Stock Photos vs Real Photos on a Business Website

Every website needs images, and not every business has a photographer. Stock has a place. The question is which images are doing what job, because some jobs stock cannot do.

Where stock is fine

• Abstract or conceptual illustrations for blog posts.
• Backgrounds and textures.
• Supporting imagery on informational pages where the picture is decoration, not evidence.

Where stock costs you money

• Your team page. A photo of models in a glass conference room tells visitors you are hiding something, or that you are bigger somewhere else.
• Your work. Nobody hires a contractor based on a stock kitchen. They hire based on kitchens you finished.
• Your location. A generic storefront where your actual storefront should be undermines a local business's main advantage.
• Testimonials. A stock headshot next to a quote makes the quote look invented, even when it is not.

The phone is enough

Modern phone cameras clear the bar for web images. What matters more than the camera:

1. Shoot in daylight, near a window or outdoors, and avoid overhead fluorescents.
2. Take three times as many as you need, from slightly different angles.
3. Hold the phone level and leave space around the subject so images can be cropped for different layouts.
4. Get a horizontal and a vertical version of anything important.
5. Photograph the work in progress, not only the finished result. Process photos build more trust than glamour shots.

Then handle them properly

Resize before uploading, because a 6,000 pixel photo straight off a phone is the number one cause of a slow page. Aim for around 1,600 pixels wide for full-width images, compress to modern formats, and write real alt text describing what the image shows.

A reasonable standard

Every page that asks a visitor to trust you should show something real: your people, your work, or your place. Everything else can be stock, and nobody will mind.