Our sites, like most contemporary websites, are very visual. People connect with photos better than they connect with text.
But finding pictures can be a challenge. Pictures should fit your page/news article subject. The pictures need to be big enough (at least 1800 pixels wide for banners and 1400 px wide to fit across the top of an inside page). You must not steal anyone’s copyright.
To help with this challenge, this post covers:
Student Photos
Photos with faces attract more attention. Your website should be a reflection of your school, and nothing says that more clearly than photos of the people in them.
That will often mean you want to use student photos. Great! So far, we’ve had pretty positive responses from parents. But we should always follow student privacy laws and respect families wishes. What that means:
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Never use a photo of a student with restricted directory information. Families can submit a Form 8 to opt out of website, media, yearbook and other photos.
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Be respectful. If a parent asks you to remove a photo, apologize, take the photo down and make a note to avoid using that student’s photo again. Let parents know about opting students out of all media, web, social and yearbook photos with Form 8.
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Remind parents in person and via e-news that you put photos of students on your website (and/or social media). That can also help remind people to visit your site.
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When you take photos, let people know you may use it on websites or social media.
Finding Photos
To help navigate the challenge of finding photos, her are a few resources and tips:
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Build a content team at your school. Talk with yearbook advisors, activity and athletic coordinators and others at your school who love taking photos. Our websites get hundreds (thousands at the secondary level) of page views every month. Build a plan together for sharing photos and stories, agree on a schedule, decide where to share photos, etc.
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My Google Drive folder. Schools have folders with photos Community Relations has taken, including a folder of pre-cropped banner images. We’ll add more throughout the year. There’s also a *Banner Images folder with pre-cropped, generic images.
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Pexels.com. Find free, copyright free images.
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Morguefiles.com: Free stock photos
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Pixabay.com: Free stock photos and videos
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Canva.com. Make your own graphics, preset custom canvas sizes. Some photos are free, others are $1. If you use text, Montserrat will match the font on your website.
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Me! If you’re still struggling to find images, shoot me an email and I can help.
Cropping
Cropping is different than resizing. When you crop, you cut away pieces of a picture to improve its composition or to fit a specific size (like your web banners). Here’s the difference:
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Original (200px wide)
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Resized (150 px wide)
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Cropped (150 px wide)
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Don’t know how to crop? You can use a free, online tool called Pixlr. Watch the video to see how you can use Pixlr to crop a web banner: