The Importance of Great Photos

Updated January 13, 2023

Whether it’s for your business or a school report, it’s important to know how to choose great photos. Always start with a group of options and narrow it down. Of course, there are the easy ways to sort through bad pictures, eliminate those with  unintentional fuzziness, distracting clutter, and crooked lines. Pay close attention to the lighting. Underexposure and overexposure can destroy your photo. The same goes with too much or too little contrast and saturation.

However, picking  great photos involves much more than these rules. Choose a photo that connects really with you. It should be a photo that seems to have a story behind it, a story that pulls you in and makes you want to know more. The best photos are the ones that make you curious. For inspiration, try viewing Time Magazine’s selection of top photos. There are many other sources of free and paid images you can use for your website and other marketing materials like Flickr and Shutterstock.

Photos that capture our attention are ones where you want to know more about the people, place, and story. They are much more than an image on the screen. They seem to hold meaning. These are the types of photos that you should try to use whether it is for a project, business, etc.

Iconic Annie Liebovitz is a master at capturing a hidden story. “You don’t have to sort of enhance reality. There is nothing stranger than truth.”  Ultimately the best way to choose great photos for business, I believe, is to browse Flicker’s top photos or any other selection to inspire future choices.