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Stock Images vs Custom Photography

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Have you ever heard of the saying ‘a picture paints a thousand words’? Well, it really does!

Did you know that we process visuals 60,000 faster than text?

Potential customers can tell a lot about your business just by the design of your website and what images you decide to use. To sum it up, images portray your creditability, reliability and how trustworthy you are as a business and brand. The more you are of these three things, the more someone will want to engage with you and eventually, invest in your products or services.
However, to become effective, the images must have a strong visual impact which will appeal to your target audience and portray a strong message behind them. We are hardwired to pay more attention to images than text, a website full of lovely written text won’t be as effective than a website with a mix of images and text. You may think a bright, eye-catching image is all you need but, you could be wrong. Does a bright eye-catching suit every audience? No, not all of the time.
When choosing an image to use always think about who your target audience is and the house style of your business, images make a brand more memorable, it’s stated that product and service descriptions that are displayed with high quality, striking images are remembered by 65% of viewers for up to three days!

We're living in a digital world

Here's one thing to remember, whatever image you use on your website or social media should positively impact your business. Engage with your customers, inspire them, build trust and trigger emotions – give people a reason to keep looking at your website or interact with you, you want to turn a potential customer into a fan.
Think of social media, do you remember when the only content people were posting on Facebook was statuses (written content) and have you noticed how all social media platforms are slowly converging into one another, and people are predominantly posting visual content? They’re all so similar and full of visual content because, we process that information better! I guarantee if you open Facebook right now, the first thing you’ll see is an image. On Facebook, photos have an interaction rate of 87% compared to 4% for other types of posts such as links or texts.

What are stock images?

Stock images come from a large library of photographs, graphics, videos and audio. Stock images are often used for creative projects, websites, social media posts and more to save time and money are they are generally cheaper and easier to get hold of than images created by a graphic designer or photographer. Stock images are great to use if you have certain limitations and can still get the message you want across. However, finding a really good stock image may take a while as there is so many images to search through.

What is Custom Photography?

Custom images come from professional photographers and graphic designers. Custom photography can be used for the same as stock images in creative projects, websites, social media posts and more but they take a lot more time and are a lot more money. A custom image is highly personal and will be created with just you in mind. Most people use stock images rather than professionally generated images and are completely satisfied with their decision – whatever you use, as long as the message is put across and the image gives you an accurate representation of your service or product, then it’s all down to what you personally prefer.
Bear in mind, if a customer decides to invest in your products and services and they don’t receive what it looks like on your website, then they’ll be deeply disappointed and you may receive bad reviews which will tarnish your reputation.

Pros of using Stock Images

1. Pocket Friendly Prices

Some stock image websites are completely free, some come with a weekly or monthly free trail, some you need to pay for and this could either be for a single image or you can pay for a subscription. It also all depends on what type of image you’d like to use for example, if it’s a sky line of London, then you’ll be paying sky high, compared to a simple image of an object around the house. Many stock image websites charge based on resolution, which means how clear the image is, the more pixels an image has, the more detailed the image will be.

2. Easy-to-use and Time Efficient

The time to obtain your stock image is minimal. All you need to do is decide which stock website you’re going to use, browse through the images and within a few clicks you’ll find the right image for you. Then, to get your chosen image off of the website into your documents or wherever you’d like it to go, all you need to do is download it.

3. Provides Quality and Quantity

One of the main stock websites is Adobe Stock and there’s multiple thousands of images to choose from, the filter tool can help you refine your search on size, quality, theme, colour, price and orientation. The vast variety of images available is what attracts people to use stock images and we don’t blame them.

Cons of using Stock Images

1. No Exclusivity

As to everything, there may be great positives but also great negatives. Stock images lack originality and come across as a cliché. As stock images are readily available to anyone and everyone, someone out there will use the same image as you. If you use an image to showcase a product, for example, a pair of shoes and the customer receives something which looks completely different then you’ll have one unhappy customer who may even give you negative reviews which will tarnish your reputation.

2. Not Tailored to your Business

Other businesses may have already used your image on their website. If a customer visits their website and then your websites and notices the similarities in the images you use, they may categorise you both as unauthentic and invest in one of your competitors who has better images on their website. Since stick photographs come off as ordinary, you may be limited on how distinctive you make your brand image. On your website you want to showcase your unique business, not categorise it into being generic.

3. Design Limitations

As stock images are pre-designed, you can’t change how they look or what colours you use unless you take the time to make adjustments and edit them yourself, which diminishes the factor of stock images being quick and simple. You pay for what you get, your website may look mismatched if the images you use don’t look similar or have the same colours and ideas - it's very easy to spot a stock image.

Pros of using Custom Photography

1. Memorable Visuals

Custom images show your web visitor that you have taken the time and are dedicated to making your business look professional, your potential customers will notice this and therefore feel that whatever service or product you provide them will also take time and dedication. Presentation of your business is of the utmost importance, if they are not up to scratch you will lose the investments of your customers. So, while it’s easier to download a stock image it’s essential to remember that a professional photographer or graphic designer will overall, increase the look of your business.

2. Validate Accuracy of Products & Services

When a professionally created image is used to promote a product or service, it can increase your conversion rates up to 35%. Custom images employ confidence in your written text by providing the customer with consistent, accurate representations of how a product or service may look.

3. Consistency in Quality and Tone

A professional photographer or graphic designer will treat you individually, so the final end product is catered to you and no one else. You want your images to fit your business style, it makes you stand out from the crowd and identifiable, it has a personal touch, gives you control over how people view your brand and enhances your customers user experience, they’ll relate a certain style or colour to your business – making you pop up in their mind.

Cons of using Custom Photography

1. Time Restraints

Unlike the quick and easy method of getting images through stock, a professional photographer or graphic designer can typically take on average, somewhere between 2 – 6 weeks. Of course, the professional will try and get the finished product to you as soon as possible, however, it’s still a very long time to wait for just a few images. Planning also has to take place and for them to make or take the images, the process is lengthy, but sometimes well worth the wait, depending on your requirements.

2. The cost may outweigh the benefits

Having beautifully produced images that look fantastic might be great but were they worth it? Website photography usually costs around £35 - £150 for each individual image, and that’s without the extra cost of set up time or to cover the travel costs for the photographer. For small business particularly, when budgets are limited, this may be too expensive.

3. Your business concept may not be fully conveyed

A professional photographer or graphic designers work will be high quality and may look fantastic, but does it fit all of your expectations? Is it truly matched to what you had in your mind, has your vision been achieved? A professional’s job is to work personally with you to ensure that you experience a high level of satisfaction but sometimes it’s hard to tell people what you really want, leaving you with results you’re not fully happy with. 

How to find Stock Images

If you’re thinking about getting some images for your website or social media pages have a look at the following. Pixabay, Dreamstime, Pexels and Unsplash are 100% free, you can also have a free 7-day trial for Shutterstock but, just make sure you cancel your subscription before the trail ends or you’ll be faced with charges. On the other hand, you can spend some money on Adobe Stock and Getty Images, yes, you’ll have to pay for it, but you’ll have access to them for much longer than 7 days.

How to find a Photographer

There are so many different ways you can find professionals to produce images for you. You can ask people you know for anyone they might know – at least you will have an idea of what they will produce for you. You can also do research yourself through search engines, make sure that their portfolios and aesthetic is inline with your brand and industry.

Did you know?

90% of the information we process is purely visual
55% of people spend less than 15 seconds reading text
67% of online shoppers said that high quality images influence their chances of conversion

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