Stock Photography
This week we put together an advertising campaign for a financial advisers, and purchased some stock photography as time was short and a deadline loomed. This has reminded me of all my concerns about using this service, yet again. The online image banks such as iStockphoto, are a useful resource, and when used selectively can produce excellent results. But the general standard of image is just shocking, take this shot for example:
To find the shots we needed for the campaign, we had to trawl through countless poorly posed, generically composed shots such as this, and although we were able to find the image we were looking for, it was a depressing task.
What compounded my irritation was the cost of the shots we wanted from such sites as Getty Images and Image Source. Both would have cost us around a thousand pounds for a single image, for the use we required. While the photograph in question was certainly of a high standard, and fitted the bill well, the cost made it unfeasible for the project.
If time had allowed, we would have had a photo shoot, infinitely more preferable, but there was no opportunity in this instance. To work with a good photographer that is happy to help realise the creative direction our studio is taking, is a very satisfying and exciting process, but also difficult to convince some clients to undertake. When there are off the peg solutions available, a few days working on something individual can seem daunting.
And yet, the end result is so much more personal and cost effective. We are in a situation where we will have to continue to look for shots that could have been used many times before, by any number of companies. Whereas, just one day of shooting would provide just what we are looking for, for, possibly, years to come.
Again, I am not arguing that stock photography should be ignored, but while it is so easily available, there are a lot of creative photographers that are not being used to their full potential. It is down to us to persuade clients to keep this resource in its proper context.
To find the shots we needed for the campaign, we had to trawl through countless poorly posed, generically composed shots such as this, and although we were able to find the image we were looking for, it was a depressing task.
What compounded my irritation was the cost of the shots we wanted from such sites as Getty Images and Image Source. Both would have cost us around a thousand pounds for a single image, for the use we required. While the photograph in question was certainly of a high standard, and fitted the bill well, the cost made it unfeasible for the project.
If time had allowed, we would have had a photo shoot, infinitely more preferable, but there was no opportunity in this instance. To work with a good photographer that is happy to help realise the creative direction our studio is taking, is a very satisfying and exciting process, but also difficult to convince some clients to undertake. When there are off the peg solutions available, a few days working on something individual can seem daunting.
And yet, the end result is so much more personal and cost effective. We are in a situation where we will have to continue to look for shots that could have been used many times before, by any number of companies. Whereas, just one day of shooting would provide just what we are looking for, for, possibly, years to come.
Again, I am not arguing that stock photography should be ignored, but while it is so easily available, there are a lot of creative photographers that are not being used to their full potential. It is down to us to persuade clients to keep this resource in its proper context.
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