Did you notice that people prefer saying “Watch on the website” rather than “Read on the website”? We do love sites, and, usually, we are focused on examining them visually. No one will spend even a minute trying to learn more about the website without images. Only qualitative visual content can attract and hold users on your website. Only this way, people will appreciate the usefulness and convenience of your website.

To find qualitative images for your website, you don’t need to be a genius. Even more, you don’t have to buy extremely expensive photos. You only should know what and where to look for.

In this article, we will tell you how to choose beautiful, stylish, and free photos for illustrations, what resources to use to find them, how to achieve the stylistic unity of your photos for website, and what parts of the page should contain images.

What To Choose: Stock Photos, Illustrations, Or Photos From Professional Photographers?

This is the first thing you need to know, even though there is no specific answer to such a question. First, you need to ask yourself, “What images for my website are required?” and “What images can I use on my website?”. After that, you will come to several alternatives: stocks, illustrations, and professional photos.

Working with stock photos is fast, comfortable, and allows you to save money. However, if you need to show your goods and services, stock photos will not be suitable. Even more, if you don’t want to make your website stereotyped, you should look through hundreds of photos.

Illustrations require a long search of free photos for websites (there are fewer illustrations than regular photos on stock platforms). However, when you order photos from a digital artist, you will have to pay pretty much. If you spend your time and choose illustrations according to the style you need, your website will be unique and unforgettable.

Photographers will create unique content about you and your product. If you order professional filming, it is crucial that you have a complete understanding of the photographer. To achieve it, you should provide a technical task. We will tell you about creating it later in this article.

Where To Find Images For a Website: Photos and Illustrations

You can create and fill your website by using photo stocks that contain millions of images for websites. By using stocks with free photos, you will have no issues with copyright.

We recommend the following services to choose images:

• Unsplash;
• Pexels;
• Pixabay;
• StockSnap;
• Freerange Stock.

With these photo stocks, you don’t need to mention the authors of the photos and sources and don’t have to pay royalties. Images can be used for commercial purposes. Also, you can change them the way you want. The search in stocks allows you to use filters and choose required topics.

To get pics for website with free licenses, you can use the following services:

• Ouch.pics;
• Freepik;
• unDraw;
• Manypixels.

Additionally, you can search for website illustrations by using the services we mentioned above (sections with illustrations are present there). If you really want to find your unique illustrations, you can look for them via Google. There are hundreds of websites with small sets of free pictures.

Free Stock Website Photos: How To Search For Them Properly?

The main task, while you are searching for images to use on website on photo stocks, is to forget about the banality and to stay on the trail of the chosen style. There are several tips that will help you.

Use different words in your search queries

Use varying combinations of keywords while selecting images on stocks, until you will find a suitable result. Don’t stop when you get the first results. These images can appear on other websites. You can see how pale are photos found by using common keywords.

Right above, you can see photos that were found at Unsplash stock, by using the keyword “Training”. All these photos have no real spine or character. Smiles, happiness overload, and a lot of privacy. Do you need such sterile photos?

However, by looking at this set of photos, we can see images for “Extreme workout”, “Street scratch”, “Creative training”, and “Beautiful jogging”.

Pay attention to collections

When you see a photo you need, you can find similar images for the website by using 3 ways.

• Each photo has its author. You can explore the page of the author to see other images he has. Maybe, there will be stylistically similar images.

• A specific photo can be a part of the collection. Use the link to see the set of photos and find additional images for your website.

• Photo stocks usually offer you the same images. In most cases, they are related to the one you found thematically, stylistically, and by color.

By choosing illustrations as images for your website, you are not shackled by the different limitations that photos have. You don’t need to look for photos with the same characters. Locations, that are not related to your country, will not appear in photos. Illustrations don’t require additional rendering and color correction.

If you have a website with pretty abstract services (e.g., info business or accountant services for small companies) illustrations are the best. They will bring more emotion to the informational content of your website.

To make all illustrations similar, you have to quickly understand the types of illustrations and their art characteristics. Illustrations have several types by using these characteristics as a base:

Depending on the volume of the object. Illustrations are flat, semi-flat, and 3D. Flat illustrations use color fill. Semi-flat uses shadows and object separation for several figures in perspective. 3D will be remarkable from the very beginning.

