You can find a whole world of beautiful free stock images on the web these days on sites like Pexels and Pixabay , but sometimes you see the same photographs popping up all over the internet.
Here are seven simple ways you can transform stock photos into something that is uniquely yours.
1. Add an overlay
A texture over the top of the photo will make it look hand crafted.
2. Add blur
Blurring a photo makes any text you put on it stand out. You can even blur it so much that it turns into an abstract background of colours rather than a recognisable image.
3. Transform into black and white
Colour photos look entirely different in black and white. Alternatively, you can saturate the colour to give the image a brighter, eye-catching look.
4. Zoom & crop
Most stock photos are available in high-resolution. Choose the largest file available, zoom in on an element and crop in close.
5. Change colour
Experiment with changing a warm image into a cooler one. The possibilities are endless.
6. Add a filter
Apply one of the many built-in filters available with different photo editing programs.
7. Combine images
Transform an image by adding a second photo over the top.
Bonus trick
8. Flip horizontally
Simply flipping a photo can make it look unique.
What are your tips and tricks for customising stock photos and making them uniquely yours?
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Does the thought of creating online images make you break out in hives? I can help with that.
Oh. How. I. Neeeed. This.
As does my tribe 🙂
Thanking (you) and SHARING.
Glad to be of service, lovely lady x
Thanks for the tips, plus I haven’t been using Pixabay or Pexels. Brenda
They are great sites, Brenda. I’m glad to have introduced you.
Lovely tips. I find Photoshop intimidating and am still not past Canva. But will have to try some others.
I use Photoshop Elements which is a little simpler, but I must confess I learnt on the full version many many years ago which probably makes it easier.
I do like Photoscape as an alternative though. It is an easy to understand program with loads of features. Oh, and did I mention it’s free.
I use stock a lot for my website so these tips came in handy. I will be using some of them! Thank you!
Have fun, Lorraine ♥
Great ideas! I use Pixabay a lot and I would not have ever thought of doing this. But, of course you can…why didn’t I think of it? Lol Thanks!
You probably have heaps of ideas about things that would never occur to me. That’s the beauty of the internet — a gigantic brain we can all share 🙂
Thanks for sharing these tips, Katie. I really need them! I use Canva and fotolia for images when I can’t find my own.
You’re welcome, Claudia. Enjoy x
Love all these great and simple ideas. Thanks Katie!
Thank you for taking the time to take leave a comment. I appreciate it.
I use Canva and I didn’t know you could do all this! Great tips!
I’m not sure that you can do all these things on Canva, but at least some of them. They do have some great filters.
I had been using Canva, then ran into some problems, as well as getting an email reprimanding me for cropping images. So I’ve been relying on my own pix, but I will give the ones you mention a try.
Thanks
Ooh, that sounds harsh getting into trouble for cropping. The free sites now have some great images.
Thanks for these great tips Katie. Your images are incredible! You’re one very talented lady!
Thanks Julie, but the images in this post aren’t my own, they are all stock images freely available on the web.
I’m still talented though . . . 😉
Oh, I did edit them, if that’s what you meant.
🙂 You sure are!!!
♥♥♥
Wow these are lovely ideas! At times I forget about how easy it is to use filters. Thanks much for the great reminders!
Thanks, Carolann. I’m happy you are inspired.
Thanks for these tips. I use mostly stock photos on my site. I just learned about Pixaby this week. I will definitely check the others out! Thank you again for sharing some knowledge!
Thanks for stopping by, Horace (cool name!). I’m pleased you found something useful here.
Awesome Katie!! Thank you so much. You rock!
You rock too, lovely Jennifer x
This is so damn useful, thank you. I am ashamed to admit that I have a Photoshop CC membership and PSE 13, but never use them as I am quite intimidated by them. Instead, I have become quite addicted to Pic Monkey which I use all the time and is suitable for my purposes. One day I will learn the other software.
I wish I could come over a give you a quick lesson. We could drink wine and use pictures of half-naked men to practice on 😉
Useful post, Katie. I use my own photo’s where possible, but do use stock photo’s when nothing of my own fits. The first stock photo I ever used is a much duplicated one (something I didn’t realise at the time. It was because of this that I began altering stock images before using them on my blog.
I was already familiar with some of the ideas you’ve mentioned above, from my own experiments on pic monkey. I’m grateful for those that I’d not thought of. Thanks! Also, I’d not heard of pexels, so thanks for that too. Off to check it out now 🙂
Glad to hear you found a new site, Kimmie. Thanks for all your support x
These are great ideas. Thank you for sharing. I am looking to find free stock photos and your post and all the comments are very helpful.
Great tips, I use both Pexels and Pixabay and have seen a picture I have used the same day I used it in a post. So now I will change the pic a little using some of your tips…I wasn’t sure if we could do that or not. Thanks!