So, you’ve found the perfect image for your website! But, is it really perfect?
Many people don’t realize that the size and layout of an image is actually far more important than the entire image itself.
This is because, in order to use them in certain areas of your website, most stock photos need to be cropped down to a specific size.
For example, say you’re looking for a photo of a hot air balloon to use as a new banner image on your website…
Photo #1
This first image is pretty much exactly what you were hoping to find; a colorful rainbow-inspired hot air balloon with a blue sky background:
Unfortunately, while this image is good quality and very large, the vertical layout combined with how large the balloon is within the entire image, are going to cause problems when it is cropped to the right size for your website’s banner area.
If your website needs a banner image that is 1200 pixels wide by 360 pixels tall, you will lose over half of the balloon in this photo when you crop it’s height down to the right size:
For this reason, this stock photo will not be a good choice for a new banner image.
Photo #2
Let’s take a look at another hot air balloon stock photo:
This time we’ve found one that’s in landscape layout so it should work better, right?
In many cases yes, choosing a horizontally laid out photo is going to be a far better choice for a new banner image. However, just as we saw in the first photo, the balloon in this photo is still too large within the entire image:
Once again, we’re losing too much of the balloon when we crop this down to the right size. For this reason, this stock photo will also not be a good choice for a new banner image.
Photo #3
Finally, let’s look at this stock photo:
Even though it is a vertical image, the part of it that we want to use (the balloon itself) is so small and so far zoomed out that it should work when cropped.
Let’s test it out:
Yep, it’s a perfect cropping! This stock photo will be a great choice for a new banner image.
If you have any additional questions, or need help deciding if a stock photo you’ve found will crop down to the right dimensions for your Brighter Vision website, just send an email to our Support Team at support@brightervision.com and we’ll be happy to help.