Stock Photos on Your Website

When I got this fine header in my email from graphic designer Jay Jaro, I had a moment of "huh?" I hadn't been imagining a stock photo in this image, and I wasn't sure I liked it.

Fortunately, I'd just had a conversation with designer Tom Hapgood on the subject of prejudice against stock photos. I was therefore able to step back and respond more rationally.

Do you have the same problem?

In my conversation with Tom, I'd actually been on the side of stock photos. We have a shared client who doesn't like them, but who is also having some trouble getting photos together for the site we're working on. Stock photos can be a great solution in a case like this.

I'd agreed that the client wouldn't want images of people pretending to be their workers, but suggested that we could use nature photos, like the one used below by designer Miriam Hudson-Courtney.  It doesn't matter, it seems to me, whether this is some butterfly we know and love, or whether it's a complete stranger. The message is the same.








And that, I think, is the issue to consider when you're thinking about stock photos, and the source of the distaste some people feel for them.

In discussing this issue when my own site was being designed, I said quite firmly that I didn't want a shot of two models conferring seriously over a piece of paper. It seemed to me that these photos are unconvincing. Visitors don't think that the model getting way too excited over your product is really you, or really your customer.  I felt that there was, in stock photos of people, an unavoidable element of inauthenticity.

A butterfly, regardless of who took the photo, is a symbol in our culture of freshness and transformation. Miriam's butterfly image is designed to say, "Look how fresh these plans are!" It is no less effective because that particular butterfly came from a stock photo site.

Let's re-examine Jay's design from that point of view. This is obviously a model -- she's standing there holding a light bulb and grinning, not something most of us do in the course of a normal day. In his other variation, which you see below, she is listening to the light bulb, or perhaps transferring its ideas to her brain through osmosis.









In other words, there is no pretense that this image represents a quick snapshot in the office at FreshPlans. It uses the light bulb, a common symbol for ideas in our culture, and an image that accurately represents the primary audience for this website: young professional women. It is as clear in its message as the butterfly.

A few months after my website went live I had a client who wanted a picture of the author and the designer of the website for the company blog. Ironically enough, designer Shan Pesaru and I made her a picture of the two of us, conferring seriously over a laptop screen. It was essentially the picture I had rejected so strongly for my website -- except that, since it wasn't a stock picture, we weren't as well lit and don't look nearly as enthusiastic. It was a snaphot in the office, and it's a good image of what I do.

I don't regret not using that stock image on my website. I've learned that many people think the models in stock images are actually the people who work for the company that owns the website, and I think there could easily have been a false impression created. I also rejected a shot of wadded up paper -- "I'm not that kind of writer," I said at the time, and I'm not. I do have a stock image, though -- antique typewriter keys. Designer Ashley Cox found an image that implied writing, worked with the design vision of the site, and didn't suggest anything that wasn't true, because no one expects me to be using a typewriter.

You can do the same for your site. When you consider using a stock image, think of what it communicates. If the image it creates in your visitor's mind is authentic, then it isn't inauthentic to to use a stock photo -- and it's very likely to be a better picture than the office snapshot.

Read more on this topic:
"Where Should You Get Pictures for Your Website?"

Labels: images, web content