That Stock Photo? It Doesn’t Have To Suck!

And yes, before I even get started with the content, I’m being ironical in my selection of this particular stock photo for this publish!

Pretty much every day I see something about stock photos in one of my feeds. It’s usually one of two things:

1. Lamenting the levels of stock photo suckitude
2. Sharing links to gather up “the best” freebie stock

With that in mind, it seemed about time to dig a little deeper into this topic.

Stock Photos? They Don’t Have To Suck!

Let me let you in on a little secret. I use stock photos every day. Not so secret, actually. I’ve always fessed up to this. I don’t have the time, or the inclination – if I’m being honest, right now to head out daily to seek and shoot my own photos for my featured images and social media images.

Shocker! I’m often complimented on my branded images, even though the base image came from a stock photo site.

Guess what? Some of your other favorite bloggers and designers? They use stock photos, too!

Your brand imagery – even if you need to use stock photos, can be bang-a-langin’, if you just put a little time, effort and energy into ensuring you make the most of the best that stock photography has to offer.

And I’m not going to leave you hanging. I’m going to share some ways to select better stock images and bump up their impact!

[clickToTweet tweet=”BETTER stock photos? Dig deeper than the first page of search results, ding-dang-it!” quote=”Choosing BETTER stock photos? Dig a little deeper than the first page of search results, ding-dang-it!”]

Search Smarter & Harder!

Want to know why you often see the same stock photo over and over AND over? Because the people who search for stock images are, for the most part, lazy.

They type in a simple search, like sunset, and then they choose the very first image that shows up in the search. Sort of stymies creativity and exclusivity, huh?

Want to select better stock photos? Spend a little more time and smarts on the search.

Spend more time! Go through more than the first few rows of images. Sometimes that stellar stock photo is back on page six!

Smarten that search! Consider your search term. Say you started out with sunset, but you’re not finding exactly what you want. Consider adding to the search. How about beach sunset? Or lake sunset? Not wanting the water? Consider mountain sunset.

Investing a little extra time, or smartening up rather generic search terms can go a long way when it comes to choosing and using better stock photos.

Pay For Them!

If you pony up a little cash, chances are better that you’ll get a better image.

You don’t have to break the bank. You can purchase stock photos for $1 to $10, which, depending on how often you need to use them, I find quite affordable.

I buy about 50% of the stock photos I use. When my smart searching doesn’t turn up anything smashingly suitable on my chosen free sites, I pull out the credit card and prepare to pay.

While a large population of stock photo users are lazy, there’s an equally large part of the population that’s cheap. Meaning they don’t want to part with a dime. Pair that with lackadaisical searching and you see why there are so many repeats!

Aside: And when I say purchase photos, I mean something that actually works with your brand and business. NOT some “stylized” photo of “your” desk sprinkled with sparkly glitter, opened lipstick (how freaking unsanitary – especially if your cats, office assistants, traipse across it all day), and perfectly balanced thumbtacks (just waiting to embed themselves into your palm or foot – once the aforementioned cats knocks them down).

If it wasn’t immediately obvious. I’m not a fan of this prevailing pretty imagery passion.

Make ‘Em Your Own!

Many stock photo sites allow you to do whatever you want to the images, while some have more strict guidelines regarding use and attribution. It’s important that you read and completely understand the site’s terms of service, and, if necessary, each photographers terms of use.

If you’re sure that you’re allowed to edit and alter that stock photo, what’s stopping you? Why would you slap it up on your site without giving it a branded personal stamp?

I have templates (more than one, I’m kind of template happy) for each type of image I create. Be it for my blog posts, Instagram, Pinterest, what have you. With the use of a subtle patterned image overlay, a wash of color, some strategically placed text and the addition of my logo, you know it’s a Go Creative Go design immediately upon viewing.

But how do I do this? Don’t worry, I’m going to be sharing some tutorials soon.

You can do this with free tools like Canva, to a limited degree, or you can decide to invest in your business and your brand and pony up the bank to take it to the next level (that’s my suggest, BTW).

Show Off Your Awesome Stock Photo Creations!

With a little time, care and effort – and possibly a few bucks, you can create stunning graphics for your blog and social media accounts, even if you use stock photos.

Stop using and abusing the same old sad stock photos and you’ll stand out from the crowd!