Before-and-after photos are one of the most powerful marketing tools available to any aesthetic practice. They show potential patients what’s possible, help set expectations, and demonstrate the quality of your work in a way no words can.
At Etna Interactive, we’ve spent more than 20 years helping practices refine how they capture, present, and protect patient photography online. Whether you’re building your first gallery or refining an established one, these best practices can help you capture consistent, credible images that inspire trust and interest.
Why Great Before-and-After Photos Matter
Your photo galleries are often the most-viewed pages on your website. Visitors may skim text, but they’ll pause here to evaluate your results, your artistry, and ultimately, whether they can picture themselves as your next success story.
The problem? Inconsistent lighting, shifting angles, or distracting backgrounds can undermine even exceptional outcomes. Consistency and authenticity make the difference between photos that raise questions and those that build confidence.
Step 1: Create a Consistent Photography Environment
Set aside a dedicated space in your practice for patient photography. The more you control the environment, the easier it is to capture accurate, repeatable images.
Best Practices
- Choose a neutral, non-reflective background (gray, blue, or beige) that contrasts with a variety of skin tones.
- Install soft, even lighting. LED panels or ring lights placed symmetrically at face or body level work well.
- Mark your patient’s standing position with tape or a mat for consistency in distance and height.
- Keep a record of your camera settings (aperture, ISO, white balance) for future sessions.
Pro Tip: Even subtle changes in distance or lighting angle can exaggerate results. Consistency ensures your work and not your photography tells the story.
Step 2: Capture Authentic, Comparable Images
The best patient photos are honest, clear, and standardized.
Facial Procedures
- Ask patients to remove makeup and jewelry and pull hair away from their face.
- Keep expressions neutral; a smile in the “after” image can make results appear inflated.
Body Procedures
- Encourage patients to wear identical or similar garments in both sessions.
- Maintain identical posture, stance, and limb positioning.
Use the same cropping, orientation, and zoom level each time. Your “after” photos should mirror the “before” in every respect except the result.
Step 3: Use Modern Photography Equipment and Techniques
You don’t need to be a photographer to take excellent clinical photos; you just need the right setup.
Recommended Equipment
- A DSLR or mirrorless camera with an 85 mm portrait lens for natural proportions.
- A sturdy tripod to eliminate movement.
- Consistent lighting from both sides for even illumination.
- Optional: Newer smartphones can work if you use manual mode to lock focus, exposure, and white balance.
Technical Tips
- Save files as high-quality JPEGs at 3000 pixels or greater on the long edge.
- Avoid filters or automatic smoothing modes.
- Maintain a secure, HIPAA-compliant storage system for images.
- Use a keyword-rich, anonymous file name, such as before-after-tummy-tuck-denver-001.jpg.
Step 4: Protect Patient Privacy—and Strengthen Your SEO
Each image carries both ethical and marketing responsibilities.
Always:
- Obtain written consent before photographing or publishing images.
- Crop or mask identifying marks such as tattoos or jewelry.
- Exclude patient names from file names, folders, or metadata.
- Use descriptive, procedure-specific filenames to help search engines categorize your work.
- Include a short disclaimer, such as “Individual results may vary.”
Pro Tip: Search engines index file names and alt text. A simple adjustment, like renaming IMG_3024.jpg to before-after-rhinoplasty-seattle.jpg, can improve privacy and SEO simultaneously.
These photography guidelines are one part of a broader storytelling strategy that helps aesthetic practices connect authentically with potential patients. You can learn more about that approach in our guide to content marketing for medical practices.
Step 5: Showcase Your Results With Professional Presentation Tools
Consistent, well-organized images are just the beginning. How you present them online can dramatically influence engagement.
If you’re wondering how many before-and-after photos you should feature per procedure, we explore that in our post on finding the right balance between quantity and quality.
At Etna, we developed Curator B&A to make that process easier for our client partners. It’s a gallery management platform designed specifically for elective healthcare websites, helping practices organize and display their patient photography securely and beautifully.
Curator B&A highlights:
- Streamlined drag-and-drop uploader for quick case additions.
- Built-in tools for cropping, watermarking, and stitching before-and-after pairs.
- Search-friendly image optimization to help photos appear in Google’s image results.
- Responsive design for seamless mobile viewing.
- Optional AI assistance that drafts case descriptions you can easily personalize.
Practices that deploy Curator often see measurable gains in gallery traffic and engagement, but more importantly, they gain control over how their results are showcased without compromising patient privacy or brand consistency.
Pro Tip: However you manage your gallery, aim for uniform layout, consistent lighting, and quick load times. These small details translate to a smoother user experience and greater credibility.
Final Thoughts
Your before-and-after photos are more than a visual record—they’re a reflection of your brand’s precision, artistry, and transparency. By standardizing your photography process and using tools that simplify presentation, you can highlight your best work and earn the trust of future patients.
If you’d like guidance on refining your photo process or integrating a gallery solution that works seamlessly with your site, contact the team at Etna Interactive. We’re always happy to share what we’ve learned from 2 decades of helping aesthetic practices grow.
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