Visitors look at your website to answer one question: what will it be like to walk in? Real photos of your building, your people and your Sunday answer that better than any stock picture. You don't need a photographer. A phone from the last few years takes photos good enough for every section of your site.
What to shoot
Aim for ten to fifteen photos. These cover every section a church site usually has:
- The outside of your building, from the street, so people recognize it when they pull up. Take it on a clear day.
- The front door or main entrance, ideally with a greeter standing there.
- Your worship space, from the back, with people in it. An empty room looks closed.
- People talking before or after the service: in the lobby, over coffee, in the parking lot.
- Your kids' area, with the room set up and ready (more on photographing children below).
- A small group or class meeting.
- Your pastor and staff, one each, for the team section.
- Serving: a meal, a work day, a food pantry shift.
Getting good light
- Shoot in daylight when you can. Stand with the windows behind you, so the light falls on people's faces.
- Turn off the flash.
- Indoors, turn on every light in the room.
- Hold the phone sideways (landscape) for banners and wide sections. Upright photos work for staff portraits.
- Take three or four of each shot. One will have nobody blinking.
Ask before you photograph people
- Tell your church the week before that you'll be taking photos for the website, and that anyone who'd rather not be in them can say so.
- Ask adults before you take a close-up of them.
- Children: get a parent's permission before a child's face appears on your site. Photos of kids from behind, or of hands at a craft table, work well without it.
- Never put a child's name with their photo.
Putting them on your site
- Open your media library and upload the photos you like best.
- In the page builder, click a section's photo and choose one from your library.
- Wide photos suit the welcome banner. Photos of two or three people suit cards and the About section.
If you don't have a photo for a section yet, leave it out. Every section on your site is designed to look finished without one, and you can add photos later as you take them.