Photos & Videos for ECE Websites – Capturing the best of your community and programs
Your center’s photos are a wonderful chance to show off its best features. They can highlight the quality care and education you provide to children. The photos can show what a valuable service you are providing to your community and inspire prospective families to make that first inquiry.
Quality photos don’t need to, but can, be taken by a professional. You can capture great images of the activities and the students yourself. When selecting the images you decide to post, keep in mind how powerful they can be and the potential benefit they can bring. You’re offering your prospective families the opportunity to see your programs, your center, and really just how amazing you are.
Do keep in mind that you’ll need releases for photos based on your state and local laws. Having parents fill out a media release is an easy way to ensure that you have permission to use their child’s image. Once the media releases are taken care of, it’s time to take incredible, inviting pictures of your center. These photos are key to inspiring prospective families to want to book that tour.
The following are a few tips for taking quality photos for your ECE website.
- Many pictures on the web are landscape. If you’re using your phone to take the picture, be sure to turn it sideways so you can capture the landscape view.
- Ensure the children are accustomed to seeing you take pictures. This way you can capture a more authentic moment in the classroom.
- Be at their level! You want parents to see what the children are seeing.
- Take a variety of photos. For example: focus on the children’s hands or eyes during the activity you photograph.
- Be mindful of the lighting. If your environment doesn’t have great lighting, consider purchasing a ring light that attaches to your camera, tablet, or phone.
- If you are looking for inspiration check out, istock.com. It is an excellent resource for various quality pictures you can use for inspiration. However, we don’t recommend using those photos for your website, show off your uniqueness!
Don’t forget about videos! Parents love to see their little ones in action and playing with their friends. The power of bringing motion to your page could put your center an extra step ahead. Following these few tips will ensure your videos are of top-notch quality and bring purpose to your media choices.
- Like photos, videos are primarily taken in landscape orientation. Therefore, ensure a majority of your videos are landscape.
- Tell a story! Make sure your video is relevant to the page and tells your audience something.
- Try getting three videos of each event, so you have options when editing, and you can show different aspects of the activity.
- There are many editing tools and software you can use to edit your videos. A few examples are:
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- Canva
- Adobe Photoshop, Premier, or Rush
You could be asking yourself, I have a bunch of photos and videos, where can I use it? That’s a great question. Pictures and videos have the ability to tell a story. Whenever you want a story told or brought to life on your page, add media. Below is a list of common pages or areas to include media for your center.
- Your ECE Website
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- Home Page
- Employment Page
- Staff Page
- Programs (one or more for each)
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- Include children participating in activities or particular areas you would like to highlight in the classroom or environment
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- Letter from the Director Page
- Our Difference Page
- Blogs
- Social Media
- Tour collateral
- Downloads or lead magnets on your website
- Fundraisers (personalized items)
- Yearbooks (TreeRing)
Implementing these tips into your center’s approach to early childhood photos and videos will raise your center’s page above the rest. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Make them a thousand amazing words.
