Website Photography 101: How to Source Photos
Now that we’ve tackled what makes for good web photography in part one of this series, I want to cover how you might go about actually getting it. Finding photography that is visually rich, inspiring, budget-friendly, and true to your organization’s mission isn’t always easy, and hopefully these strategies, tips and list of sources might help.
Hiring a Photographer
The standard route to photography for most design projects—or for an organization as a whole—is to hire a professional photographer. Often though, the reality of nonprofit budget limitations, mixed with tight project timelines and logistics, can limit your ability to do that. So while I want to focus on low- or no-cost options here in this article, I do also want to lead with a pitch to not outright dismiss the hiring of a photographer.
If executed correctly, custom photography can add lasting value to an organization. It allows you to be as creative and specific with your concepts and subjects as you want. And more importantly, you can create a true visual representation of your mission—showcasing your local environment, neighborhood landmarks, specific events, and/or actual members of your nonprofit community. Look for photographers with experience in nonprofit, documentary, or photojournalistic work and discuss your mission, values, and ethical guidelines upfront.
Hiring a photographer might not be as expensive as you think, and if you stage-out the release of images from the shoot, you can stretch your budget a bit further. So, for example, after all the logistical work of finding a photographer, locations, and subjects, aim to take as many photos as possible within your photographer’s budget and timeframe—more than you specifically need for the project. Then if possible, don’t roll out all of the images to your website immediately. Keep photos of certain individuals or specific shots in your back pocket, so you can add them to your site in the future, as it becomes time to cycle out images and refresh the visual experience for users.
Crowdsource Your Community
If hiring a professional photographer isn’t an option, I’d recommend reaching out to your community network as a next step. Organization staff, volunteers, partners, or supporters may already have photos they’ve taken—or otherwise have access to—that they would be willing to share (you’ll need to ensure you have permission from everyone pictured before you use these images, though).
You could also put a call out to staff, folks from your broader community, or even a friend to see if they would be interested in taking some photos for you. Ideally you can find someone who has some amateur photography chops, but at least to just have someone—anyone—delegated to capture some images at an organization gathering or event, for example.
Some amount of basic photo equipment (such as an entry-level DSLR camera, tripod or lights) will make the process smoother and the results easier to work with, but I wouldn’t focus on that as an impediment. Just capturing authentic moments beats technical perfection in my opinion, and even most recent cell phones are able to capture images at the level of detail, lighting and resolution that can be appropriate for most web use. And there are many good techniques to edit subpar photos to make them work on the web (and I’ll cover more on that in the next article in this series).
I’ll note that while this sort of task might be easy enough to many, to others the responsibility of photo-taking may make them stressed or uncomfortable. So ensure that everyone’s willing and eager to take on the assignment, and compensate them in some way if you are able.
As a personal example, for several years I helped out a friend who worked at a music production company by taking photos of bands performing, just so I could get in free to the shows. My photos may not have been the greatest, but I always took enough that there was something decent to post to their blog the next day, and I was happy to get to see all the free concerts.
And Then There’s Stock
The use of stock photography is often maligned, and for good reason. As I mentioned in part 1, there’s just a look to most stock images that screams inauthenticity. They’re also often cliched in subject or concept, overly staged or dramatic, and repeated often in marketing materials across the web. The result of which is photography that usually fails to connect with audiences, can reflect poorly on your organization, and there’s a good chance that you’ll see your photos on sites and materials from other organizations.
But stock photography does have its advantages. It’s accessible, quick, and relatively easy. And the above doesn’t apply to all stock photography. Even if it may not be ideal for all projects, it can work out well, if you know where to look, and how to search.
There are both paid and no-cost options for stock photography. The primary advantage of paid platforms (such as iStock, Adobe Stock, or Shutterstock) is that they usually have larger libraries to choose from, often with several different variations of many photos, making it easier to find what you're after. Their photos are also usually technically well-shot and in high-resolution (though higher-res downloads usually cost a premium).
Free sources are available too, when budgets are more limited. Those libraries are usually smaller, so it might take a bit longer to find what you’re after, but be specific in your search queries and that will speed things up. And having a go-to list of free stock sources helps too—I’ll add my own list of low- and no-cost options at the end of this article here as a starting resource :)
Note that each stock photo library (both paid and free) will have their own licensing and usage details, including if and how you need to give credit for the photos on your site, so be sure to understand the proper use before you post anything.
What About AI?
Starting sometime over the last year or two, content producers and creatives now have another tool in their toolkits to source photography: AI. And in that time, we’ve seen the image-generating capabilities of the AI bots range from technically horrifying, to disappointing, to “something’s-off-but-I-can’t-tell-what," to very convincing.
There are many issues to do with creative ethics in the use of AI for image generation that I won’t touch on here. But, that aside, even just from an end-user experience perspective, I would not recommend the use of AI to generate imagery for your organization—certainly not for anything that portrays individuals, specific events, or even places.
For non-profits that work directly with people, or advocating for change in issue areas, the use of images depicting AI-generated likenesses of individuals or situations can lead to credibility issues, reputational damage, and mistrust of those organizations’ agendas or missions. And even worse, that mistrust can subvert the good work of your organization, lead to donor fatigue and drop-off, and encourage conspiracy theories & disinformation campaigns.
There may, however, be certain situations or subjects that are more trivial or ephemeral where the threshold may be low enough that you might consider using AI to help with imagery. Where you draw that line is up to you, of course, but perhaps for situations that require something more abstract, or a still life or background type of shot.
Though if not for any actual image creation, there are indeed ways that AI tools can be employed in your workflow to speed image editing, resizing, or other time-consuming manual processes for content editors—and I’ll cover those in more detail in the next article in this series.
Some Additional Photo-Sourcing Notes
Capture More Than Just the Images
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but photographs are so much more powerful as a storytelling tool when they’re accompanied by additional narrative. So, when capturing any photographs in your community—whether that’s with a professional photographer or not—get names, ages and other information from your subjects that you might use in captions or other places, for example. Even record short quotes, testimonials, or personal stories—if they’re willing to share, of course. Then ensure that your file naming and file storage is able to keep the photos associated with the respective text or audio details you capture (it’s far too easy for this information to be separated and lost in the future).
Aim a Little Wide
Account for space for cropping-in when selecting or shooting web images. So, if capturing new photos, it might be a good idea to shoot a little bit wider angle than you think you’ll need. This is especially important for responsive web photos that might be displayed at several different aspect ratios or crops between desktop and mobile. As with everything though, this is a balance, as you don’t want to be shooting too wide that you aren’t able to capture the detail and humanity you’re seeking.
Representation & Respect
Be mindful of who—and how—you’re representing people and culture in the photography you take or source. As you look at the whole body of photos on your website, ask yourself “who is missing?” And then work to include representations of those individuals, contexts or themes. Avoid enforcing stereotypes or bias in the images you choose to display, and ensure that you think ethically about your photos, especially for sensitive subject matter, or images of children or marginalized individuals.
If shooting new photography of subjects, bring them into the process; let them see their photos as you’re taking them. Ensure they know how they will be used and that you have their permission to feature their likeness. If you’re working with a professional photographer, they should have photo release forms that they can provide you with. If not, standard photo release forms can be found online, specific to your state or local jurisdiction.
