How to personalize stock photography for your business

Something that has helped my business SO much is learning how to personalize stock photography! It saves me so much time! I use it EVERYWHERE. I use it on my blog, on my pricing guide, on my social media, you name it!

What you’ll need:

1. Photoshop! If you don’t have photoshop, go to your local college, and I can almost guarantee every single computer has photoshop on it. That’s what I used before I could afford a subscription! You could also see if Adobe does a free trial! You could also ask your neighbor, or sister, or anyone if they have it that you could borrow! And if you don’t know how to use photoshop, I’m about to teach you! Or you could hire someone.
2. The stock photo! I’ve listed a few places down below on where you can get some FOR FREE! Yup!
3. The image you want to use in the stock photo! This can be a photo you’ve taken or a screenshot. If you’re using a screenshot, I suggest taking the shot on the same type of electronic that is in the stock photo.

How to personalize stock photography for your business

1. Using the polygon or rectangle tool, outline where you want your image to show up through the stock photo
2. While the polygon tool is still selected, right-click the layer and select “layer via copy”
3. Fill the layer with a dull gray background color using the bucket tool
4. Import screenshot on top of the new layer
5. Hold command+t and resize the screenshot
6. Hold down the alt key and hover mouse IN BETWEEN the screenshot and new layer and click to make the image constrained within the new layer
7. You’re done!

Here’s a video tutorial you can watch, as well!

Where to find stock photography for free!

I love signing up for people’s email list to get their free stock photos. So some of them are from email lists!

Jana Bishop formerly Twigy Posts, hers are probably my favorite because I don’t have to edit them at all! They always look great.

Unsplash has a HUGE selection of free photos to use. I’ll search for things like “computer”, “iphone”, “desk mockup” etc and usually get a pretty good response.

Death to Stock I got on their email list a while back and I like it because it’s usually a bundle that they send.

Creative Market sends out free things each week! Sometimes they’re fonts, and sometimes they’re photos!

Graphic Burger has a ton of mockups to use, and they’re usually already set up to be personalized!

And now, from ME! That’s right! Sign up for my email list and I’m going to send you free stock photos each month!

Below is an example of what you’ll be getting!

Here are a few more examples of how I’ve personalized stock photography in my business!

In my print shop:

For website clients:

For branding clients:

I hope this was as helpful to you as it is for me!

And sign up for my email list to get my free stock images, as well as links to new ones that I find!