Ace your website photos with a simple phone

Why photos decide as much as prices

On a service site in Morocco, visitors unconsciously look for proof: does your shop really exist? What does your work look like? Real photos answer in a second; stock photos — the American handshake, the catalogued smile — answer “nothing to see here”.

True for a riad (the promised room must look like the booking), a menu (the tajine shot at your place), a worksite (the renovation after), a shop (the real aisle). The photo is your material proof.

Light: 80% of the job

• Natural light — Near a window or outside in the shade. Never directly under a neon tube (yellow-green tint) and never frontal flash (flattens everything).
• Golden hour — Early morning and late afternoon give a warm, flattering light, ideal for storefronts and terraces.
• Clear background — A white wall, a wooden table, a clean sheet: the product is the subject, not the clutter behind.
• Steady phone — Resting on a stack of books or a small tripod (a few dozen MAD): camera shake ruins the best frame.

Framing: three shots, one goal

For each subject, take the three shots: wide (the shop, the room, the terrace — the context), medium (the set table, the workstation), and detail (the finish, the stitching, the dessert cream). All three serve a purpose: the wide builds trust, the detail creates desire.

Simple framing: camera at subject height, neither top-down nor low-angle; rule of thirds (subject not necessarily centered); and ten photos to keep two — culling is part of the craft.

The 5 essential photos per trade

Free retouching in five minutes

Three settings are enough in the phone's photo app: brightness (slight +), contrast (one notch), cropping (subject in frame, straight horizons). Avoid heavy filters: a worksite photo that looks blue worries more than it reassures.

The crucial step, often forgotten: lightening the file. A phone photo weighs 3-6 MB; your page must load in under 3 seconds on Moroccan 4G. Free tools (or your provider does it): resize to 1,200-1,600 px wide and compress — once done, the speed difference is spectacular.

When to invest in a professional

The phone suffices for day-to-day work photos and social media. Invest in a photographer for high-end real estate (villas, luxury riads — where the photo sells the night), fine dining (the dish photo is the first taste), and volume e-commerce products (one studio day, hundreds of consistent listings). Budget 1,500 to 5,000 MAD per session in Morocco, paid back in one or two extra sales.