The Shutterstock Blog

October Fresh: New Content We Love

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 17:00:26 GMT

Each month, we bring you the top inspirational images in Shutterstock’s collection. Explore new content and beautiful photographs in our October roundup.

Our team searches through newly uploaded stock content daily. This roundup showcases new content that we love, uploaded the previous month.

We couldn’t be more excited to share this month’s October Fresh, featuring the new work of contributors from Shutterstock and Offset. Our network is powered by thousands of creative artists from every corner of the globe, and seeing the creativity of this new work is truly inspiring. This month, we’re excited to introduce vectors and illustrations to the mix!

For October, we’re sharing our top ten images that we loved from the content you uploaded to Shutterstock and Offset. We’re also linking to a full collection of the top uploaded content from these networks to inspire your next creative shoot. In addition, we’re offering fifty of the newest video clips that impressed us.

October Fresh: Shutterstock Image Collection
October Fresh: Offset Collection
October Fresh: Shutterstock Video Collection

Here’s this month’s Fresh, featuring new content that we love, uploaded from contributors around the world.

5 Top Octobe r Images from Shutterstock

“The kid’s in the kitchen” by The Rabbit Hole
“The city in the haze” by Juliana Soria
“A line drawing in black and white” by Ran_Farizi
“A man in a mask” by say photo
“Yoga women” by Sonsedska Yuliia

Shop full collection of new Shutterstock images

5 Top Octobe r Footage Clips from Shutterstock

“An airport traveller in COVID” by Ekaterina Vidyasova
“Bondi to Bronte” by Irina Australia
“Kids at school in 2021” by wavebreakmedia
“Cheers in the park” by SomStock
“Dancing in the fields” by dissx

Shop full collection of new Shutterstock footage clips

5 Top Octobe r Images from Offset

“All my favorite barrettes” by Eloisa Ramos / VISTA by Westend61
“A woman in the sun” by Alexandra C. Ribeiro / Westend61
“Time to paint” by Chelsea Cavanaugh
“Dad and daughter on the beach” by Cavan Images
“An athlete takes a break” by Wavebreak Media

Shop full collection of new Offset images

Discover more Monthly Fresh collections. Not a contributor yet? Click here to sign up. Not a customer yet? Learn more and get started using some of these incredible assets by creatives from around the world.

Cover image by Julia Crim.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these articles:

The post October Fresh: New Content We Love appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

October Fresh: New Content We Love

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 15:02:26 GMT

Each month, we bring you the top inspirational images in Shutterstock’s collection. Explore new content and beautiful photographs in our October roundup.

Our team searches through newly uploaded stock content daily. This roundup showcases new content that we love, uploaded the previous month.

October Fresh: Shutterstock Image Collection
October Fresh: Offset Collection
October Fresh: Shutterstock Video Collection

Here’s this month’s Fresh, featuring new content that we love, uploaded from contributors around the world.

5 Top Octobe r Images from Shutterstock

“The kid’s in the kitchen” by The Rabbit Hole
“The city in the haze” by Juliana Soria
“A line drawing in black and white” by Ran_Farizi
“A man in a mask” by say photo
“Yoga women” by Sonsedska Yuliia

Shop full collection of new Shutterstock images

5 Top Octobe r Footage Clips from Shutterstock

“An airport traveller in COVID” by Ekaterina Vidyasova
“Bondi to Bronte” by Irina Australia
“Kids at school in 2021” by wavebreakmedia
“Cheers in the park” by SomStock
“Dancing in the fields” by dissx

Shop full collection of new Shutterstock footage clips

5 Top Octobe r Images from Offset

“All my favorite barrettes” by Eloisa Ramos / VISTA by Westend61
“A woman in the sun” by Alexandra C. Ribeiro / Westend61
“Time to paint” by Chelsea Cavanaugh
“Dad and daughter on the beach” by Cavan Images
“An athlete takes a break” by Wavebreak Media

Shop full collection of new Offset images

Cover image by Julia Crim.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these articles:

The post October Fresh: New Content We Love appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

Modern Holiday Background Images: Festive Patterns, Textures, and More

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 13:38:11 GMT

With the holiday season just around the corner, why not give your designs and desktops a festive makeover with hand-picked holiday background images.

