Adding photos

Photos are the single biggest thing that makes your site feel like your church. The design is ready. The photos make it yours.

Real beats stock, every time

People can tell. A stock photo of a smiling crowd that is not your crowd says "we did not have anyone take pictures." A slightly imperfect phone photo of your actual people on Sunday says "this is us, come see." Use your own.

What to shoot

• Wide shots of the room during worship, from the back and from the side.
• People greeting each other, kids laughing, hands raised, prayer at the altar.
• The pastor preaching, waist up, with light on the face.
• The outside of your building and the front door, in daylight.
• For Canvas: one waist-up portrait on any plain wall, in clothing that contrasts with the wall. The site cuts it out.

Ask permission before you publish a photo of a child, and get it from a parent. The help footer on your site tells visitors how to ask for a photo to be removed; honor those requests quickly.

Sizes

Upload the largest version you have. We resize for the web. If you want numbers:

• Wide photos (hero, section backgrounds): at least 1600 pixels wide, landscape.
• Portraits and team photos: at least 800 pixels wide, portrait or square.
• Logo: SVG is best. PNG with a transparent background is next. At least 600 pixels wide.

Photos can be JPG, PNG, WebP or AVIF, up to 15 MB each. SVG is accepted for your logo only. If your phone shoots HEIC, share the photo to yourself as a JPG first.

How to upload

In the editor, every photo field has a Replace button. Pick the file, add a short description in the Alt text box (what is in the picture, for people who cannot see it), and press Publish. The old photo is kept in history.

If a photo looks dark or stretched

Some templates apply a color treatment (mono, warm, fire) so every photo matches the design. That is intentional. If a photo is cropped badly, try a wider shot; the design chooses the crop around the center.