By art methods used for the creation. Illustrations can be made by using simple figures, with using brushes and textures, and with using fades. The first type of illustration consists of flat images with even fills. Illustrations with brushes and figures use repetitive strokes or mimic different materials and textures. Images with fades use a smooth combination of colors.

By outline types. Illustrations can have no outlines, have an outer outline, and have it located inside objects to divide them into parts.

Depending on how realistic the illustrations are. Illustrations can be almost realistic, super distorted, or stylized. Distorted illustrations can have separate parts expanded or narrowed, while their shape can be significantly changed. Stylized photos have objects inside close to different geometric shapes, abstractions, or curls.

Depending on the difficulty of the plot. Amongst different illustrations, you can see minimalistic, balanced, and visually overloaded types. Minimalistic illustrations include simplified objects. Balanced illustrations have more recognizable details, but these illustrations don’t give the option to examine images swiftly. In the last case, you need to take your time to understand the plot and meaning of the illustrations.

Now, artistic impressions have certain terms for description. While choosing images, try to find ones, which contain all the features of chosen artistic types. To make things easier, we created a simple hint to find the appropriate style.

The specialist you hire will solve your content creation tasks, but only if you create a proper technical task and discuss photography details. Only this way, all the expenses for your website photo creation will have a proper base. The technical task is easy to create, especially when you answer the question “What images for my website will fit the best?”

In a technical task for a photographer, you have to determine the following goals:

• Photoshoot aim. Describe the goals of hiring a photographer, what object needs to be photographed, what are the main points, which emotions a photo should cause, and what action the visitor has to perform after seeing a photo.

• Style and conception. Determine the genre of the photo. It can be an object, report, interior, food, corpo, artistic, or technical shoot. Give examples of photos that you like. Mention the main colors of photos.

• Where you will use photos. Tell the photographer about the website. Additionally, you can show the draft of your website, or show the websites you like. Also, information about your brand, business features, and core audience will be great.

• Location, props, maintenance. Estimate all the technical details. Where the photoshoot will take place and whether the studio is essential. Maybe, you will need professional models? Or do you have volunteers? Whether there are special requirements for the props? Or maybe you will need a stylist and special lighting?

• Number and type of photos. Estimate the number of photos you require. Additionally, include things that must be on photos. Don’t forget to mention the format of the future photos, by including the resolution.

• Rendering and terms. The photographer can take photos and render them. The price and the deadline depend on the difficulty of rendering. There are several rendering options, such as regular color correction, artistic retouching, and complex rendering with deleting or adding new objects.

• Price. By relying on the difficulty, time, and number of photos, the photographer will tell you the price. You only need to discuss payment details and the payment process.

To find a specialist, you can use different services for finding art specialists. Or, you can use social networks by using tags. For example, by using tags #photograper #fashionphoto #NewYork (or any other city/town depending on your location), you will find a fashion photographer on Instagram.

Always examine numerous candidates and pay attention to their portfolios. The closer their works to your wishes, the better result of a photoshoot you will have. To get the best images for website, you will have to spend some time, but your efforts will be rewarded.

What To Pay Attention To While Choosing Website Images?

Avoid Cliche

Don’t use the very first photos you see on a stock, and don’t ask your photographer to make cliche images (e.g., a photo of your team with smiles and thumbs up). The best website images are unique or based on the least obvious solutions.

For example, you are focused on the delivery of prepared healthy meals. Don’t choose a smiling woman with a salad for the page on your website. Pick a nice and lively photo of the person who has lunch.

Follow the color scheme

Unite all the images on your website with one color solution. Try to choose photos with repetitive colors. Some photo stocks have a color filter for images that will help you find proper pictures.

If photos are made by different authors, but have a united style, you can use online photo editors to add filters or edit colors yourself.

Make an emotion check

When you find enough photos to use on website, start choosing. By looking at photos, try to feel it without thinking about its goals. The ones that make you feel something are the best for you.

Photos with dynamic plots, unique moods, and people evoke much more emotions.

Think about the mobile version of your website

Your images have to be appropriate not only for the desktop version, but for the mobile version either.

If the photo will be displayed on mobile devices without proper scaling, you need to examine how small will be the details of the image, by examining the draft of the mobile version.

