If you’re building or refreshing a small business website, it’s very easy to think you just need a decent headshot.
You probably do need one.
But you almost certainly need more than that.
A good business website usually needs a small library of photographs that can do different jobs across the site. Some introduce you. Some show what you do. Some give a sense of place. Some are there simply to stop every page looking like a wall of text.
And this is where a lot of small business websites fall down.
They’ve got one nice portrait, perhaps a phone photo of the office, a couple of old images from Instagram and then a sudden reliance on stock photography to fill the gaps.
It works.
Sort of.
But if you want your website to feel consistent, credible and actually like your business, it’s worth thinking about the photographs you need before somebody starts designing the pages.
A strong headshot
Let’s start with the obvious one.
If you’re the face of the business, people need to see you.
Your headshot will probably appear on your About page, but it might also be used on your homepage, contact page, speaker profile, blog, LinkedIn profile and press materials.
It should be current, professional and actually look like you.
That doesn’t mean stiff.
In fact, for many small businesses, a relaxed portrait works far better than something that feels too corporate.
The important thing is that somebody visiting your website can quickly connect a face with the person they’re considering working with.
Working portraits
This is where things start getting much more useful.
A working portrait shows you doing the thing people actually pay you to do.
That might mean photographing an architect reviewing plans, a consultant talking through ideas, a maker at their workbench, a therapist preparing a treatment room or a designer working at a laptop.
These images give context.
Instead of telling people what you do, you’re showing them.
They also tend to feel more natural than a sequence of posed portraits because you’ve got something to do with your hands and somewhere to direct your attention.
Horizontal banner images
This is one people often forget.
Most websites need horizontal images.
Lots of them.
Your homepage hero banner is usually wide. So are section headers, blog banners and feature blocks.
If all your photographs are tightly cropped vertical portraits, your web designer has very little room to work with.
They’ll either have to crop half of you out, stretch the image into an awkward space or use something else entirely.
So when I’m photographing for a business website, I’ll usually create plenty of wider compositions specifically with web design in mind.
That might mean placing you to one side of the frame and leaving space for a headline or button.
Which brings us neatly to…
Photos with negative space
Not every photograph should have you standing right in the middle.
Web designers love space.
A photograph with empty wall, sky, desk or background on one side can be incredibly useful because text can sit over it without covering your face.
This is one of those things that can look slightly odd when you view the photograph on its own.
You might wonder why you’re standing over on the left.
Then somebody puts a headline and a “Book a consultation” button on the right and suddenly it makes perfect sense.
Photography for a website needs to work with the design, not fight it.
Details
You don’t need to be in every photograph.
Details help tell the story of your business.
Your tools.
Your hands working.
Packaging.
Products.
A notebook on a desk.
The sign outside your studio.
Materials, equipment or small touches that are distinctive to what you do.
These photographs are useful for breaking up pages and giving the website more visual variety.
They’re also brilliant for social media later.
Your location and environment
Where you work can tell people a lot about your business.
If you’ve got a studio, office, workshop, treatment room, shop or other interesting space, it’s worth photographing it properly.
Even if you work from different locations, we can often create images that give a sense of your working environment.
For a Surrey-based business, that might mean including some recognisable local surroundings.
For somebody who spends most of their time with clients, it could simply mean showing the sort of places where that work happens.
People like context.
It helps them imagine what working with you might actually feel like.
Interaction with clients
If it’s appropriate for your business, these can be some of the most valuable photographs on the whole website.
You talking with a client.
Listening.
Demonstrating something.
Working together.
Laughing.
Reviewing something on a screen.
These images show the relationship rather than just the service.
That’s particularly useful for businesses where trust matters.
Of course, you need suitable people to photograph and their permission to use the images. Sometimes we can plan this with real clients. Other times a colleague, friend or model can help create the right scenario.
The important thing is that it feels believable.
A few vertical photographs too
After telling you how important horizontal images are, I’m now going to tell you that you need vertical ones as well.
Sorry.
Your website isn’t the only place these photographs will end up.
Vertical images are incredibly useful for Instagram, LinkedIn posts, Stories, Reels covers and other social content.
So while I’m thinking about the website during a branding shoot, I’m also thinking about what else you might need over the coming months.
A good shoot shouldn’t produce one hero image.
It should give you options.
Think library, not photograph
That’s really the point.
A small business doesn’t need “a branding photo”.
It needs a useful collection of images.
A good headshot.
Several working portraits.
Wide photographs for banners.
Images with room for text.
Details.
Your environment.
Interactions.
Vertical options for social media.
Once you start looking at your website this way, the gaps tend to become fairly obvious.
Open your homepage.
Then your About page.
Your services pages.
Your contact page.
Imagine removing every stock image and every photograph that’s more than a few years old.
What’s left?
If the answer is “not much”, you probably don’t need another single headshot.
You need a proper bank of photographs that can carry your website for the next year or two.
And that’s exactly what a well-planned branding shoot should give you.
