Before a website redesign, photograph the people, products, process, and places that help a customer understand the business. Start with the approved page plan. An attractive folder of images is harder to use when none answers the question beside it.
A service business might need a founder portrait, a real service demonstration, and a photograph that helps customers recognize the arrival point. A product business may need scale, detail, packaging, and use. The right list comes from the offer and the visitor’s decisions, not a generic requirement to fill every section.
01
Review what you already have.
Gather existing originals and approved versions before booking a shoot. Note the subject, date, available resolution, permitted uses, and whether the image still represents the business. Keep useful images when they fit; flag outdated staff, products, interiors, or claims for replacement.
Ask the designer where an image must work: a wide introduction, a square service card, a portrait section, or a detail beside an explanation. A usable mobile crop may need another composition. Confirm these needs while the photographer can still plan for them.
If the message or service structure is unresolved, settle that first. The paid marketing audit on the Brand Strategy page can help set priorities and the order of work, while Web Design covers page structure and the build. Photography can show an approved offer; it cannot decide an unclear one on its own.
02
The page-to-shot-list worksheet.
Copy these entries into your planning document and replace the examples with your actual pages. They are illustrative shot decisions, not a promised asset count or a client project.
Homepage · What do you do?
Possible shot: a recognizable activity that shows the service or product in use.
Preparation: choose the subject and setting; capture room around it for wide and narrow crops. Keep the headline as live page text.
About · Who is responsible?
Possible shot: the actual founder or team in the working environment.
Preparation: confirm names, roles, availability, wardrobe, and permission. Leave room for a useful portrait crop.
Service · What happens?
Possible shot: one meaningful stage of the actual process, with a detail that helps explain it.
Preparation: agree which steps may be shown. Remove private customer information and review the accompanying explanation.
Product · What am I buying?
Possible shot: the item with a useful view of scale, finish, or use.
Preparation: select current products and packaging; check labels, condition, and whether the crop hides an essential detail.
Work · What can I evaluate?
Possible shot: an approved finished piece with detail and context.
Preparation: verify permission and FMP’s actual role. Label a concept as a concept; the photograph does not prove a business outcome.
Contact · How do I arrive?
Possible shot: an actual customer-facing entrance or relevant arrival landmark.
Preparation: use it only where customers may visit. Do not publish a private address or imply a location is open to customers when it is not.
Complete one record for each planned use.
- Page and placement: where will the image appear?
- Customer question: what should it help someone understand?
- Subject and action: what actually needs to be photographed?
- Crop and format: what desktop, mobile, or secondary uses are required?
- Preparation and permission: who or what must be ready, and who approves publication?
- Delivery and owner: which agreed file version is needed, and who places and checks it?
Mark each record “available,” “needs capture,” or “needs permission.” That turns a vague request for new photos into a list the business, designer, and production partner can review together.
Completed example · fictional business, not a client
- Page and placement: furnace tune-up service page, beside the first description paragraph.
- Customer question: what will the technician actually do in my home?
- Subject and action: a technician checking the unit and explaining the step to a consenting person, with no house number, name, or paperwork visible.
- Crop and format: wide for desktop; a tighter vertical composition that keeps the technician’s hands and unit visible on mobile.
- Preparation and permission: employee and homeowner permission; the business owner approves publication.
- Delivery and owner: the designer places the approved file and checks both crops.
- Status: needs capture.
03
Make the shoot workable.
Group the required shots by location and subject. Photograph the team while they are available, prepare products before their slot, and decide which process can be demonstrated without interrupting real work. Name one person who can answer business questions and approve changes on the day.
Prioritize essential page images, then useful supporting details. Confirm access, setup needs, customer privacy, permission, and any category-specific review before capture. Agree on timing from the actual brief rather than promising a website launch date before the material is ready.
FMP’s planned photo and video production is called Owned Content Day. The name describes the offer; it does not grant unlimited usage rights or raw files. Usage, raw files, deliverable mix, and additional formats depend on the agreed scope. If the website and paid advertising need different usage, raise that during planning.
04
Plan the website version.
Keep master files outside the public website. Publish optimized derivatives sized for their placements. Review the crop on a phone and a desktop; useful detail should survive both. A photographer’s high-resolution delivery is the starting material, not necessarily the file to load on every page.
Google’s image guidance (opens in a new tab) recommends useful surrounding text, descriptive alternative text, and responsive image delivery. Those choices help the image fit its page rather than exist as a disconnected asset.
Write alternatives according to purpose. An informative process photograph needs a brief description of the meaningful action; a purely decorative image can use an empty alternative. The W3C image decision tree (opens in a new tab) explains the distinction. Do not add a list of nearby towns to the alternative text.
05
Approve the placement, not just the file.
Review the finished page with the image, crop, caption, and surrounding claim together. A valid photograph can become misleading when placed beside a service the business does not provide or a result it cannot substantiate.
Confirm the people and products are current, permissions cover the use, mobile crops make sense, and no private information appears. Keep the approved file and usage record organized for the next update. For later publishing, use our guide to putting the content library to work.
Plan capture around the page
Need photos for the website you’re building?
Bring the current site, planned pages, available images, and worksheet to a free 45-minute Google Meet consultation. We can confirm fit and discuss the production brief, usage, inputs, and delivery schedule.
Primary references
Sources and further reading
Primary references used to verify the factual guidance in this article.
- Image SEO best practicesGoogle Search Central
- An alt Decision TreeW3C Web Accessibility Initiative