What are the Benefits of Using Stock Photos

Have you poured blood, sweat and tears into a project that now needs an image? Maybe you’ve written a blog or made a YouTube video and you need a thumbnail. But you don’t have the budget or know-how to get a photo of Thailand’s skyline for your travel blog, for example. Well, you’ll need to turn to the internet. But how do you know you can legally use whatever comes up on Google? Well, you can’t, so you’ll have to turn to stock images. But stock images have a lot of benefits. Take a look at our reasons why you might want to consider stock images.

They come ready-made

The main benefit of stock photos is that you don’t have to take them yourself. If you’re online and you need marketing in any capacity, chances are you will need images. That includes thumbnails and social media images. Maybe you’re a podcaster or a blogger and those are creative endeavours but editing photos is not in your skillset, stock images can fill in. You can use stock images as is to get the point you need to get across or edit and play around with them as you wish.

You can do all of this, crucially, without a team, a backdrop, props, models, editing, and the attention to detail that is necessary to make a photo look impressive. Don’t go assuming your iPhone snapshot will do if you want your projects or marketing to look professional, because people spot amateurism like they are critiques of their own Instagram search results.

Professional finish

Jumping off from that, the right stock photo artist or website will offer you a catalogue of photos that don’t look like stock images. For the most part, we can spot a stock photo a mile away. Too many of them have been turned into memes, for example. They seem to have a quality, or perhaps an entire lack of quality that makes them stand out. Instead, find the right website and you can enjoy thousands of photos that are high resolution and visually appealing. They have a style that blends well with aesthetics or touts their own style, and most importantly, they look like a professional that knows what they are doing. This implies you paid for them, lending you credibility and brand polish.

They’re convenient in lots of other ways

There are so many stock images. Far more than the memes would have you believe. Sure, there are the typical men in suits shaking hands, women shrugging, and otherwise, but when you are looking for a photo for your blog about “Marvel’s best-known secret influencer superhero”, you imagine that you’re only going to find one photo about anything to do with “heroes”, “influencers” or “secrets”. It turns out any one of those concepts has dozens, maybe even hundreds of iterations, which means you’ll have your pick of the litter.

There are huge libraries online with millions of photos covering everything from doctors to sunsets, in a variety of styles and categories. And the best part is that they’re all high-quality images. You can use them across different mediums, including web, print, presentations, etc. Additionally, you have access to a mix of photos, illustrations, vectors, footage and even sounds and editing tools available, and licenses allow for the modifying or editing of images and footage to suit your needs.

Avoiding copyright issues

Perhaps the best part of using stock images is to avoid the red tape around images altogether. Photographers hand over their rights to the website, and willingly allow users to use their content as they wish. This means you don’t have to go chasing down credits, although it would be a nice touch, or worrying about where or how you use them. The proper licenses are obtained to use the images commercially and they adhere to copyright laws. You can post with peace of mind that no one will take your content down with the image.

Very cost-effective

Did we mention most of them are free? Depending on the site, you can get access to lots of stock photos either for free or for a donation. True, a lot of stock photo websites charge to use their photos, but they’re relatively affordable compared to an entire customisable photoshoot. So, if you need any more reason to use stock images rather than professional photos, you should just get a professional photoshoot and take creative control.

Conclusion

In summary, the selection, price, convenience, and flexibility of stock images make them a valuable asset for all sorts of creative, marketing and business projects. If you’re looking for some way to add images to your content without any photography budget or expertise, the stock library is usually the best way to go. Their professional style also lends visual impact and credibility, which will give your work impact and credibility in turn.