Using a striking image for your video can be essential to grabbing your customer’s attention. However, good visuals can be hard to come by if you don’t have a professional photographer on hand. With copyright, photo permissions, and other roadblocks, you have to be careful where you grab your visuals from. Here are our top recommendations for where to find images for your video needs:
1. Free Stock Photo Websites
A perfect way to stay compliant with copyright law, while still not paying anything, is by using free stock photo websites. These websites have thousands of free high-quality photos available to be used and edited. The free stock photo websites we recommend are Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash.
2. Paid Stock Photo Websites
This is a pricier option, but if you can’t find the exact image you’re looking for on a free stock photo website, you may need to consider paying for an image. There are many stock photo websites out there with millions of photos (it’s a huge business), but some sites that we’ve used are iStock, Getty Images, and Shutterstock.
The price of a stock photo depends on the popularity of the image. The price can vary widely, from just a few cents to fifteen dollars. Stock photo companies often offer bundles, where you can pay for a package of photos. Make sure to research whatever pricing plan and stock photo company works best for you.
3. From Your Own Customers
A good way to generate customer goodwill and to promote your business is by using real photos taken by your customers, with their permission of course. Start a social media campaign where you ask customers to send photos of themselves using your product or service. Make it clear you’ll feature them in a video. You might even want to offer an incentive for sending a photo, like winning free company merchandise or a gift card. This is an easy way to gain a large number of photos you can use in your future videos and marketing.
4. From Your Own Photos
Even if you’re not a professional photographer, the camera on your phone can produce some magical photos. Take some appealing photos of your employees hard at work, of your product being used, or even of your storefront. With the right lighting and angles, even a phone camera photo can look professional and add a personal touch to your marketing.
5. Use Ripl’s Photos
Some of our designs offer pre-set photos that you can use for your video posts, if you choose not to add your own picture. Not all of our designs offer this, but if you need a quick video for a holiday or event then our designs featuring pre-set images may be perfect for you. Finding the perfect photo for your Ripl post can help your customers see why your product is exactly what they need!
