The perfect pictures make everything better.
We spend a lot of time searching through photo licensing portals for ‘stock photos’, sometimes it’s possible to pay for a license to use imagery that’s already been created and available.
Sometimes it’s best if we take pictures or video or use AI tools to create new imagery.
We do photography (and video production) for people, places and things in the middle TN / Nashville area.
We also work as prompt engineers with several different AI image and video creation tools which sometimes can produce extraordinary images. AI image gen is often unpredictable and spending time and money to create using these tools can produce incredible images or many images that are unusable.
When it comes to AI image creation we consider it more of a 50/50 chance something usable is created and so we set a budget for creating knowing there is a chance none will be usable, without a set price for image goal.
Seriously though, pics and lighting are super important whether it’s for an e-commerce sale, a digital or print ad or the main design elements for a web site. It’s important to get everything as right as possible for the best impact, and there are some things you must be careful about getting wrong.
Using images without a license / proper permission can get you sued and get your assets removed from the internet. We have seen this happen many times. Be careful.
Do not just google the type of image you want to use and copy whatever is there. There are ways to search for images you can use safely, some even for free, but you must be certain the images are used with permission.
If free / cheap is your starting point, pexels, pixaby, openverse – start there.
If more premium is your thing – getty, istock, adobestock.
Need something custom? Hire a photographer, get the right lighting, staging, makeup if needed. You can also try AI.
Even if you or someone who know allows you to use a picture you took or they captured – there could still be issues with the subjects of the photo that need to be considered. I’ve had people try to use pictures they took of relatives without model releases, and there could even be issues with buildings or other things in a picture if a property owner has not given permission.
I recently visited a place in TN with signage explaining that commercial photography or use commercial use of photos of said place was expressly forbidden. Places without signs could still be an issue.
Even when you are doing the right thing, for example looking for pics to purchase usage rights on the adobe stock web site – there are possible issues with the type of usage. Some may be selected as ‘editorial use’ – and this could be a problem even if you paid to use the image, how it is used could be a serious issue.
When using openverse you can select images that give rights for commercial use, or remix / change usage – but this is not always 100% accurate. Sometimes images get added to a portal that allows images to be used, but the portal is unaware that there is another license issue, for example places have run ads with the likeness of Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansen, and they were not aware that the proper likeness releases were not done and so there could be issues even within a portal that tries to get the rights right for you.
Before publishing photos to your website, consult with professionals, and do the right thing. This could save you tons of time and money.
Also using logos of places you work with (insurance companies staring at you) – or images of products you use or sell (even if you are selling 5k dental implants as an official distributor, they may send lawyers after you for using images of the products without permission) – it’s a wild world for licensing and image usage – and this scratches the surface when you consider on the other side there are rights to use a limited amount of imagery for reporting or fair use or parody in some cases.
Just don’t do stuff with images of people without their permission and preferably a model release. Don’t use other people’s pics without a license. You may want to have a lawyer to look at these things, and know that if you use a pic from google that someone sent into the copyright office, you automatically must pay their lawyer’s fees and damages when they sue you.
There are auto-robots that scan the internet looking for people’s images that are being used without permission. Don’t go against the robots. You have been warned.