Your generated site starts with quality stock photos — good enough to launch, but your own photos are what make visitors trust you. Swapping them in takes minutes, and there are two ways to do it: ask the AI, or put your photo in by hand.
If the photo is right but the wrong part of it shows, see Move or zoom a photo so the right part shows.
Ask the AI
The AI can put in one of your own photos from your Media library (it sees your 20 newest), or find a stock photo for you. It can't see the photos on your computer — upload those to your Media library first, or use the steps in the next section.
- In the sidebar, click Edit Site.
- Click the section that holds the photo, then tell the AI what you want:
- "Use my truck photo in the hero" — it puts in your own photo and tells you which one it used. If more than one of your photos could fit, it uses the newest or asks you which. If none of them matches what you asked for, it leaves the photo as it is and tells you, and if one of your photos has only the name your phone gave it (like IMG_4502.jpg), it asks whether that's the one.
- "Change the hero photo to a kitchen renovation" — it finds a stock photo.
- "Swap the third gallery photo for a team at work"
The AI knows your photos by their title, alt text, description, file name, tags and folder, not by looking at them. Give a photo a title in your Media library, or click AI Write there (about 1 AI credit a photo), and it's easier to ask for by name.
Upload a photo yourself
- In the editor, click the section that holds the photo you want to change.
- In the section's settings, find the image. On a gallery it's the Photos list — click the one you want to replace. On the hero (the big top section) it's usually Background Image (heroes with several photos label each slot instead); most other sections have an Image field.
- Click Change (or the Add link if the slot is empty).
- Pick the Upload tab and choose the file from your computer. My Photos shows your most recent Media library photos, so anything you've added there is one click away.
- When you've finished uploading your photos and you're happy with how the page looks, click Publish in the top-right, then Publish Live (or Publish Changes once your site is live).
Photos need to be JPG, PNG, or WebP, and under 10 MB — if your photo doesn't appear after you choose the file, that's usually why. If yours came off an iPhone as HEIC, convert it to JPG first.
If there's no Photos list
Some galleries pull their pictures straight from a Media library folder instead of holding them one by one. In that section's settings, look at Image Source:
- From folder — the photo list is hidden on purpose. Pick a folder in the Folder dropdown (on All photos the gallery keeps the pictures it already has), then upload your photos into that folder from the Media library. Or switch to Pick images to choose them one by one.
- Pick images — the Photos list is there; follow the steps above.
Start with the photos visitors see first
Start with the hero (the big top image) and your gallery: those are what visitors judge you by. Right after your site is built, Zarla may offer Add Photos. On a computer it opens Replace Stock Photos, a list of the stock photos on your pages with a Replace button on each (the same picker: My Photos, Upload, Search). On a phone it opens your Media library. On a site that is already built, use the two ways above.
Get the photos in first
Batch-upload your real photos to the Media library first — then every swap is just picking them from My Photos.