The website photography shot list: what should you capture?

A website photoshoot without a shot list gets expensive quickly.

Everyone arrives.

The photographer asks:
“So… what do you want?”

Someone suggests headshots.
You walk around the office.
You take a few pictures of people pretending to type.

Two hours later, you have 400 beautiful images and somehow nothing that works in the homepage hero.

This is why we plan first.

1. Owner and leadership

Capture:

• Traditional portrait
• Environmental portrait
• Horizontal portrait
• Vertical portrait
• Looking at camera
• Candid working
• Interacting with team
• Negative space left
• Negative space right

The founder will probably appear in multiple places.

Give yourself options.

2. Team

Capture both who they are and what they do.

Individual portraits.
Small groups.
Full team.
Working together.
Natural conversations.
Client-facing interactions.
Behind-the-scenes moments.

3. Your service in action

This is completely business-specific.

• Contractors. Job sites, construction, materials, details, equipment, finished projects.
• Dental. Doctors, assistants, technology, rooms, team interactions.
• Professional services. Consultations, presentations, meetings, planning, collaboration.

Ask:
What would make the service easier for an outsider to understand?

Photograph that.

4. Your process

If your website has a Process section, don’t automatically illustrate it with icons.

Can we actually show it?

Strategy meeting.
Planning.
Design.
Production.
Installation.
Quality control.
Final walkthrough.

Whatever the process looks like for your business.

5. Your environment

Depending on the business:

• Building exterior
• Signage
• Reception
• Office
• Showroom
• Warehouse
• Job site
• Treatment rooms
• Meeting spaces
• Studio
• Vehicles

These images establish context.

6. Your tools and technology

If equipment supports your positioning, capture it.

Not because customers care about every technical specification.

Because it can support claims around:

Precision.
Efficiency.
Capability.
Safety.
Quality.
Experience.

7. Details

Don’t skip these.

Detail photographs are incredibly useful for website design.

Materials.
Hands.
Tools.
Texture.
Branding.
Printed materials.
Products.
Uniforms.
Screens.
Equipment.
Architectural details.

They’re the visual punctuation marks of the site.

8. Your work

If your service produces a visible outcome, capture the result.

And don’t just photograph the result.

Capture before, during, and after.

That gives us a story rather than a gallery.

9. Calls to action

This one surprises people.

We may specifically capture images for CTA sections.

A founder looking toward open negative space.
A finished project with room for text.
A team image that visually points toward a button.

We’re designing with the photograph.

10. Mobile

Your desktop hero might be gorgeous.

Then mobile chops someone’s head off.

We need compositions that can survive different aspect ratios.

Sometimes that means taking an entirely separate vertical version of an important shot.