MunozBobb527
出典: くみこみックス
Choosing Stock Photos For Your Header - A Web Designer's View
If you're thinking of making your personal header for your Site, you can really take advantage of understanding how a graphic designer thinks when selecting photos.
Stock photos are available from the variety of Web sites and services. The cost and quality vary considerably, but for the majority of us, inexpensive stock photos are all we'll ever need. Two typical stock photo sites are Dreamstime.com and BigStockPhoto.com, but there are many more.
By the way, not long ago i was browsing a well-known, glossy magazine and recognized a regular photo I'd seen the day before on Dreamstime.com. So, you don't have to stress about the caliber of inexpensive stock photos; even the big magazines use them!
So let's see how I would approach finding suitable photos for my client's header...
First, I'll ask my client about their business: their typical audience, and their market's gender and age group. I'll also want to know about the mood or feeling my client wants for the Site. Using the solutions to these questions I can choose photos using the appropriate colours and ambience.
For example, a spa will need tranquil colours, usually light blues and pale greens, and photos of blissed-out people (typically women) obtaining a massage or facial. They might use smooth stones, a leaf or a flower to convey a Zen atmosphere.
A children's daycare on the other hand, will want primary colours (red, yellow, blue) and photos of energetic, happy kids. They might use clipart balloons, crayons or building blocks within the header or for the navigation.
Note: Clipart objects, people, backgrounds, buttons, badges, icons, cartoons and other images are also available on stock photo sites.
Now I will visit 2 or 3 stock photo sites and choose photos based on my client's criteria and my very own requirements for that header. (The net designer's requirements are just as essential as the client's requirements.)
To locate appropriate photos, I'll enter keywords into the search box. This is almost an art by itself. For a spa site, I might begin with probably the most general term "spa," and end up with phrases like "happy woman massage," "massage stones," "tranquility, "wellness," "candles," "spa products," etc.
When I'm choosing photos, I'm automatically running them through my internal filter:
1. Performs this photo possess the right colours? Or will I have to modify them in Photoshop?
While colours could be changed in Photoshop, I'll try to locate photos with the right colours. However, if I find the perfect photo, however the shirt is wrong, I will definitely consider changing the shades in Photoshop.
If the colours for that Site have not yet been determined, I may base the shades for the header (and also the site) on the photo. Designers often do that, particularly if they are using only one photo within the header. Pulling the shades from the photo will almost always guarantee the Site will look pulled together.
2. Would be the people in this photo facing the direction I want them to face within the header? People (and objects with a "front" like a car or even a teapot) should face toward the center of the header or straight ahead. Note: Flipping on the photo can lead to an odd looking image due to the play of sunshine and shadow.
3. Can I crop this photo to concentrate it better about them? Many photos have more potential when they're cropped in tight towards the subject, often even some of the subject: a woman's eyes, the stitching on a baseball, half a golf iron on the tee, the bow of the canoe, brightly coloured rain slickers hanging on hooks, a country mailbox. Look at art magazines or book covers for ideas.
4. Is photo portrait or landscape style? Portrait style is tall, rather than wide. Landscape style is the opposite. Inside a shallow header, landscape-style photos will fit better. A portrait-style photo must be reduced considerably in size to suit a shallow header and could not work at all. But it might work if cropped in near to the subject (see #3 above).
5. Can one use this photo because the entire header? To use a photo for the entire header, you will need to have the ability to take a slice of the image that tells a tale: a lone tree in a field, a mountain climber with arms upraised on the mountain vista, a runner on the stretch of deserted beach.
6. Should i have to find several photos to tell the story? Basically use multiple photos will they look good together? Will the photos blend well into a montage or can they look better like a row of individual photos? Either way, I'll be searching for photos that complement one another and also have basic colours (unless I'm likely to deliberately emphasize some aspect in the photos).
Finally, basically find a photo near to what I want, but not quite right, I'll perform a couple of things. I'll locate the photographer's portfolio and check to ascertain if she or he has taken similar photos, maybe using the same model or scene. Often this will open up an entire realm of photos which i may have overlooked.
I'll also use the "similar photos" tool which brings up a batch of photos concentrating on the same keywords towards the one chosen. Not the keywords I typed in to find the photo originally, but keywords the photographer gave once they uploaded the photograph towards the site. This could open up another arena of photos. Sometimes these paths lead nowhere, but they're always worth a try when the photo is close to, but not quite, right.
I still won't buy any photos at this point. I'll simply add the photos I've chosen to a lightbox and email it to my client to provide them a chance to comment on the photos and veto ones that do not fit their vision for the header. After my client has finished evaluating the photos, hopefully I'll have some really good ones to use for the header.
I still won't buy any photos. Instead I'll use the "comp" versions of the photos to create the header. These versions are adequately sized to make use of within the header, but they possess a watermark in it. If I plan to slice or crop the photo I'm able to still see what that will seem like on the comp. Basically plan to use the whole photo because the header, I will use the comp to create a miniature header, in order to see how it'll look.
I'll purchase the photos once I'm satisfied I have the best photo or even the right combination of photos for that header.
You've now learned some of the thought processes a graphic designer much like me experiences while choosing photos. Hopefully, you can use these ideas to choose good photos for your own personel header.
