It’s hard to make your brand feel unique when you’re using stock photography. Especially when stock photography is something most other brands are also using, it’s hard to stick out. But you don’t have to hire a photographer to get a custom look. Stock photography is a nice convenience in a pinch, you just need to infuse a custom approach to blend it with your brand. Customizing stock photography will help set your brand apart visually, while still using the convenience of stock photography. Here are 5 ways to customize stock photography.

Black and White

Animalz blog is a great example of using black and white photography. While the style of photography changes, some are dark and moody, some are light and airy, the look of black and white unites these in a larger way.

Color Overlay

Hubspot’s branding utilizes a brand color on top of photography. This is a colorful approach to combine your brand colors with photography.

Colored Shapes

Spotify uses organic colored shapes over photography. There is a subtle opacity with these shapes, letting the photograph just barely peek through.This is a fun, light-hearted way to customize photography that helps give a little dimension and movement. This same concept could be used with brand patterns or interesting cropping of logomarks/letters.

Illustration + Photography

The Skimm combines illustrations with photography, adding blocks of colored shapes and lines that emphasize specific areas of the photo. While this is quite involved technically speaking, it definitely pays off.

Cut Out

The Skimm cuts out products and people from their native photographic environment. This gives a minimalist collage-type feel, eliminating any visual noise and giving one true source of focus.

These are just some of the ways you can customize stock photography. Is there a technique that would compliment your brand the most? What plan of action can you put in place to create a cohesive look and feel across your photography in conjunction with your brand?