Responsive images with the image-set() CSS function

Art Direction

pine trees
This image has a fixed height of 400px with the width taking the full width of the screen but having a maximum width of 1400px. It doesn't have any specific detail that it is showing to the user, hence looks good on any screen size and because the image has been set to adjust itself to cover any space it finds itself in, it doesn't look stretched on any screen size.

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

landscape view of a woman standing in front of a multi-colored wall
This image has a fixed height of 700px with the width taking the full width of the screen but having a maximum width of 1400px. Its main focus or detail to the user is the lady. Its orientation is landscaped. This image also adjusts itself to cover any space it finds itself in, but unlike the first image which looks good on any screen size, this doesn't. On smaller screens, parts of the lady get cut off and she then becomes too large for the user to view.
landscape view of a woman standing in front of a multi-colored wall
With the same image used above, we have removed the fixed height and object fit but left the width the same and its orientation is still landscaped. On different screen sizes, it maintains the same aspect ratio, adjusting the height of the image to accommodate its relative width so we can see every major and minor detail in it. We can easily view the lady in the image on larger screens but not on smaller screens.
portrait view of a woman standing in front of a multi-colored wall
If we switch the image from the landscaped orientation to a version of it in portrait orientation and use it on smaller screens, we can then easily see the details of the lady once again. But when using this same image for larger screens, it becomes too large for the user to view the image or lady at first glance.

Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash