The 3 Best Ways To Save Time Searching For Photos [Digital Content Creation]
Choosing good photos is never easy, not to mention it takes some getting used to finding the right ones for your brand. Time consuming tasks like these can often be avoided through using search filters and advanced guides to produce better results. But as a digital content creator, you aren’t necessarily limited to just stock libraries, especially when you need to register and purchase them. There are free ones like Unsplash, where many budding photographers go to gain exposure. Unsplash also has an easy image search function integrated into a free image editing tool like Pixlr X. (Honestly, this has saved me so much time while making quick online banners and social media posts.)
TLDR: Let’s take a look at the 3 steps you can take while choosing the right photos for your projects.
Only Select Relevant Stock Photos
Selecting relevant photos that match the content of your project is key. Try not to just settle for an image that appeals to you but doesn’t exactly suit the project you’re working on. While randomness may be fine for other things, it doesn’t really apply in the same way for content creations like blogs or social media posts.
What do I mean by that? Okay, if your content topic is about positive child education, for example, you’ll want to use photos of happy children enjoying their classes or children having group discussions during class. Teachers can be in the photo, too, to demonstrate a lesson being held. Other photography elements could be textbooks, projectors and whiteboards, and any other learning materials you can think of.
Don’t be afraid to explore educational scenarios outside of a standard classroom scene! Children are often exposed to educational school trips in choice locations like museums, artist galleries, aquariums, zoos and many more. If it relates to your content piece, don’t limit yourself to indoor settings.
Choose Well Taken Photography
Let’s say you’re hunting for good photos on a stock photo website. By entering a keyword such as dog, for example, will show you a list of canine related photography. Photos that have been captured with a lot of thought and planning behind it are usually popular and end up on the first page in search results.
Take this search on dog photography on a stock photo library like 123RF, for instance. The first page has some great, well-captured shots with ideal moments that promise authenticity and functionality. None of them look too staged, and come in several different orientations to give you a hint of what you can use them for.
Go For Your Favorite Photographer
If you like a certain image style from a specific photographer, why not explore more of their stock photo portfolio? Odds are you’ll find a lot more scenes or shots that you like in their submitted collection. The same goes for Unsplash photographers whose photography style resonates with yours. You’ll also save more time by quickly bookmarking the page of their portfolio collection or adding them to your follow list. If you check out the screenshot of this 123RF photographer below, all you have to do is click on the contributor username at the section circled in blue.
Here’s another visual example for Unsplash’s photographer collection. Basically, on a photo that you like (whether it’s the style, the effects, the subject), you’ll want to hover your cursor over the photographer’s username, like so:
You’ll be led to the photographer’s Unsplash collection, which basically looks like this:
That’s it for my tips on getting great photos for your content creations and slicing down on the time spent searching for good ones. I hope this will help you even just a little with your photo searching!
