All these photo techniques are going to be useless if you don't know how to choose the right photos 1
for your designs. 2
In this lesson, I'm going to teach you how to pick photos like a pro. The photos that you'll be using 3
for your projects are called stock photos. Which you download from free stock sites like Unsplash and 4
paid ones like iStock. 5
Now, the big chunk of stock photos are plain terrible. 6
I'm sure you have visited websites that use photos like this. 7
What exactly is the problem with this photo? 8
Models are looking good. 9
They are dressed well. 10
They are smiling. The photo is good quality and taken in professional setting. Everything on paper seems 11
correct. 12
But the photo is still lame. 13
Why is that? 14
Because it's clearly fake. 15
It is clear that these aren't actual business people. Its models doing a silly pose with fake smiles 16
on them. 17
Now all professional photos are made like this. A model that is acting a specific role in the photo, wearing 18
clothes 19
that's not theirs, portraying a specific emotion and getting paid for it. And that's fine. 20
But if the photo is done well, we shouldn't be able to tell what's happening in reality. 21
Think of it like movies. 22
We know that these are actors. 23
We know that they're not actually standing on a ship in 1912. 24
They're wearing costumes and acting a scene. 25
But when a movie is made well, we can't tell. 26
We forget that it's actually fake and that these people are just pretending. 27
The same is happening here. 28
They are wearing costumes and pretending. But unlike good actors these guys suck at it. 29
Do you know what happens when you use a photo that looks fake? 30
You're sending a very bad message to your audience. 31
If the photo is fake and pretending, then the website is going to feel fake and pretending. No real people 32
behind this website. 33
If I call them or email, I'm not gonna get a response from real people. 34
Or worse. 35
It might even be a scam website. 36
It takes a little practice to tell good stock photos from bad ones. 37
But here are 3 questions to ask yourself when you're looking at photos. 38
Is the scene real? 39
Would something like this happen in a real-life scenario? So, would people who work in the office stand 40
in front of a camera and hold hands like this? 41
If you have ever worked in the corporate office, you know that last thing you want to do is to hold hands 42
with your co-workers and stand in front of a camera. 43
So the answer is clearly no. Fake. Or this photo 44
for example, what do you think? 45
Is this scene real? 46
Obviously not. 47
For starters, the doodle on the glass is a complete gibberish. 48
It's random charts and arrows. It makes no sense. 49
And what's with that clipboard? 50
It's such a cliché way to describe an office scene. 51
This photo on the other hand is a different story. 52
It looks like a realistic meeting. And people are wearing clothes that you'd actually see in modern offices 53
today. 54
They're talking with each other, which is what happens in meetings. Not holding hands and staring at a 55
glass board with nonsense doodles on them. Fake. 56
Second way to tell a bad stock photo is by cheesy, fake emotions. 57
This doesn't look like a genuine human emotion of excitement. 58
Neither is the scene anywhere close to real-world in this photo. 59
Have you ever held fake money in one hand and a magnifying glass in another? 60
Or this guy who is just so excited about some fake good news on his fake laptop. 61
Nice try buddy. 62
Acting out genuine human emotions in front of a camera, in a photo studio is a difficult thing. 63
That's why so many of these models are doing a terrible job at it. 64
Don't reward their poor work by using their photos in your project. And also don't ruin your designs 65
with such photos. 66
It's not difficult to tell if acting looks genuine. 67
This is what a genuine excitement looks like. 68
Not this. Even subtle emotions like a regular smile can look very unnatural and fake like this photo. 69
And when it's done right, it looks genuine and inviting. 70
Ask yourself, if the emotions feel real. 71
You'll probably be able to tell quite easily. Besides what models are doing inside the photo, 72
you can also easily tell a bad stock photo from a good one by paying attention to the set design. By 73
set 74
I mean everything besides the model. Where the photo is taken, objects in the shot, even clothing the model 75
is wearing. A lot of stock photos are often quite old. 76
They have been taken ages ago, but are still being sold and used on websites. 77
You really don't want to use a decade old photo for a modern technology startup website. 78
By paying attention to clothing you can easily identify dated photos. 79
You don't have to be a fashionista for this. 80
Use your common sense. 81
It's not difficult to tell that no girl of her age would wear something like this today. 82
This doesn't actually mean the photo was taken a long time ago. 83
Sometimes photos are new but photographers reuse same wardrobe. Photo studio save their costumes from 84
the shoots and they reuse them with other models and new scenarios 85
years later. Clothes that don't fit are a clear indicator that the scene is fake. Even if it was modern. 86
Like this poor girl here. 87
Photo studios will also try to use neutral clothing, that can be reused years down the road, so they don't 88
have to buy a new wardrobe every year. 89
So you'll see this very bland clothing devoid of any personality. And that's another indicator too. 90
But I think this photo has another clear tell. That computer screen. In well designed sets, like here, 91
you'll see people wearing modern clothing. And a lot of times, quite suitable for their personalities. 92
They look like real people. Not like a computer simulation. 93
Pay attention to the objects in the set. 94
Ask yourself, if they look realistic? Like this magnifying glass and fake money. 95
Nothing says fake better than fake money. And stay away from everything abstract. 96
For example light bulbs. 97
God, I hate light bulbs. 98
People love to use a frickin light bulb to represent things like idea, and creativity or thinking. 99
It's so overused, makes me nauseous when I see it. 100
Once I was working on a very premium website. And as a suggestion, my client sent me a light bulb to 101
use as a background for a website. I nearly barfed on the computer screen. 102
Abstract objects are generally a bad idea. 103
Most of them look exactly that... abstract, confusing and often cliche as they are overused. 104
Your designs should give an audience sense of understanding and authenticity. 105
Anything abstract will do the opposite of this. 106
Cliche puzzle pieces and clouds of our people's heads. Agh!