Excellent Examples of Using Photos in Web Design

By William Craig on May 7, 2010

President of WebFX. Bill has over 25 years of experience in the Internet marketing industry specializing in SEO, UX, information architecture, marketing automation and more. William's background in scientific computing and education from Shippensburg and MIT provided the foundation for MarketingCloudFX and other key research and development projects at WebFX.

Using photos as a design element and central piece in a web design is a great way to get a point across to the viewers or to just add more depth into the design. We are going to look at some examples of two popular ways of using photos in a web layout: using a large photo as your background and using a photo as the central focus in the header.

Using Photos in the Background of a Web Design

Using a photo as a background can give your website an added visual element, as well as depth and space. On the other side of things, if the photo is poor quality or unappealing, it can bring down the entire look of the web page. So not every photo will work, but if you get one that does, it can really make the website stand out.

2K Games

Alley Pfannkuchen

The Bow Valley Club

Change Given

Eurostock Investimentos

Firefly Photography

Because It’s There

joshhemsley.com

Mission First

PRO FOODS

Property Pass

Radim Kurka

Raffaele Catania Designer

Rich Brown

Solegiallo

thesixtyone

Using Photos in the Header/Masthead of a Web Design

Another popular usage of incorporating photos in a web layout is by including them in the header/masthead section. Doing this can get across a visual element to attract people to your website, as well as give the viewer a sense of what you are trying to show them while not overwhelming them with an oversized photo. While a photo within the header probably won’t stand out as much as using it as a background, it can be a nice feature to work the rest of your website around.