Are Stock Photos Still Worth Using in 2024?

What is stock photography?

Stock photography is a cache of photographs and images created by third-party professional photographers and designers intended for use by other companies. You can access stock photography via several channels: 

• Marketplace sites: Marketplace sites like Bigstock, Shutterstock and Envato offer inexpensive stock photography options. For example, Bigstock allows you to access 150 images per month for $79 (53 cents per image).
• Canva and Adobe: Software platforms like Canva and Adobe include access to stock imagery in their monthly software packages.
• Text message platforms: Many of the best text message marketing services offer stock photographs for clients to use in MMS messages.
• Free sources: Public domain images are available online. They’re free to use because they’re not subject to copyright restrictions.

If you want something truly original, you can buy very high-quality stock photography for exclusive use on your site; no other company can use that image without your permission. However, licenses for single images can cost thousands of dollars. Since the image was not taken specifically for your company, it may still be generic and not reflect your brand well.

What are the problems with stock photography?

In this digital era, online visuals are crucial. For example, images are integral if you use Instagram for business or want to take advantage of Facebook marketing strategies. And photos are critical if you want to start selling online via an e-commerce store. Because images matter so much, businesses often turn to stock photography to populate their websites and social platforms, even though these images are often impersonal and generic. However, this can be a big mistake for the following reasons: 

1. Stock photography is cliched.

The stock imagery in drugstore photo frames aims to make you visualize your own family photo in the frame. However, these pictures often inspire laughter and mockery because they’re unnatural and unoriginal. 

The same concept holds true for online stock photography for business purposes. These images all too frequently consist of white men in suits shaking hands or huddled around a computer. They’re not unique, often don’t reflect your business and values, and don’t resonate with customers. 

2. Stock photography is overused.

Meet Jennifer Anderson — if you haven’t already. After posing for a photo shoot in the 1990s, she became known as “The Everywhere Girl.” Why, you ask? Because she started showing up in advertisements everywhere. Anderson was seen in ads for Dell, Visa, HP, Microsoft, AAA, the BBC, the U.S. Navy, a handful of colleges and universities, and more. In other words, she was overused.

While this may seem like an extreme case, it demonstrates that you have no control over where else the stock imagery you use appears unless you pony up for the exclusive rights. Oversaturation significantly dilutes a photo’s intended purpose.

3. Stock photography is out of touch.

Photographers and designers don’t create stock images for your business’s specific purposes, unique selling proposition or marketing campaign goals. Instead, they create images with a connection to a basic idea. The smiling faces of two men shaking hands in a corporate boardroom may seem good enough to represent your general point, but it won’t capture the subtle nuances and unique qualities that make your company different. 

Stock photography can’t convey your business’s specific message because it wasn’t created for it. These images rarely add value to your content and may make your company seem dated and out of touch.

4. Stock photography looks fake and inauthentic.

Someone visiting the website of a financial advisor in Ohio will likely know the picture of the New York skyline on their About page isn’t actually the office’s backdrop. So why use it? 

There is nothing to gain by misrepresenting your business, even in a background image. Regardless of their demographic, your target audience wants honesty, authenticity and business transparency. The juxtaposed logos, forced cropping and overdramatized facial expressions endemic in modern stock photography just don’t resonate with audiences.

5. Stock photography often misses the mark on diversity and inclusion.

Business owners often want to show that they prioritize workplace diversity and inclusion. However, for decades, many stock photos focused on white people, even when they depicted cartoon-like graphics and not real-life humans. Fortunately, stock photography is changing and incorporating more inclusive imagery. For example, Getty Images has over 1.5 million photos in its “​​diversity and inclusion” and “diversity business” categories, as well as a DE&I imagery toolkit and a guide on inclusive visual storytelling. 

Still, many stock imagery sources have a slew of photos that miss the mark on diversity and inclusion and may not accurately represent your business, its customers and your values. 

What are alternatives to stock photography?

Investing in quality imagery is a crucial way to improve your digital marketing ROI. Consider the following stock photo alternatives that can help you create a unique, robust content strategy.

1. Hire a professional photographer.

A professional photographer can create custom images for Instagram, website product pages, email marketing campaigns and printed materials. While professional photographers are an investment, you can limit costs by creating a monthly content plan outlining every image you need. If possible, schedule your photographer to do the work all in one day. The result should be unique, high-resolution images taken with professional techniques and equipment.

