Stock Photos. We’ve all used them.
Myself included and much like a takeaway at the weekend, we know it is not really good for us but we go ahead with it anyway.
This might sound a little bit hypocritical coming from me, I mean just look through some of my older posts. True I have used a ‘few’ stock photos both in my writing and professional career, but I have learned a few things along the way.
What I have learned and honestly still trying to put into practice within my writing is there is a time and a place for stock photos.
I have shared below what I have learned so far, to help improve how you use visuals in your writing.
- Avoid commonly used Stock Photos.
- Find an image style and stick with it.
- Edit existing Stock Photos.
- Use your own imagery (when you can)
- Make it relevant
Avoid commonly used Stock Photos.
If you are going to use a Stock Photo maybe try and avoid using some of the first you come across. Have a look through other articles on Medium and other platforms and after some quick research, you will be able to see what is being overused.
Find an image style and stick with it.
Try and find an image style that works for you. Taking a leaf from the business book, brands have guidelines, they tend to stick to a certain style, look and feel, and overall type of imagery and doing the same within your writing or personal brand, can help link specific images to you.
Edit Existing Stock Photos.
I mean that is what they are for, to be used and adjusted to fit your own style, which ties in with the previous point. You don’t need to be a professional photo editor or computer whizz kid, there are hundreds of great tutorials out there. This would be one key lesson learned from my career that you can carry over to your writing.
Here are a few tutorials and courses to get started:
- Top 5 tips before you start editing photos (YouTube)
- Photo Editing Classes Online | Skillshare
- 9 Simple Steps to Improve Your Photos (YouTube)
- How to Design Featured Images for Blog Posts (YouTube and Canva is not a bad place to start)
- There are plenty of great courses, tutorials, and advice out there, get Googling!
Use your own imagery (when you can)
What makes your writing great is because it is personal and from you, and you can do the same with your imagery. We all have modern smartphones with more than capable cameras for getting some good images, so why not use them.
Writing about your daily journal and what you learned from it? Take some pictures of your Journal, ask a friend, family member, or partner to get a photo of you writing in your journal. Making your photos more personal and unique, will make them stand out, more relevant, and personal.
Make it relevant
Writing a story around email marketing tips and advice, a stock photo of a dog in a park may not be overly relevant. Ensure when you can to make sure the images you are using add value to the story you are telling.
Before you go
First of all, don’t feel guilty for using stock photos. We all do it, heck look at Mark Manson’s YouTube channel, he takes commonly used Stock videos and adds his own personal twists, alongside his content, in a humorous way, it works.
It is worth considering some of the points above, and being more conscious of the Stock Photos you are using.
You may not have the funds like me to hire or work with a professional photographer, but that does not mean you can’t use some of your own images, and maybe in a couple of your posts reduce using generic stock photos just to fill a gap.
