7 Ideas for Using Archival Stock Photography

If you are building a website, creating a video or writing a magazine, then you will probably have a need for stock photography. Stock photography is where you can buy the rights to use photographs as if they were your own. This makes it easy to illustrate a point to your audience. As a picture is worth a thousand words, using stock photographs is very useful.

There are a number of ideas for using archived stock photography. These make it possible to show your audience how things used to be in the past.

1. Websites

One of the most popular uses of stock photography will be including it on your websites. If you are using stock photography on websites, then you need to reduce the resolution so that the pictures are quick to load on the site. It's essential that you also make sure these are the right size so that you can speed up the rate at which images load.

2. Print

If you are designing a magazine or newspaper, then you might also want to use stock photography. When using stock photography in printed publications, it's important to keep the resolution as high as possible to ensure that they are printed in high quality.

3. Adjusting Resolution

If you want to make the archived stock photos look older, then you can adjust the resolution and color depth to make them look like old photos used to look. This is very easy to do using photo editing software such as Photoshop. Simply apply some of the different filters and maybe even add some noise to the pictures.

4. Polaroid Effects

Another option would be to create a Polaroid effect with some of the stock photos you have. This can be accomplished online or using Photoshop. Simply apply the correct filter and then several images can be stacked together on your site. This adds interest to your website or publication and is eye catching. The photos will also look much more personal because they seem to be from a Polaroid camera.

5. Cut Away

If the stock photos you have are included with busy or distracting backgrounds, then you might want to isolate them. To do this, use Photoshop or another photo editing suite to make the changes. Simply draw around the subject and then delete the background. This is easiest using the pen tool in Photoshop in paths mode. With the image isolated, it can then be used anywhere without worrying about a clash in background color.

6. Converting to Black and White

Sometimes you don't want to include a color photograph on your site. If the archival stock photos look older but are still in color, then you could convert them to gray scale or monochrome. This again is something that is very simple to accomplish.

7. Editing

The photos do not need to be left in their original format. You could quite easily edit them and apply all sorts of effects. Making the whole image black and white but leaving one subject in full color, for example, could work. You might also like to change colors or have a monochromatic photo using the dominant color of your site.