Oh My Stock, Photos That Suck

Almost every website with any resemblance of professionalism uses stock photography. Although it is usually very high resolution, it is so often very low in realism.

Do people actually respond to fake, photographs? Only your own testing can tell for sure, but one thing’s for certain, if the images on your site are actually unique and speak to your customers, you have an advantage over everyone else.

Here’s my favorite examples of the too-stock photography that we see everywhere!

The collaboration



Great ideas come from conflict and discussion, not cooperation. If everybody’s happy, then chances are nothing is getting done.

The corporate team



When you take a picture of a bunch of models in business suites, you end up with… A bunch of models in business suites!

The business professional



Hmmm. Just out of college and standing around dreaming. My advice is to stop standing around and get to work.

The customer service rep



If it were this much fun to work in a call center, they wouldn’t have the highest turnover rate of any job.

The grunge factor



Nothing says professional like a scruffy face or a crumbling wall…

However, You shouldn’t take this as a recommendation to put a bunch of low quality pictures on your site. But, trying to find some realism isn’t a terrible thing.

Do this:

• Show realism!
• Connect with your visitor!
• Don’t choose a photo just for a pretty face!
• Choose photos that have some relation with your service!
• Use only clear, sharp, and high quality photos!
• Take time when choosing any stock photo for your website. Make sure you can easily explain why you chose that image!

Here’s an interesting article about how people in photo’s can affect your website’s conversions.