My Altered Stance on Stock Photos (incl. 6 Favourite Places To Find Them)

Never before has the phrases 'a picture says a thousand words' been more relative in every day life. From advertisements on social media, to good looking book covers, how an image looks, and the message it conveys is of utmost importance more so than ever. That's why it's much more difficult for people no versed in photography tips and tricks, or who have the time to snap them in the first place to get there message across, because we process imagery 60,000 times quicker than we do writing. Thats, astronomical.

That's where stock photos come in.

Stock photos are photos taken by other people, made available for mass usage by almost anybody, no matter the background or finical circumstances. Quite like a library holds books, there are plenty of places that hold images, free for anybody to use, making getting your hands on images that much easier. They're a game changer in this world of visuals, but I've not always been a recommender of them..

When I shared the first 7 of my biggest blog turn offs, I mentioned and talked a little about stock images, and how seeing the same ones on numerous blogs not only makes me think less of the blog in question, but also makes me question their lack of creativity and resourcefulness having chosen an image that is almost EVERYWHERE already and used by other people. Fair to say, I look back on that mentioning and think:

Amanda, you are a tosser!

Stock images are insanely helpful and useful for people who don't have the creativity for photo shoots, or the money of equipment to get themselves up and started. Some people don't have smart phones with cameras, or even have phones or cameras, while some people just don't have the time to be taking their own. Some people might not have the knowledge behind how to take their own, and some people just don't have the effort or the inclination, and that's okay. My stance on stock photos has changed hugely, as I myself am now a user of them, but there is one opinion that hasn't changed..

How To Prepare For Photography Photo Shoots in 3 Steps (incl. 50+ Cheap Prop Ideas!)

Ah, photography, both the bane and the beauty of the blogging world. People love them, but most people despise taking them. It's not the actual clicking of the camera in the process, it's the staging, the look, the feel, the overall execution of how it looks against your other images. Put bluntly, it's all about the aesthetics, and that's a problem, because many of us just can't do it. It doesn't have to stay that way for long, as with preparation, planning and attention paid to the time and weather, (yes, the weather!) you can get yourself all set for a really good photo shoot.

First though, you need to prepare, and that's where these steps come in..

1. Decide on photoshoot layouts in advance

I quite like coming up with different shoot ideas days in advance, which works in conjunction with my use of Lategramme to schedule those posts days, even weeks in advance. In terms of Instagram prompts, it's easy to prepare different shoots in advance for monthly challenges, so if you're looking to show off some rainbow books and want to get a few different options out of one shot, decide in advance what you want the main scene to look like, and the different ways you can shoot the scene, and incorporate it in others.

You could sketch out the scene you want to achieve, or even just make notes on the books you want to use, the shape or the colours you want to focus on, what the actual focus is, whether you want to soften the look, make it bright or bold, black and white, simple and whitespace, full to the brim, just having some sort of the idea on the kind of overall look you want before you even come to get started is always worth doing.

5 Blog Graphic Styles You Can Create With Picmonkey (+ Showcase of Examples!)

Blog graphics are super important. They play a huge role when it comes to your blogs design, but more than ever, they're extremely important for use in social media. A picture tells a thousand words, and when you're an introvert like me, that's not only clever, but a life saver. But a bad image can say just as much, if not more, about you, your blog, your brand, your business even, than a good one, and that's why creating the perfect blog graphic sounds tough. I'm here to tell you, it isn't.

I'm a sucker for an attractive image just as much as the next girl, but I'm so attracted to them, I've been checking out Pinterests vast collection of graphics to find you the 5 biggest and most popular styles around, and I'm going to show you how you can create them, completely free, no experience required, with Picmonkey, one of my favourite blogging resources I can't blog without.

The 'Say It As It Is' Graphic

This is without a doubt the easiest of blog graphics to put together. Simply open Picmonkey and choose your desired image size. I would recommend 4x6 or 5x7, but most definitely choose something has some length to it, you want your graphics to be tall rather than wide.