A practical photo brief for your tradie website

When you're getting a website ready, “send through some photos” can be a frustratingly vague request. Which jobs should you show? Do phone photos count? How many different angles does someone need?

Start with what a prospective customer needs to understand. The photos should help explain the work you do, the kinds of jobs you take on and the details that matter to the finished result.

You can build a useful collection around a few real jobs. Here is a practical brief to work from.

Show the whole job

Choose a wide view that makes the work easy to understand. A close-up of a fitting might show good detail, but someone unfamiliar with the job may not know what they are looking at.

For a completed project, look for a clear overall view without unnecessary clutter. If you offer several different services, gather relevant examples for each service you want to feature. Ten pictures of the same job may be less useful than a few clear examples of different work.

Only show work you are entitled to present as your own. If several businesses contributed, make your role clear in the caption.

Capture the important detail

Add a closer photo where it explains something the wide view cannot. That could be the finish, the way a component fits, or the condition that prompted the work.

Ask yourself: what should a customer notice here? If there isn't a useful answer, you may not need that photo on the page.

Before-and-after pairs can be helpful when the change is visible. Label them accurately and use comparable views where possible. Do not edit an image in a way that misrepresents the work or hides a relevant problem.

Give the image a little context

A short note can save your website designer a lot of guesswork. For each selected job, record:

• The service shown.
• What your team did.
• The detail a customer should notice.
• A general location, only where appropriate and agreed.
• Any credit or permission requirements.

For example: “Replacement exterior steps. Our team removed the damaged steps and built the new set shown here.” That tells the reader more than “another happy customer” without making up an outcome or using someone else's words.

The exact address usually isn't needed to explain the work. Keep private customer details out of public captions.

Include the people or process, where useful

A genuine team photo can help someone recognise who they are contacting. A carefully chosen process photo can explain how you work.

Neither is compulsory. Use them when they add useful information, and make sure the people pictured are comfortable with the intended use. Choose images that reflect the way your business actually operates.

Avoid presenting a stock photo or AI-generated scene as a completed client job. Illustrations can have a place, but your portfolio should be clear about what is real work.

Check permission and the frame

Before sending photos for publication, check that you have permission to use them for your business website. Taking a photo and having permission to publish everything in it are different questions.

Look for faces, house numbers, number plates, paperwork, screens and personal belongings. Crop or remove unnecessary identifying details, or choose another image. If you're unsure about a customer's preference, ask before publishing.

Tell your designer about any restrictions rather than leaving them to assume the image is cleared for use.

Keep the original files

Phone photos can be useful when they are clear and well lit. Send the original files where you can, rather than screenshots or images copied back out of social media.

Keep a copy of the originals. The website versions can then be sized and prepared for the actual layout without losing your source files. A mix of wider and taller views may help with different page layouts, but leave some room around the subject so it can be cropped sensibly.

You don't have to guess the final website dimensions before talking to your designer.

A small folder is enough to start the conversation

Create a folder for each service or selected job. Add the photos and a short note describing the work and any permissions. Remove obvious duplicates so the useful choices are easy to find.

A starting folder might contain one overall view, one useful detail and a caption for each example. That is a working brief, not a fixed rule or a demand for a large photo shoot.

If you're unsure what to gather, start with the services you want the website to explain. Our homepage planning guide can help you think about the information around those images.

Have some photos but no clear plan for the page? Talk to Mark at Spray Media about what you have and what your website needs to show.