Five ways to use one styled stock image

Have you ever wondered why you should invest in styled stock photography? Maybe even wondered how to use it if you did invest in it? Styled stock photography is very versatile, but you need to be sure you are getting high quality images in order to get the most versatility out of it. All the images I offer (aside from Instagram specific sets) are 300 dpi and full size image files. This preserves the option for printing, which you will see below comes in very handy if you are working on branding your business. It also allows you to zoom in on small details and use those as individual images.

There are so many ways you can use styled stock photos, but I’m going to show you 1 of my go-to images and how I’ve used it 5 ways. With photo editing software and some basic skills, you can do all of this too! Let’s start with the file itself.

If you know me, you can probably tell this is one of my favorite images. I’ve started using it for my branding across the board.

1. Website branding

A while back, I decided to use this as the primary image on the homepage of my website. I like the theme I’m using because as you scroll down on the homepage, different parts of the image are revealed. You can see how it looks when you arrive, here –

2. Logo Creation

I was in love with my new homepage above. It was bothering me however that the image was clashing with the logo I had originally created for my business. I loved that logo, I put a lot of heart into it, but something just wasn’t working. I struggled with how to modify my logo to try and match the colors, I just couldn’t get it right. Finally it hit me. One of my favorite parts of this image is how the glitter dish photographed. That was it! I zoomed into that little dish in the upper-mid area of image and used that as the base of a newly designed logo. The end result is here. I am so happy with this logo as opposed to my old one! As you can see it’s a perfect match to my homepage and now I have more consistency in my brand.

As a bonus, I went ahead and created a new favion for my website too. Woo-hoo!

3. Instagram posts

One of my favorite things to do with my images is to find a pretty section, crop it down to a square, and get creative with a new Instagram post. Does anyone remember the “Instapocalypse”? I mean, it’s pretty recent. Everyone was going crazy because Instagram announced it would change to an algorithmic view vs. chronological view. Just about every account I followed was asking followers to turn on post notifications… not this girl! I for one cannot stand getting pop-ups on my phone. Naturally, I don’t want my followers to have to deal with pop-ups every time I post something either. This is what I came up with to deal with the issue –

4. Shop banners

Well, timing seemed to work out pretty perfectly for me when Etsy announced it was changing it’s shop layouts. It happened just as I was making all of these changes to my website. Naturally, I wanted to create a banner that went along with the new look I had in mind for my brand. In all honesty, I would love it if the wording was a little lower. However, the Etsy mobil version crops banners a little differently and places your logo over the lower center of the banner. It drives me crazy, but I had to do something to accommodate for mobil… the perfectionist in me has to point this out 😉

5. Marketing & printed materials

With all of these changes I’ve made recently, I realized I needed new business cards too. The front of my card has my new logo from above, company name, and basic contact info. I thought the kicker would be to add my social media handles! All the whitespace in this images gives me the perfect place to add that text and have it stand out! This is why you need high-resolution images. A low resolution file cannot be printed and if by chance you find someone who will print it, it will be poor, pixelated quality. What do you think of this for the back of a business card? I’m kind of in love 😉

There you have it! 5 ways I have use 1 single stock image. There are so many more ways you can use these images, but I think this should give you a good idea. And remember, don’t underestimate the power of a high quality styled stock image!