2. Hire a talented graphic designer.

Graphic designers are experts at creating images from scratch and blending various elements from high-quality stock photos to produce unique visuals that properly represent your brand. Turning basic stock images into custom visuals can effectively breathe life into your content and show your value as a company. 

A graphic designer can also help you create a brand image, from colors and fonts to perspectives. Having an entirely unique visual style will make your company appear distinctive and authentic — two advantages competitors using unedited stock photos won’t have.

3. Use customers in your images.

User-generated content is an increasingly popular way to add content to your website and social platforms. When customers submit images of your products in use, you gain authenticity that money can’t buy. 

Encourage your brand ambassadors and fans to send in pictures of themselves with your products and post them on your website and social media platforms. Provided you have their permission to share the images, this is a great way to showcase real people at virtually no cost.

4. Find a stock photo no one else is using.

There may be times you find a stock image that’s incredibly visually appealing and isn’t being used everywhere. If you come across what you think is the perfect stock photo, conduct a Google Images search to determine how many times the photo has appeared online. If it’s unique enough and represents your business goals well, inquire about buying the exclusive rights for that picture. 

When are stock photos worth using?

Though stock photography has significant downsides, there are instances when well-considered stock image usage can work for your business. Consider the following instances where using stock photos works: 

• Stock photos that accompany blog posts: While you should avoid using stock photos for the bulk of your website images, your blog is a notable exception. Typically, successful business blogs post several new articles a week. Hiring a photographer for each post’s specific image needs isn’t cost-effective. A thoughtfully selected and manipulated stock image can help drive your post’s message home and make it more readable. Don’t go overboard — just one stock photo per post is plenty.
• Stock photos as collage elements: When your graphic designer creates a collage to use for the web or print, using a few stock photos as elements is permissible — as long as they’re not overused, cliched (we’re looking at you, pictures of business people shaking hands) or very prominent. Talented graphic designers can take generic images and create something entirely new by using color layers, graphic elements and text overlays. 
• Unique, rarely used stock photos: Not all stock photos are wooden images of business people smiling, and not all stock photography sites are heavily used. Several stock photo sites feature images from up-and-coming photographers looking for exposure. Lesser-known stock image sources include Pexels, Pixabay and Dreamstime. You may even be able to use some photos for free if you provide the photographers with attribution.
• Stock photos of animals and nature without people: Overused stock photography is instantly recognizable. However, stock nature images are often indistinguishable from custom photography. For example, if you have a website that sells honey and honey-based products, using stock photos of bees or flowers would work well — these images likely wouldn’t differ much from pictures you took yourself. 

What makes for good images?

Not all commercial photography is the same. For example, fashion photography is very different from food photography. To get inspiration for your company’s visual imagery, examine how your competitors use photos and images. What can you learn from them? What is standard in your industry, and what would stand out in a good or bad way? 

After getting a good idea of the types of photos that work well for your industry, consider the following tips to ensure you’re crafting the best possible images:

• Remember who the star of the photo is. Whatever else is in your image, ensure attention is not drawn away from the central subject, whether a product or person. For example, if advertising your company’s plumbing services, focus on the service professional or your advanced plumbing tools.
• Put products into context. Take photos that capture the lighting and background of the locations where customers typically use your product. For example, a consumer would expect to see a crockpot on a kitchen counter or an outside table on the backyard patio.
• Take professional photos of your staff. Your company is made up of real people, so showcase them instead of relying on stock images of nameless strangers. It’s worth hiring a professional photographer to take employee portraits and action shots.
• Ensure everything is in the frame. The photo should capture all relevant elements of the product, person or scene. For example, if you’re taking a portrait image, the person’s head, hair and clothing should stay within the frame instead of appearing cut off.
• Collect more photos than you need from many angles. You can take photos for your business yourself, but if you’re not a professional photographer, you know that many images will be duds even with your camera mounted on a tripod. Use varying perspectives and take more pictures than you think you’ll need. You’ll have a better chance of ending up with something worthwhile.
• Expand your photography skills. Add to your skill set as a business owner by taking a course in photography and image manipulation. You’ll be able to take excellent photos without hiring a photographer or graphic designer. You can even take a class on using Photoshop, which can help you produce professional-quality imagery relatively inexpensively.