Gizmodo: I don't hide my love of stock photography. From the terrifying to the sublime, Shutterstock is a trove of crazy. Enter words, get pictures.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Let's Explore the Batshit Insane World of Shutterstock Together
Gizmodo: I don't hide my love of stock photography. From the terrifying to the sublime, Shutterstock is a trove of crazy. Enter words, get pictures.
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7 comments:
Hello fun article. I hate stock photography. I have always found that I can find virtually anything in the databases EXCEPT what I need. It's a lot easier to just go take pictures myself than search for days for some bizarre situation that I am envisioning. Regardless, I agree that there are some wack-o pictures on these sites, and exploring them is a wonderful tool of procrastination.
In a way, stock photography is an exercise in creativity. They are essentially trying to make a image for every possible occasion, no matter what your needs. This means getting really creative and trying to take pictures that no one else has thought of and pictures that are not that easy to take by your self. If I needed a picture with a baby with some money for a presentation (who knows why I would ever need this), I would have a pretty tough time getting a picture as good as the one I might find on a stock photography page. So there are many uses for it, and I think it does something good for photography by pushing the artists to think of new pictures to take. That all being said, it can be really tough to find a picture that fits your needs in the endless sea of randomness and ridiculousness.
I disagree with Mr.Rane Renshaw. I seem to always find what I need from Shutterstock along with so much more. In some cases, I need a photo that I can not simply go out and take. In those cases Im forced to turn to sites like this one to accomplish my goal. But I do agree on one thing, so many fun pics!!!
I always find stock photography funny to see and usually try to call it out on companies that use it. I'm sure it's a great service for companies, schools, and individuals looking to build a website image quickly or make some pamphlets, but it makes me think less of the company when I notice they have used stock photography. I find this especially true for educational institutions. Why wouldn't you just use real pictures on your website instead of stock photography?
It is the confusing world of stock photography that has produced such helpful and bountiful images like these: http://thehairpin.com/2011/01/women-laughing-alone-with-salad/ Because who isn't always trying to find compositionally pleasant photographs of women enjoying salads alone? It's true, stock photos are seemingly full of the most useless images and never seem to contain exactly what you want. It's a nice resource for photographers who can get paid for crafting these ridiculous photos, but not very helpful beyond that one purpose.
I've watched some behind-the-scenes stuff on stock photography before, and it's fascinating stuff: a lot of these folks will have warehouses of bizarre props, with several stages with reconfigurable furniture setup for shooting different environments. They use white backgrounds almost exclusively.
I'm very interested in the business side of stock photography - these people have models come in for hundreds of photos in a day, but how do they know what will sell if it hasn't been specifically requested?
Like some have mentioned before...Stock Photography would be a great project for a company with a huge marketing program. You can specifically tailor and choose what photos are accessible to the marketing campaign, while giving them flexibility and room for creativity and interpretation. I actually hadn't heard about stock photography before I read this article, and it is a sort of silly phenomenon. How many pictures can we find of a completely ludicrous subject, and put it into use for selling a product?
I have been trying to think of other reasons one may use stock photography, specifically one that is formatted into a database program. It really seems like a tool that would be beneficial for solely marketing campaigns, or in a company where presentations are being regularly given.
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