A Website Photo Brief That Gives Every Image a Job

Before asking for “some photos for the website”, list what those photographs need to explain. A visitor may want to recognise the entrance, understand a process or see who will help them. Those are different assignments. A useful website photo brief connects each planned image to a page, a subject and a clear acceptance check.

That brief can guide a photographer, a colleague gathering existing files or a designer selecting licensed material. It also helps you notice gaps before the layout depends on an image you cannot obtain or use. Start with the page’s purpose, then decide what needs to be in the frame.

Give the image a page job

Read the draft page and ask what a photograph would add. On a contact page, an entrance image might help someone recognise the correct door. On a service page, a process photograph could explain a step that is difficult to picture. On an About page, a current team image may introduce the people behind the business.

Write that job in plain language. “Make the page look professional” leaves too many decisions open. “Help a first-time visitor recognise our side entrance” tells the photographer what must remain visible and gives the reviewer something concrete to check.

Write the assignment before the shot

The table below is an entirely fictional brief for a small repair workshop. No photographs have been taken, permissions obtained or website tests completed. Each row describes a proposed assignment and the evidence the fictional team would need before accepting it. The alternative-text notes are provisional until the actual photograph and page are reviewed.

In your own brief, add a file or assignment ID, the person approving it and its status. An incomplete rights record or an unsuitable crop should remain an open item, even when the photograph itself looks finished. The table is a planning aid, not a legal clearance form or a substitute for reviewing the actual licence and circumstances.

Plan for the crop you will use

Ask the designer for the intended placements before the shoot: a wide banner, a small service card, a portrait or an image inside the article. Agree approximate proportions and which detail must survive. A generous photograph can offer cropping flexibility, but extra space cannot rescue a missing subject or a view taken from the wrong side.

For the fictional entrance assignment, the door and sign carry the useful information. If the mobile layout removes the sign, the photograph no longer meets its brief. Request another framing or a different placement instead of approving a crop that defeats the reason for the image.

Review the image in the actual layout at desktop and narrow-screen sizes. Look for awkward cuts, unreadable detail and text placed over a busy subject. Keep essential service information in page text rather than relying on a photograph of a sign to communicate it.

Separate framing from file delivery. Google’s image guidance discusses responsive image versions and balancing image quality with page weight. Ask the website implementer to prepare suitable web versions from the approved source files; there is no single pixel dimension that suits every placement.

Keep the image’s story truthful

Record where an image came from and what you intend to say about it. A team portrait, a staged demonstration, a licensed stock image and an AI-generated concept serve different purposes. The caption and nearby copy should not turn a generic illustration into apparent evidence of your premises, staff or completed work.

For the fictional workshop, a staged assessment photograph could explain the process if it is labelled accurately. It would not demonstrate a successful customer repair. A stock workshop image might support a general visual theme, but it should not be presented as the business’s own location.

Keep the photographer or supplier details, applicable licence or agreement, permitted uses and any known restrictions with the asset record. Identify who will resolve unclear terms before publication. Do not infer that an emailed file has been cleared for every proposed use. Where permission or licensing is uncertain, obtain appropriate advice rather than treating this checklist as a legal answer.

Write alternative text in context

W3C’s image decision tree bases the text alternative on what the image does in the page. A meaningful photograph needs a concise description of the information it contributes. A purely decorative image, or one redundant to nearby text in the relevant context, can use an empty alt attribute. An image that provides a link’s only understandable label needs text describing the destination or action.

Choose the final wording after the image is placed. For the entrance photograph, describe the useful identifying detail rather than listing every object in view. Do not put an unsupported claim such as “the city’s best repair service” into the alternative text.

Google also recommends relevant surrounding text and short, descriptive filenames, and warns against keyword-stuffed alt text. Name the file so the team can identify it, then keep its page context and text alternative useful to the reader. These practices are not a promise that an image will rank.

Hand over the context with the files

Deliver the approved originals, agreed web versions and the assignment record together. Keep one clearly identified approved version so a rejected crop does not return during a later update. Ask the reviewer to check the actual published placement, not just the image in a folder.

For a ZXP website project, bring the planned pages, available images and remaining assignments to the scope discussion. Confirm who supplies photographs, who checks usage and who approves the final placement. Do not assume photography or permission clearance is included without agreeing it.