice or crop the photo I'm able to still see what that will look like on the comp. If I intend to use the whole photo as the header, I'll use the comp to produce a miniature header, so I can see how it will look.

I'll buy the photos once I'm satisfied I have the very best photo or the right combination of photos for the header.

You've now learned a few of the thoughts a Web designer much like me experiences while choosing photos. Hopefully, you can use these ideas to choose good photos for your own header.