Photography for Business

Subjects Worth Photographing

• Your work Finished jobs, plated dishes, completed haircuts, products in use. Before and after pairs work well for trades and beauty services.
• Your people You and your team at work, in natural poses. Customers like to see who'll show up or who they'll meet.
• Your place The storefront, the waiting room, the kitchen, the van. It helps people recognize you when they arrive.
• Details Materials, tools, ingredients and finishing touches that show care and quality.
• Customers Real customers enjoying the result, with their written permission.

Phone or Professional

A recent smartphone is enough for most day-to-day social posts. A professional shoot pays off for images you'll use for a long time, such as the website hero, team portraits, the Google Business Profile cover and ad creative. Many businesses book one or two professional shoots a year and fill the gaps with phone photos.

Getting Better Phone Photos

1. Shoot in soft natural light, near a window or outside in shade. Avoid harsh overhead light and flash.
2. Clean the lens.
3. Keep backgrounds simple and tidy.
4. Hold the phone level and take several shots from different angles.
5. Shoot vertically for Stories and Reels, and leave space around the subject so you can crop into other shapes.
6. Edit lightly and consistently, using the same brightness and warmth across posts.

Shapes for Each Place

Preparing Photos for Your Website

Large image files slow pages down, and slow pages lose visitors. Resize images to the largest size they'll display at and compress them before you upload. Google's image guidance recommends descriptive file names and alt text that explains what the image shows, such as kitchen-remodel-quartz-island-austin.jpg with alt text "Remodeled kitchen with white quartz island." That helps people using screen readers, and it helps your images show up in Google search.

Rights and Permissions

Get written permission from customers or staff before you use their image in marketing, and keep a record of it. When you hire a photographer, agree in writing where and for how long you can use the photos, including in ads.

In Practice

Key Terms

Stock photo

A licensed generic image not taken of your business.

Aspect ratio

The width-to-height shape of an image.

Alt text

A written description of an image used by screen readers and search engines.

Compression

Reducing an image's file size for faster loading.

Usage rights

The agreed terms for where and how long a photo may be used.

Sources

1. Djamasbi, S., Siegel, M. and Tullis, T. (2010). Generation Y, web design, and eye tracking. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 68(5), 307-323 doi.org
2. Google image SEO best practices, Google Search Central developers.google.com
3. Google Business Profile Help support.google.com
4. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies digitalcommons.wpi.edu

Platforms change often, so confirm details in the sources above before acting on them. This guide is general information and is not marketing advice for your business.