Photo manipulation

[fotofast]

I was for some years a professional photographer and I did a lot of work for big and small businesses. The work was generally quite boring, as a lot of the work consisted doing head and shoulders portraits for magazines, product images for exhibitions and all sorts of publicity shots. The thing that annoys me though, now that I have semi-retired and have the time to sit back and look at them, is the very poor images that small business websites are using to sell ideas.

Scruffy men in jeans, leaning against expensive cars, parked on a bland concrete path to demonstrate how rich they are, is not my idea of how they should present themselves. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I have always believed that a picture is worth more than a thousand words. I suppose that is why I became expert at Photoshop, a retouching and photo image manipulation programme that did wonders for the clients I served, especially those I changed backgrounds for. Does anyone think web sales are affected by the images used?

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by fotofast

Does anyone think web sales are affected by the images used?

Yes, which is why I don't have a piccy of myself on my website as who knows what prejudices the website reader may have.

[Comspec]

i think the quality of images on a website definitely make a difference to the viewers perception of the firm as a whole, and this will ultimately affect business.

Poor quality pics, or silly pics, rather than informative and interesting ones will cause the user to switch off earlier.

[fotofast]

I must say the replies show no understanding of the value of photography or how best to use it. So many television adverts show really outrageous images and story ideas, but these remain in the memory far longer than well-rehearsed images and concepts.

There is also the question of copyright which today skates on very thin ice. There are millions of images in image banks which, with the exception of a few that are so well-known, are in danger of being copied and manipulated. The issue here is that if a small business acquires good quality images from an image bank they will have to pay anything from £80-£350 per image. Is it any wonder that few small businesses can afford ti use them?

[Comspec]

Originally Posted by fotofast

I must say the replies show no understanding of the value of photography or how best to use it.

Dunno where you got that from - you asked do we think if the quality, etc of photos on a website make a difference to the users perception of it (and ultimately sales), and both replies said yes.

I am not too well versed in photography, but I know what does and doesn't sit well with my company image. Anything outside that, I'm not interested in.