Don’t forget about image optimization

Images have to be not only qualitative, but they must have an optimal size. After that, the website will be loaded faster, which is highly appreciated by search engines and users with slow connections.

Format and compression affect the size a lot. Learn more about formats and optimization in this article, dedicated to SEO optimization of photos. For photo compression, you can use such services as Kraken.io, TinyPNG.com, Compressor.io, Imagecompressor.com.

Where to Add Pictures On The Website: First Screen, Photos of Products and Services, Gallery, Background

The homepage screen. One image – one thought

The first screen of the page is the visitor filter. Several seconds will be enough to decide, whether to continue exploring your website or just to close it. This is why you should pay a lot of attention and effort to choose the image for this block.

The homepage image doesn’t have to be visually overloaded, and its content has to be understandable from the very beginning.

Photos of products and services on your website. Tips to choose and place

When you show your goods and services, you have 3 main solutions to demonstrate them. Rotate them or choose a certain order, depending on the situation. Photos of goods and services can be received from suppliers. Or, you can take photos of them yourself.

Interaction inside a photo of products on the website. Such photos contain the result or the process of client interaction with your product. For example, you sell the coffee machine with simple maintenance. Show it! Such types of photos can be used when the benefits of using your services are visible clearly.

Details in photos of products. You need to show your customer your goods and services, pointing at the details at least once. The best way to do so is to make a series of product photos and post them as a gallery. Let’s say you are selling handmade shoes. Place photos with explanations to show your product. For example, the look from above will show the lacing system.

The context in photos. Show conditions or situations when your product is great. This way, you will show the reason that proves the importance of your product or service. For example, your fire alarm systems are not only efficient but also have great design solutions. The best way is to show their placement in beautiful interiors.

The gallery on a website: use and space management

Every visitor’s action requires effort. If too much effort is required, the user will get tired and will lose interest. Static content (one without interesting interactions) is easy to be consumed, but it is not too compact.

The gallery is an interactive content on the website page.

You can place images on a page one by one. But the page will be huge and will require a lot of scrolls to be fully examined.

Did you choose the gallery? The user will be able to check all the necessary information in one place, however, the user has to be interested in performing additional clicks.

This is why you should use galleries only in the case when you provide monotone useful information. For example, detailed images of products, and interiors, images with elements of reports, and sets of photos with people (e.g., pictures of employees with small text descriptions).

Image as a background. The rules for placing background images on the website

Images and text content have a constant dialogue. The first glance of the user is always aimed at the photo. After that, the look goes to the headline, and only after that on interactive page elements. For example, the buttons.

You need to follow several rules to combine varying elements on your page properly.

• Don’t place compositional and sense elements under the text. In this case, the visitor will be unable to concentrate neither on the image nor on the text. The compositional center is a logical and visual point of attention concentration. Don’t forget that the part of the image below the text has to be monotone. Both by lighting and color.
• Make text and images self-sufficient. The visitor has to understand the sense of the photo and text, even without boundaries between them. But the connection between these elements has to create a deeper understanding or emotional perception of the block topic.
• Combine compositional pairs using photos and text with website elements. Images or blocks have compositional centers. With a proper combination of attention points, the images will lead to concentration points in a text.

Images For a Website With Weblium

Our website builder, Weblium, turns the design of websites into a real pleasure. Your website will be useful and beautiful. And you don’t need to ask designers for help.

We also made the work with images much easier, so your website design will be created in only hours, not days.

Free images from Unsplash photo stock

In the menu for working with images you can find more than one million available stock images. To add icons from the icon control menu, you can use free Icons8 and The Noun Project libraries.

Base image editing options

You can choose scaling and area-filling options on the website to create proper frames for photos and illustrations. Additionally, you can use photo and color filters to make photos stylistically monotone.

Image optimization feature

To increase the speed of the website load, our builder automatically reduces the size of images, but keeps their quality. If you need to show a high-quality photo, you can use background images and show them with original parameters.

Can I use stock images on my website?

Surely yes. But you should choose recommended methods to obtain graphics for your website.

We know that with proper images, the design of your website will be on the same level as the ones created by professionals. Join the platform and create your amazing website now!