Stock Image Sites Have A Major Problem
And I Blame Tinseltown!
One of the reasons I made a sharp pivot to AI image generation started with deep-seated envy of those who could draw.
I know it takes practice and patience, but those are two virtues not readily available to me when I was a kid.
As a writer, my inability to get some version of the picture in my head onto some sort of canvas frustrated me.
I had to go to paid sites like Dreamstime or BigStockPhoto to get teaser and book cover images. Unlike some of my fellow writers, I was having a helluva time finding the right images of black characters.
The “Black Woman Stock Image” Problem
I needed an image of a black woman in southern African dress around the early 1900s, before the “iceberg incident,” if you get my drift.
Tough under any circumstances, yes, but I was ready to be flexible, especially when my fellow indie authors sang the praises of a particular period stock photo site.
Putting in “black woman” in any site gave me always smiling office or outdoor images.
On this site, I got maids.
Smiling, young maids.
Blame Hollywood
A 2023 study from the USC/Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that 16% of the top 100 movies in 2022 featured black actors in speaking roles. When they looked at gender and rac together, black girls/women were erased from 32 of the 100 top grossing fiilms. For context, “erased” means they didn’t utter a single word in the film.
Now you may be saying, “What does that Hollywood have to do with lack of diversity in stock images?”
Work with me on this…
The Hollywood machine touches many parts of society and stock images have become a reflection of its systemic underrepresentation.
The cycle goes something like this:
Someone creates a film that tell the story which underrepresents or fails to represent people of color.
That film becomes popular, possibly a top grossing movie. The way the story is told limits how people of color are portrayed and may create a marked demand for imagery that follows the habit of dominant White characters and diminished, or even erased, people of color.
This skewed perspective seeps into other forms of media which further shape people’s perceptions about the way stories are told. These images grow in popularity spawn other images that follow a similar pattern and the cycle continues.
Popular stock image sites both respond to and feed into this lack of diversity. The result is that it’s harder for storytellers of color to find the images we need to tell our stories.
By and large, the cycle alters how people perceive themselves and others, and influences society’s attitudes and beliefs about race and ethnicity.
There’s Power in Personalization
This is the book I wrote.
It took me four months from research to edits, and I loved the process and the product. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was to try and find an image of a black African woman who lived in the early 20th century where she wasn’t a naked native or a domestic.
I scoured through those many paid stock image sites and couldn’t find anything that was remotely what I wanted or needed.
My cover designer, Jennifer, found the image above and I said yes because it was that or nothing.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool, but it’s just not what I wanted for the character.
She’s not a maid.
She’s a smart, independent woman who successfully lives outside of certain conventions.
So that “mammy” image I wound up with wasn’t even close.
The cover is gorgeous, though. Jennifer did a fantastic job. But the process, the disappointment, and the frustration still upset me to this day.
Back in in 2015/2016 when I wrote Eyubea Girls, those big stock image sites were the only games in town. Now, there are sites like Tonl, Nappy, and Pocstock that could lessen the frustration.
If those sites don’t have what I need, there’s always AI.
I encourage business owners, writers, and anyone with enough imagination to embrace AI image-generation tools like Ideogram, Dall-E 3, or Leonardo AI.
Our ability to generate our own images makes us more powerful as creators:
- It’s a Money Saver. Many platforms have free or low-cost generation options of around $100 annually. The money we save can be invested in our business.
- More Valuable Storytelling. Storytelling is a great marketing tool. Leveraging AI-generated images to tell compelling visual stories helps us convey complex messages better. Viewers can get more invested in our vision, which leads to stronger connections because they see themselves in the stories.
- Quicker Content Creation. It takes seconds to generate AI images. And you can do so many of them in an hour depicting different scenarios and emotions.
- Better Brand Customization. You can create custom product visuals without needing to pay for extensive video shoots or equipment. There’s also the increased ability to capitalize on trends and build a cohesive brand image in hours rather than days or weeks. To do this, check out Leonardo’s image-to-image feature and learn how you can expand your creativity base.
When you’re able to create the exact or close to the exact vision, it’s an empowering high.
Your ability to personalize your images in a way that’s uniquely you is worth more than all of the other benefits combined.
Whether you agree or disagree, let me know in the comments, but if you’re interested in learning how to start creating your images with Leonardo AI, check out this video:
