subject: How To Find Pictures For Your Website [print this page] It's a common saying that a picture is worth a thousand words; and as web designers have discovered, no website is complete without pictures. Pictures add color and dynamism to your website and should be incorporated at every opportunity. The challenge facing most people interested in adding pictures to their websites is that they lack good pictures worth of exposure in websites.
Most people's pictures are either composed of family snapshots or vacations and pets pictures.But even if you are not a pro photographer do not despair because there are plenty of ways you can obtain quality pictures to add to your website.
Get your camera ready
Even as an amateur you can still take good pictures with your camera for your website. Don't mind not having a pro SLR, your ordinary digital camera will work just fine. You'll be inspired to know that I've designed a number of websites and incorporated pictures taken using my ordinary camera, there's no doubt that a professional will definitely do a finer job but that's not an obstacle to getting started.
A good photo taken by my camera actually transformed a plain website that nobody really cared much about into one that received a number of compliments, all because of a simple good photo.
The advantage of high caliber cameras such as those equipped with high resolution power is that you can use it to take a nice photo of your cat and then notice a cute flower in the background, then all that you have to do is simply crop the picture, optimize it and you have a wonderful picture for your website. This means that you should start with your personal collection of pictures, look at the backgrounds and you might just notice a wonderful texture that could make a great image for your website when cropped and optimized.
Below are some tips for using your own picture gallery:
Use images in small sizes, good if you have a 10 megapixel camera, it's great for photos destined for printing but as good with web images. The challenge of large pictures taken by a 10 megapixel camera is that they take long to download, and not many people are that patient. Do not preoccupy yourself with the major subject of the picture. Web images don't need be large down due downloading issues, it's advisable that you use small pictures, therefore if you find a nice background portion that works crop it and optimize.
Be choosy. Do not use badly lit or blurry images for your website, avoid the temptation however cute the picture is. Remember that your website is your front face to the world and deserves nothing short of the best.
Photo sharing sites
If you don't have a personal collection then you may want to try the online sites that share photos. These are usually backed by creative commons licenses. Such sites offer free or royalty free photos and fee-based photos, check on the permission before using a photo from sharing sites. Other people will require nothing more that credit for use of their photos.
