Debunking the misconceptions of using stock photography
There is little doubt about the impact of visuals in the media, but what factors should influence the selection process for our brand imagery?
We’ve all been there. Do I choose Stock photography or hire a professional? These can be tough decisions that may be influenced by a variety of factors that may include budget, time constraints, and media. To help with the process, we’ve composed this quick guide to give some insight when choosing imagery for a project.
Stock Photography
Stock photography can be one of the best choices for a number of reasons. Stock images don’t require models or shooting on-location, which can help keep a project on-budget. Often very competitively priced, stock photography is available in a variety of sizes insuring optimum quality is obtained while simultaneously eliminating the headache of finding internet images that may be highly compressed, low quality, or restricted by licenses.
Additionally, stock photography licensing is fairly straight-forward since much of it is royalty-free. An image purchased from a vendor for an advertisement, can often be resized for a website and again for a brochure without having to re-purchase the image.
Professional Photography
Finally, there’s the option to have the photos professionally shot and depending on the project, this can be the best option. Professionally shot photography helps insure that the imagery is unique and exclusive, while allowing for hand-picked details including models, lighting and locations. Overall, professionally shot photography can be the best solution, though it is not always the most timely or cost-effective.
So there it is, our quick guide to aid in the image-selection process. Of course, it’s worth it to mention that merely choosing the image’s source is but one step in the process, the next step, image selection, is the most daunting of them all, often testing a designer’s patience, passion and willpower, but that, ladies and gentlemen, is a story for another day.
