No-one can disagree that the huge popularity of stock photography has shaped the way apperance of many websites on todays modern Internet. Who can resist those ethnically diverse teams, smiling at the camera around a laptop in a modern office? How about those beautiful outdoor shots of rolling hills and bright blue sky? They are classic stock photography.

But should we think carefully about the use stock photos on our websites? Are we missing an opportunity and creating monotonous and predictable websites?

What is Stock Photography

Stock photography has gained a lot of momentum over the past 4 years. It is the term associated with professionally taken photographs that you can buy the rights to use on your website or printed material. There is a wide range of stock photography websites available online with two of the popular options being Getty and iStockPhoto.

Getty specialise in top quality and higher-end photography. They supply many of the news networks with photography for their stories. Their prices range from between £150 – £600 per image, depending on the sector and size chosen.

iStockPhoto (which is now owned by Getty) is one of the most popular galleries available and is community rather than corporate based. End users can submit their own photos for inclusion and these are then reviewed by iStockPhoto. Successful photos are available to purchase by end users and the photographer receives a commission. Costs are based on a credit system, with images based around between £1 and £15, depending on their size.

Why should I use Stock Photography?

One of the main reasons is budget. Choosing stock photography is almost always cheaper than commissioning a professional photographer to snap your employees, products or services. This does however depend on the number of photos that you are purchasing and the quality required.

Variation and range is another good reason. There are millions of stock photos available to purchase. The benefit of this is that you are more than likely to find a photo to suit your business and website.

Why shouldn’t I use Stock Photography?

We feel that one of the main problems with stock photography is repetition. Popular stock photos can be seen all over the Internet. When you buy a stock photo, you do not have the rights to use this exclusively, so you will no doubt find other websites, and possibly competitors using the same photos as you.

This undoubtably results in your website looking rather generic and convoluted. It is difficult to showcase your personality through generic photos that have been snapped from all around the world.  Sticking with the ethnically diverse team photo as above – why not show a nice photo of the actual people behind your business, rather than a staged and predictable photo like this?

Depending on the subject of your website, stock photography may not suit. If your website is very specialised or technical, you may not find any photos that suit. If this is the case, commissioning a photographer may be the only option.

Conclusion

For Strawberrysoup, using stock photography is always going to be a bit of a sticky subject. It is ultimately client dependent – are they based in a very specialised field, how many photos do they require and do they have the budget to hire a professional photographer?

For our new website, we are not going to be using stock photos. We feel that we have a brilliant team and a unique ethos – using stock photos would not do us justice. We want to showcase our team and our personality from a design and photographic perspective, rather than looking generic and like many other web design agencies out there.