Getting the Right Image

Web design is a common part of our everyday lives. Everyone is impacted by websites. Somewhere there is a designer responsible for that impact who had to make some decisions crucial to the experience. Should the design have this color or that and what imagery should accompany the message.

The better these are answered, the better chance the page will entice the visitor to engage. Engagement is the goal of web pages whether signing up for a newsletter, sharing on social media or making a purchase of a product. One of the top factors in ensuring a page is engaged with is imagery. So to assist in this process, here are four of the top places to find good imagery on the web for your next project:

Pexels

This site is rather new and sports some of the best photography available online for free. Although the selection is somewhat slim, using major keywords can usually provide a few shots that will work well. person-woman-coffee-cup-large

Free Images

Quality is not necessarily the main focus of this site as it allows non-professional photographers to upload their work. It does have a large variety of different images that may work for your project. One benefit of this site is the images are very large, so much so that the images can be cropped down to use providing various options besides just the original image.

Googe Images

This is by far the largest repository of imagery on the web. The downside to using Google Images is that all of the photography comes from other websites and can be an issue of copyright infringement. Before using the images here, it is good to get the permission of the website that owns the image. Offering them a photo credit and link back to their website is a good way to entice an image owner to let you use it.

This Website

Our site has some great local photography and some stock images that can be great for projects. Although the selection is limited, the images are high quality and it is one of the best places to find pictures of Billings and the businesses who operate in the city.

So that’s our round-up of places to help getting the right image. Have a photo resource that you like to use? Share it in the comments below!

Written by: Jophiel Silvestrone

Jophiel Silvestrone has written 326 posts in the Tech Blog.

Jophiel grew up on a ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana near Chico Hot Springs. Working on the ranch instilled work ethic and self motivation. Filled with this drive, Jophiel started mowing the local school's yards twice a month throughout the summers, at the age of 12. He moved to Billings in 2004, where he has been deeply involved in the local business community ever since. A serial entrepreneur, Jophiel has ran multiple businesses in our local community. The first business, a janitorial and carpet cleaning company, founded in 2005, has employed over 50 locals. Moving on to the media industry, Jophiel and several partners founded Green Directory Montana in the spring of 2007. Green Directory's sustainability ranking software awarded points based on sustainable or "green" actions. These points counted towards a business's total "Green Score," which in turn ranked them against other businesses in their category and throughout the entire site. It also featured a limited edition print version distributed annually. A business acquisition allowed Jophiel to focus on new projects, and a few close business colleagues and Jophiel started Rocky Mountain Mr. & Ms. Magazine, a lifestyle publication for men and women in the Magic City. After a year and a half at the helm of RM3 Magazine, the business was purchased. He now runs a web development company SkyPoint Studios and fathers his son Jaoquin, who plays football, basketball, soccer, and is learning snowboarding from his dad. Recently, has expanded to locations in Havasu, Arizona & Vegas. SkyPoint Studios is a market leader in both Billings & Havasu and Jophiel is working on building that same level of market dominance in Vegas. Specialties: Extensive experience in online and offline business. Especially savvy at WordPress, and operate several sites, one example is the blog: skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com/tech-blog. Check out skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com for the latest projects from SkyPoint Studios.