Recently, we onboarded a new client with a rapidly growing technology company. The company needed help in several areas, but most importantly, they needed a new website. In reviewing their current website, we noticed a stock photo we laughed about because we were certain we’d seen it many times before. After a quick Google Images search, we found the same image on hundreds of similar and competitive websites. Understanding that even the biggest of brands can, at times, rely on stock photography, in this edition of Plain Talk, we’ll look at the two factors that lead to most stock photography fails. Plus, we’ll discuss how to best avoid stock photography and how to best maintain brand authenticity when stock is your only choice. Then, we’ll look at the present state of AI as an alternative.

We are surrounded by photographs pretty much every waking minute that we are using any type of communication device these days. In the realm of social media, photographs, and video content rule the platforms. Let’s dive a bit further into the subject of taking photos for social media. (Well, I’m not sure that I would be considered a photography legend, but I certainly have had and I am having a wonderful career in this visual world that we live in.) I am the Managing Director of the Content Creation Studio at PriceWeber. I work in photography, advertising, and social media pretty much every day of my life. I am going to share five tips for taking great photographs for social media.