Stock Photos and Blogging

Are graphics important on the web? Well, without them we would effectively have websites that read like newspapers, and I don’t know about you, but I need something to break up long blocks of text on a screen…

Yet we aren’t all professional photographers, can afford one, or, have the experience and knowledge that goes into sourcing appropriate imagery for our businesses.

In this post I’m going to talk more about why there are considerations to make when using stock photos and blogging, give you ideas on how to make your image selections, and where to look!

Why photos are used in blogging

You could probably guess the reasons why photos are used on websites, but let’s take a closer look at why these are important in a blog post:

1. Helps break up long blocks of text
2. Eases focus and flow for the reader
3. Gives additional visual context

Photos can help break up long blocks of text

As I mentioned earlier in this post, lots of text without anything to break it up can be tough to consume as a reader.

In typography, elements like headings, text formatting, font selection, lists, and blockquotes all help to break up paragraphs of text. In some cases this might even be enough for a shorter blog post or news update.

In longer posts, however, no break from text can intimidate users who weren’t prepared for some heavy reading in their near future… (Listen, I use tl;dr: for a reason!)

Photos can help ease the reader’s focus, affecting the flow of information

When photos are included on a page it can help draw the reader’s focus to these visual features, leading them further through the content. 

By intentionally drawing the reader’s attention you can have some control over the brief pieces of information they take-in, which can be especially beneficial if you’re able to provide your own branded graphics.

Photos can provide additional context

Images like infographics, graphs, or other data can support the content you’re writing about and build trust with your readers, by lending third-party evidence and source material to the topic you’re writing about.

When stock photos come into play

It can be expensive to retain original, professional photography, especially if you’re someone who publishes more than one blog post per month. So, when you can’t yet commit to the ideal option, you have to make due with what you have:

What are stock photos?

In Scenario A, you have hired me to come to your business to take photos of your handmade products. This is custom photography. You pay for a service which results in a specified number of images for you to use, as needed.

In Scenario B, I upload enhanced photographs I took on my last trip to the botanical gardens to my website as free stock photo downloads for anybody to use as needed. You visit my website, download these photos, and edit your products into them. You acquire a previously-existing product (image) and use as-is or customize as needed.

Essentially, databases of previously shot photos are available to download and use as source material for a variety of means, depending on the end user.

There are both paid/premium stock sites and free ones. In both cases, you must adhere to a license agreement in how you obtain and use these assets.

💡 Tip: Free stock photos will typically be more widely used, so prepare that your selections will be used by others around the world. However, even paid stock sites that sell licenses to premium photo selections may not have a download limit for their assets either, so these can still be widely used.

Selecting stock photos

For those of us in the industry, there are what we would call “stereotypical stock photos” and I think you might recognize them too.

The team of smiling faces standing in a staggered line, thumbs-upping the camera, the business handshake, *any* word written out in keyboard keys or on a whiteboard…

Now, in some cases, these might actually work. 

But, I would argue that a photo of your actual team is preferable to everyone, and that there is less stopping you from an arts and crafts day to take overhead photos of your own putting together of words with different items than you might think! And… it only takes a third person or a tripod to take a photo of you and someone else having the ultimate handshake, just saying.

Though… I’d also sound a little bit like a hypocrite because I myself use stock photos in my blog posts. So with THAT being said, here are some recommendations I have for you when it comes to stock photos and blogging:

Refer to your on-page text for ideas

I don’t know about you but I thoroughly enjoy it when I notice an accompanying photo or graphic that refers back to the copy I’ve read on the page. I find these little gems are often where I see the author’s personality come through.

In my article about how to choose the best domain name, I used a featured image of a totally cool lady in her senior years doing the dab. I assume that someone out there who has eyeballed it has wondered what on Earth I was thinking… but if you read the post, I use a made-up business called Great Granny Gables and well, to me, these are gold!

Do they make sense at first? Nah. But I like that. You can get creative, and add humour or context to the captions you include with these stock photos.

In another example, 3 questions to ask before requesting a new website quote, I included a stock photo of a person holding a blank business card with this caption: “I’m sure that most people using this stock photo by Angela Roma are photoshopping something onto the blank business card shown, but I am rebelling. To show you what having no brand looks like, visually.”

Why? Because my article talks about the importance of having a brand strategy. Visually, I felt that including the stock photo as is, was stronger at making a point. In a completely different scenario, I may have wanted something to stand out on that business card.

Decreasing the amount of search results

What I think happens when we see a lot of the same stock photos being used, is that either the choice is too obvious, or the sheer amount of results were overwhelming with selections made from the results of the first page or two.

Use filters to streamline your search

Depending on the stock photo repository site you are using there may be additional filters beyond keywords that you can use to streamline your search:

I filter by colour when I search for stock photos for my website. My brand relies a lot on shades due to (my favourite colour) being difficult to make accessible. So while a lot of the interactive elements on my website are grey, black and white, I select only stock photos with orange and yellow in them to ensure that component of my brand is represented.

Exclude portrait or vertical oriented images

Typically, landscape or horizontal oriented images are used on websites because taller images require additional scrolling. 

While there are some use cases for vertical or portrait shots, depending on the website layout or if you’re cropping that photo, featured images are usually in landscape mode.

If you don’t have a specific need for a vertical photo in your blog, you can decrease the amount of search results you get by completely omitting photos that are too tall or not wide enough.

Use collections or lists

Sometimes when I am browsing for stock photos for a particular use, I’ll see something that reminds me of another use-case or an entirely different site altogether.

If your stock photo site of choice has the functionality to create more than one bookmark list, use it to separate your projects or use-cases.

I rarely have the time to source a stock photo when I need it, which is why I try to keep a little collection to select from, so I don’t have to do intense searches each time I’m ready to draft up a blog post.

