For website and social images, plan the display ratio, subject position and text space before export dimensions. One original can support several versions, but every destination needs a preview to avoid losing important content in cropping.
Collect the real placements
Ask the design or marketing contact for homepage, product-card, article-cover and social placement examples, identifying horizontal, square and vertical needs. Check desktop and phone display before the shoot. A single pixel specification does not describe every placement, and a screenshot of a preview is not an original image file.
Capture deliberate crop options
Avoid placing faces, product edges, hands or essential logos just inside the frame boundary. Capture the main composition and wider or alternate-orientation versions where needed. Negative space should serve the intended copy placement, not merely shrink the subject. Photograph product details separately so flexibility does not eliminate useful visual information.
Keep masters separate from exports
Retain an approved high-quality master and export the required ratios and file sizes for each destination. Website delivery considers loading performance; print requirements should be confirmed separately with the designer or printer. Avoid repeatedly deriving new assets from compressed social downloads or expecting every recipient to interpret one oversized file.
Review the rendered result
Some layouts crop to fill a frame; others display the entire image with surrounding space. Check phone, desktop, list and detail views for subject placement, text overlap and distortion. Social interfaces and specifications change, so verify the current publishing preview rather than relying indefinitely on a fixed dimensions chart.
Label files and describe the image
Name exports by subject, placement, ratio and revision, distinguishing a website banner from a vertical social crop. Provide a short description of the subject and relevant context for accessible website text. A delivery map helps colleagues choose the right file and preserves intentional composition when images are replaced later.
A quick commissioning checklist
- Are phone and desktop cropping behaviours known?
- Are masters retained with separate placement exports?
- Do descriptions and filenames support future maintenance?