Tips for curating stock photography for your brand
- Kylie-Ann Homer
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
In my last post I evaluated the benefits of photography as a unique brand asset.
“In creating the right photography for our brand, we can create a unique brand asset that continues to tell the brand story, instil trust and deepen the emotional connection with consumers, whether the logo is there or not. Photography that is a unique style can really stand out from competitors and enhance memorability of the brand increasing the brand’s chances of success.” Benefits of Photography as a Unique Brand Asset, June 2025
Photography is an important asset in our brand identity system. Ideally a brand designer would create a vision for the brand photography that would align to the brand story and values. The vision and/or final photography examples would be outlined in the brand guidelines.
The designer would ideally work with a photographer to create a suite of images for marketing purposes - to be used on posters, websites and social media, that align to the vision. However, for many businesses, especially those starting out, it isn’t always affordable to hire a professional photographer and with many free stock photography sites available, it is possible to put off this cost until the brand and business has grown.
In the absence of unique photography, stock photography can be used, but the images must be curated well in order for the brand to receive similar benefits to using a suite of unique photography.
Here are some aspects to consider:
Styling
In order to curate a brand-led photography style from stock photography, the images chosen must be consistent and aligned with the vision in the brand guidelines.
Along with conforming to the brand guidelines, we must consider the content to ensure that the image is relevant and appropriate to the brand story and product experience.
The lighting and the mood of the image must also remain consistent whilst ensuring that these align to the brand story and values.
For artisan gift maker Salvia Glass, the photograph style we curated was one of warmth and positivity, showcasing moments of closeness and affection in order to align to the brand values of warmth, positivity and friendliness.
We must also consider that the images don’t contradict the brand values in any way. For example, if we consider diversity a brand value, we must aim to show diverse people within the images, if honesty is important, then images should not be heavily manipulated or made by AI.
Janko Ferlic, Alex Pasarelu, Toa Heftibu on Unsplash
For community group, Postpartum Matters, we outlined in the Brand Guidelines that the photography should feel natural and not staged. It is also important that the images align to the brand values and therefore should portray honest elements of the experiences pregnancy and postpartum motherhood. In order to honour the brand value of inclusivity, it would also be important to represent all types of mothers from all backgrounds and cultures.
Colour
Where a colour is used within the image, for example in a t-shirt or sofa cover, one trick is to aim to align them with the brand colour palette. This may not necessarily be the primary colour palette, but what we don’t want to do with the photography is distract from the graphics and especially not the logo and so colours should compliment the brand design system in place. Featuring key colours within the image itself can make the image feel branded and this can be achieved very simply with some minor retouching.
Emotion
When choosing imagery, along with what the content of the image should be, we need to consider how the image should feel. Emotive imagery, when used consistently and in line with the brand values, will deepen the emotional connection the brand has with consumers.
Honesty & Accuracy
When using photography to represent actual services or products, it is important to give an honest and accurate representation. This often means the products have to be photographed themselves and stock imagery may not be suitable in this case. When shooting, consider that the relative scales should be accurate. Be sure to also consider the scale for how large the image will be printed on the final format, for example, the packaging or poster.
Stock imagery can, however, be used when ingredients need to be portrayed for flavour or scent of products, but it is important to use the correct ingredients, ensuring not to over or undersell the product with the amount used. For food packaging there are certain legalities that need to be followed, guidance on which can be found here: https://www.fdf.org.uk/globalassets/resources/publications/pictorial-representation-guidance.pdf
Resolution
Photographs on stock photography sites are usually well equipped for large format and/or print executions, however, it is important to check that the image is the correct resolution for the format you intend it for. That’s at least 72 dpi for screen images and 300 dpi for print at the intended size.
Licenses
In order to use the photography to promote your brand, images need to be licensed. Many stock imagery sites offer unlimited free for commercial use, royalty-free imagery licenses as standard, however, each site must be consulted individually to ensure that the image is used in line with the appropriate license, or that an appropriate license is purchased in order to cover this. Not doing so can result in legal action taken against you or your business.
Exclusivity Comes at a Premium
Importantly, stock images are not unique and many people have access to and use the same images. However, many stock photography sites offer a premium tier where they provide exclusivity to the image or range of images that has been licensed. This is ideal to ensure that the image is unique to the brand and that a competing brand does not end up using the same image, therefore, paying the premium is recommended if the budget is available.
Recommended sites
For additional guidance on legalities of ingredient representation and labelling on food packaging visit the Food Standards Agency or consult your country's equivalent authority.
If you have found this article helpful, please do share - it really helps small businesses like us get noticed.
To find out more about our brand redesigns for Postpartum Matters and Salvia Glass head to our website https://www.khyphena.co.uk
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