💡 Tip: If you need to share stock photo ideas prior to any selections being made (especially important if you’re purchasing a license to use said photo), you can often share these collections via URL, which is helpful if you find yourself in the position of decision by committee!

Select a theme for your site

To limit or hone in on your options further, you could impose restrictions on yourself by choosing a theme to follow when it comes to selecting imagery for your website.

Similar to how I only choose orange/yellow stock photos, you could go with your brand colours, or only use black and white photography if your site is already quite colourful by design.

People vs no people, or by number of people

You may opt to go one of two routes and commit to only using stock photos that have people in them. Some businesses and organizations who have strong focuses on community, leadership, mentorship, or relationships will specify certain stock photos to be used to ensure people remain of importance.

Others may opt to purposely not have any people in their photos and only focus on landscapes, inanimate objects, or abstracts.

Finding ways to align with your brand

If you already have some kind of graphical asset in place within your brand, whether in your print material, or social media, you may be able to bring this idea into your stock photo searches.

When I think of brands or individuals who favour pastels or florals, I consider a certain look to their stock photos. They may contain those elements themselves, or align with spring or summer, or feelings of ‘flowing’, ‘free’, ‘feminine’, ‘growth’, and ‘journey’.

It isn’t to make it sound cliche but rather to entice you to think about the overall aesthetic you’re providing to your reader. 

Here are some additional examples:

• A butcher shop only using photos that have a wood (cutting board) grain included
• A floral shop only using photos that have a solid colour background so flowers can be edited in easily
• Choosing to use only illustrations vs real-life photographs
• Black and white vs colour
• Only using happy, smiling faces vs anything that gives off negative vibes
• An early educator only using photos with children’s toys in them
• Selecting to use photos from one specific photographer, with their own style

Consider thinking outside the box, but not so far out that any correlation is lost!

Important considerations to remember

I’d like to share a couple of things that have come up that can be uncomfortable conversations to have, but are absolutely worth having, and yes I am talking about diversity and inclusion.

If you’re including visuals on your website of people who are meant to represent your audience, make sure you’re representing everyone equally.

Of course, it depends on the business or use-case, but there have been discovery meetings where I have asked why all photos on a website were only of one race, one gender, or a complete absence of anyone with a disability.

Almost always it was an oversight and there is an eagerness to learn and resolve, however, it doesn’t stop with representation in stock photos. You should also consider if any graphical elements or inclusions carry a different meaning to someone who isn’t yourself. 

A symbol, icon, or feature may represent an entirely different history, story, or effort to one group of people than it does to another.

Where to find quality stock photos

You know what to do, to the search engines! But I can also list some of the most popular stock photo websites:

• Pexels
• Pixabay
• Shutterstock
• iStock
• Envato
• Unsplash
• Getty Images

💡 Tip: If you have an existing account with software like Adobe, Figma or Canva, you may also have access to their stock photo libraries. Sometimes these repositories are pulled from existing free libraries, so it’s important to be aware of the licensing and terms of use in all use cases.

Stock photo terms and licenses

For each stock photo site I included above, I linked to their license agreement pages so that you can get a quick look at how they read, and what to expect. Look out for these details when reviewing the terms of use:

• Commercial vs non-commercial licenses
• Royalty-free stock photos
• Copyright-free and public domain
• Extended licenses
• When to give credit to stock photographers

Royalty-free stock photos

When stock photos are labelled as royalty-free (RF) it typically means that while you can expect to pay a one-time fee to purchase the license to use the stock photo, you will not have to pay any ongoing royalties or fees each time you use the image.

It does not mean that there are no restrictions on the use of the image though, so you should still read the terms carefully.

Copyright-free stock photos

When stock photos are labelled as copyright-free (or public domain) it means that the images are free to use, no fees or royalties. Again, that doesn’t mean that there are no restrictions. Manage accordingly.

Extended licenses for stock photos

Most standard stock photo licenses will specify that you cannot reproduce the image at high-volume or resell.

Extended licenses grant additional benefits such as unlimited reproduction (print runs), creation of derivative products, or in some cases, possible exclusivity.

Giving credit when using stock photos

The terms of use for some stock photos may include having to provide attribution to the photographer. Others will ask for the referral, optionally.

To provide credit, you can usually do this within the captions when using stock images and blogging. Some authors will make a credit inclusion at the end of their articles, with any citations or additional references.

My general rule of thumb is that if I am downloading a public domain stock photo, I will include a credit in the image caption. However, when purchasing a license or paying royalty-free, editing an original, etc. I likely won’t include one.

💡 Tip: Watch out for the terms of use in stock repository sites where you pay a monthly or annual membership access to download stock assets. While you may be able to download what you like, you may need to specify the use case of each download request. For example, if you select a stock photo to use on your blog but then want to use that same image on a brochure, you may need to download it a second time and assign it as a separate license use case.

Custom visuals are better than stock

In a perfect world, we would all be using our own custom, original visual content. It gives us all of the opportunity to provide better context, branding consistency, and distinctiveness!

“Content without context is noise.”

As I discussed earlier, you shouldn’t select any ole photo to throw on your web pages, but it can be difficult to source a stock graphic that fits perfectly with what you’re looking for. This is why it’s so beneficial to create your own content.

With you in control of the subject matter of each visual, you can align everything on your website to be as cohesive and complementary as you need.

Sometimes, a photo might not be what you need – or is proving too difficult to include. You really just need an alternative graphical element on the page that fits in with your copy (text). 

These alternative visual elements could be:

• Graphs or data visualization
• Infographics
• Alternately styled text box for featured content
• Using and styling block-quotes, lists, dividers, or buttons

Think about how you can strengthen your content, or get creative in how you tell your on-page story.