I am wondering about the down shots on a lot of the web hosts sites I've seen lately. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, its the photos of men and women, where the camera is above them, and they are looking up. The depth of field gives the shots an elongated look. Personably I find the photos unprofessional. Any comments on why so many use them?

Thank you
Jason Miller:homer:

3 sites that I love the look are this http://www.envisionhost.com/
http://www.sharpwebinnovations.com http://www.jaunarajs.com/cfoxhost.com/ (this is the old Chuck Fox site actual VO staff)

I didnt see any on those site, I mean like the dude with glasses on this page

http://fireflyhosting.com/

A downshot of a sexy lady in office gear; Makes me want to go and get web hosting
:D :D

NOT

Originally posted by Ihoppoet
The depth of field gives the shots an elongated look. Personably I find the photos unprofessional.From a photographic standpoint I don't think there's anything unprofessional about the photos themselves. From a web design standpoint, though, I think that the fact that they have become so commonplace has made them a design cliche to be avoided.

By the way, it's not depth of field that gives them "an elongated look," that's a function of perspective and angle of view. It's the depth of field that allows their entire bodies to appear to be in focus. A shallow depth of field would mean, for example, that the head would be in focus but the feet would not.

mediatemple (http://mediatemple.net)

:cool:

http://fireflyhosting.com/
is this a reseller? anyone sign up for this service? please give comment on this

Those photographs taken from above to give that weird foreshortening effect to people started with the dotcoms, usually on their about us page, the whole staff would be photographed that way, they are as dotcommie trendy as blue shirts, razor scooters and Aeron chairs.

Apparently ad agencies love that look because I've noticed them everywhere now, not just web hosts and other web sites, but print ads as well.

Like every other trend, this too shall pass.

It is just to give the page depth and give the page visual interest. Flat text and images get you a flat look. The same was true in the 70's with 3-D text, in the 80's with bizarre colors (painful really), and in the 90's with drop shadow, and now those are considered to be some pretty knarly design taboos.

well I maybe self ading this...but I love what my designer just did for my site

<<MOD EDIT: Errrr.. a bit too over the top there.>>

Its pretty much standard HR (human relations not hostrocket) policy to have pictures of peoples faces on a website that is trying to sell something, especially where it is a service where people may worry about being able to get ahold of a human being instead of a computer in times of need.

Most big corporate sites that are trying to put out the image of being 'down to earth' or 'easily accessible' will have this done as its proven to make people feel more confortable when ordering online because they subconsciously associate a face with the website.

This goes on alot more but i have other stuff to do :)

-Brendan