The same handshake.<\/p>\n\n
The same meeting around a whiteboard.<\/p>\n\n
The same smiling team in an office that could be located anywhere.<\/p>\n\n
Stock photos can be attractive, professional, and easy to use.<\/p>\n\n
But they can also make a company look just like any other.<\/p>\n\n
So does that mean stock photos are always a bad idea?<\/p>\n\n
No.<\/p>\n\n
The question is rather what purpose the image is intended to serve<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n There are many situations where stock photos work just fine.<\/p>\n\n They can be useful if you need images for a specific topic, need to illustrate something abstract, or need visual material while your own images are being produced.<\/p>\n\n A good stock photo can easily be better than a dark, blurry cell phone photo that doesn’t fit the design.<\/p>\n\n The problem arises when the images become so generic that they don’t say anything about the company.<\/p>\n\n If the image could appear on the websites of ten competitors without anyone noticing the difference, it doesn’t really contribute much to your identity.<\/p>\n\n One of the greatest strengths of using your own photos is very simple:<\/p>\n\n They’ll show you<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n Your employees.<\/p>\n\n Your products.<\/p>\n\n Your machines.<\/p>\n\n Your premises.<\/p>\n\n Your work process.<\/p>\n\n Your details.<\/p>\n\n It doesn’t always have to be large, staged photos.<\/p>\n\n Sometimes a good photo of an employee at work, a product being manufactured, or a detail from the workshop is far more interesting than yet another perfect stock photo of two people shaking hands.<\/p>\n\n This is information that only your company can provide.<\/p>\n\n Pictures aren’t just for decoration.<\/p>\n\n They can also explain.<\/p>\n\n If you run a manufacturing business, photos can show the size of the workpieces, the machinery, the materials, or the type of work.<\/p>\n\n If you’re selling a service, photos can show the people behind the business or the process the customer becomes a part of.<\/p>\n\n If you have a physical location, it can give customers an idea of where they’re going.<\/p>\n\n This makes the website more concrete.<\/p>\n\n And the more specific it is, the easier it will be for a new visitor to understand who the company is.<\/p>\n\n On many company websites, the employee page is one of the places where user-generated photos add the most value.<\/p>\n\n If a customer needs to call Lars, Peter, or Mette, it’s nice to be able to see who they are.<\/p>\n\n In this case, I would almost always prefer real photos of employees over stock photos.<\/p>\n\n The same applies to images on an \u201cAbout Us\u201d page.<\/p>\n\n If the text describes a local business with 25 years of experience, but the image shows a picture-perfect stock photo team from an American open-plan office, the text and image begin to tell two different stories.<\/p>\n\n That doesn’t mean that every real photo has to be on the website.<\/p>\n\n A photo can be authentic and still be bad.<\/p>\n\n It could be:<\/p>\n\n That’s why it’s better to give the pictures some thought beforehand.<\/p>\n\n For example, if employee photos are to be used in a 3:2 landscape format, it helps to know this before the photos are taken.<\/p>\n\n That way, the photographer or employee can capture a little more of the shoulders and the surroundings, and there will be room to crop the photo later.<\/p>\n\n A website doesn’t have to consist of 100% of your own photos or 100% stock photos either.<\/p>\n\n A combination can work really well.<\/p>\n\n Use your own images in situations where your company’s identity and credibility<\/strong> are important:<\/p>\n\n And use stock photos or illustrations when the image is meant to support a topic or an idea.<\/p>\n\n The most important thing is that the difference doesn’t become so great that the website feels like two different worlds.<\/p>\n\n Colors, cropping, lighting, and visual style should still be somewhat consistent.<\/p>\n\n If the text says:<\/p>\n\n \u201cWe are a small business that maintains close contact with our customers.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n But the photo shows an anonymous call center with 40 employees wearing headsets; do these two elements work against each other?<\/p>\n\n The same applies the other way around.<\/p>\n\n Good web content is more effective when the images reinforce the message conveyed by the text.<\/p>\n\nStock photos aren’t the problem in and of themselves<\/h2>\n\n
Your own photos show something that your competitor can’t copy<\/h2>\n\n
Images help customers understand the company<\/h2>\n\n
People want to see other people<\/h2>\n\n
Poor-quality photos you’ve taken yourself aren’t automatically better<\/h2>\n\n
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You don’t have to choose one or the other<\/h2>\n\n
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Images and text should tell the same story<\/h2>\n\n