An important design element that can give life to your site is photos. Photos can add a lot of character to the site, put visitors in the correct frame of mind to view your site, as well as help someone determine in the first five seconds if they should even bother looking at any other pages.
The most important thing regarding photos on your site is to make sure that they are optimized. This means making sure the photos are clear, properly sized, and grab attention. If photos have to be a small size to fit on your page, add on the ability for a visitor to increase the size of the photo to get a closer look if they wish. Also, do not leave blurry or unclear photos on your site. Visitors may equate your inability to take care of that small detail with the inability to accurately take care of their detailed order.