(mouseover photos in this blog article for before and after examples)

Enhancing photos to maximize your web site visitor’s experience. Sell your products with the use of great photos!

You’ve visited web sites and seen amazing product photos or just great photos in general, you might have asked yourself “How can I get photos like that?” or “How come the photos I take never look like that?” Well, they can! Chances are, the photos that you see and love don’t start out that way. In fact, they probably look like the photos you have been taking all along.

Of course you have to start to with a good photo, but it might look different than what you think! The photographer (you) will matter the most when taking your pictures, not the camera. Get the shot you want, make sure it is in focus, good light balance and a large enough resolution that you can work with it. Most point and shoot digital cameras are plenty good enough for your web site needs! (If you have a fancier DSLR, chances are you already know how to digitally correct your photos anyways so this blog post wont teach you much! Sorry!)

Find a graphic editing program that will work with your computer. I prefer Aperture on my iMac, many use Adobe Lightroom or even Photoshop. Many cameras have software that you can install to edit your photos as well. I wont go into the actual editing process here though. I have a Aperture video tutorial on the blog if you want more of that specific information. Play around with your photo, adjust colors, contrast, smoothing and sharpening features. Pretty soon your so-so picture may look amazing.

Why is this important? When shopping for products or browsing a web site you look for images that pop and catch your eye. Pictures truly do say more than words and many wont stop to read a description if the picture doesn’t interest them. If your pictures are washed out or flat, that is what your customers are going to feel about your site and your products. Editing your photos can give your products a more representative finished look. The color you thought was beautiful in person may look flat in the picture. You want your customers to get excited about your products so make sure the pictures show what they really look like! Your product probably isn’t flat, so your picture shouldn’t feel flat either. You don’t sell a product? That’s ok too, this still applies! Pictures often are used to show emotion, a little photo editing can really enhance this so your visitors can grasp that emotion immediately at first glance.

I’m not a fan of photo editing to the point of altering body perception, I prefer to only enhance the natural beauty of the subject as it is. Sticking to this, I feel the photos look more natural as well. An over photo-shopped image will leave the viewer scratching their heads and wondering what they really going to get if they dare to order. So keep it simple, keep it natural, enhance to promote an emotion you wish to emphasize.

Not sure if you can do it? Give it a try and don’t be afraid to experiment! Try funky effects to create your own style.

Still not sure? Web Savvy Mama (me!) does offer image manipulation and editing services. Just contact me and I can give you a quote for your project.

The images on this page are ones that I took of my children and did some very basic photo enhancing to. Mouseover to see the original images and the difference that can be made.