Holiday background images for Christmas, Hannukah, and the winter season in general don’t need to be clichéd or sentimental. We’ve curated these super stylish and contemporary holiday background ideas to help your phone, computer, website, or print projects be more stylish and festive come December.

The Essential Holiday Background Image Collection

From chic minimalist backgrounds with a wintry mood to jovial color pop flat lays and nostalgic folklore patterns, there’s a modern holiday background to suit every personality and project.

Read on to discover our pick of the best trending holiday backgrounds, patterns and textures. Plus, pick up tips for using our holiday backgrounds in your seasonal designs.

1. Winter Animal Backgrounds

Best for: Desktop and mobile backgrounds, minimal website designs.

Holiday backgrounds don’t have to be themed on tinsel or mistletoe. Winter-themed photography can conjure up the spirit of the holidays in a more understated and beautiful way. These images focus on the beauty of nature in the winter months, with deer, foxes, owls, and bears photographed amidst stunning snow-covered landscapes.

Stylish and enigmatic, these dramatic photographs make a beautiful backdrop for desktops and phones, as well as atmospheric image choices for websites themed on travel and the environment. Look for images with plenty of (literal, snow-strewn) white space for the placement of text, and stick to black type for chic National Geographic vibes.

Bring your desktop to life with our winter nature photo edit:

Image by contributor Effect of Darkness.

Image by contributor KennyDB.

2. Folkloric Patterns

Best for: Print designs, greetings cards, gift wrap.

Woodcut styles, naive illustration, and fairytale-inspired patterns are enduringly popular in the winter months. However, this season we’re seeing a growing trend for nostalgic, folklore-inspired patterns themed on winter woodlands in high-impact, blocked colors.

Far from being quaint, these folklore styles look particularly stylish and striking on print items such as greetings cards, gift wrap, and menu designs. They bring a nostalgic, ethereal touch to designs that chimes well with the enduring popularity of Hygge-inspired design and marketing.

Bring a touch of whimsical style to print layouts with these rustic folk patterns:

Image by contributor Molesko Studio.

Image by contributor zolssa.

3. Frame It!

Best for: Promotional email campaigns, ecommerce websites.

A tried-and-tested method for focusing consumers’ attention and converting sales, try using a background that acts as a framing device for text or calls-to-action buttons. Snowy drifts or cosy candles around an ecommerce prompt may be one of the oldest holiday marketing tricks in the book, but there’s a reason these background styles are enduringly popular—they work!

For campaigns, framed backgrounds are easy and effective, and add interest and focus to text-based emails. But, these types of images are also useful in any context where you want to direct the viewer’s attention in one clear cue.

For a holiday twist on framed backgrounds, look for frames with tree branches, rustic wooden textures, or a pop of berry color:

Image by contributor Zamurovic Photography.

Image by contributor yonibunga.

4. Mid-Century Modern Backgrounds

Best for: Printed products and packaging, greetings cards.

At the end of an exceptionally turbulent year, we’ll all be looking for comfort and nostalgia in our holiday routines. Vintage-inspired backgrounds and patterns that take their cues from Mid-Century styling will be particularly welcome for designs aimed at style-conscious audiences, and for children-focused designs too.

Muted 1950s colors, noisy textures, and quirky, optimistic illustrations are trademarks of the Mid-Century Modern style. Letterpress effects also give a hand-done, craft-inspired touch to retro-themed patterns. Print these nostalgic patterns across holiday packaging designs to give products and gifts a joyful, old-fashioned feel—the design equivalent of a soothing cup of hot cocoa.

Create the perfect 1950s Christmas with these vintage-inspired patterns:

Image by contributor zolssa.

Image by contributor Bukhavets Mikhail.

5. Colorful Flat Lay Backgrounds

Best for: Party invitations, menu designs, emails, websites.

Why should holiday images be restricted to a palette of red and green? Broaden your color spectrum this year with bright, neon and pastel backgrounds that are unapologetically fun and light-hearted. Party-friendly pink, cheerful sky blue, and rainbow color palettes are maximalist and optimistic, and make a fantastic backdrop for invitations, menus, and websites for restaurants, hotels, and caterers.

Even if there are fewer physical events to attend this year, build excitement for a digital event with color pop backgrounds that bring joy to the recipient’s inbox. Look for designs that you can edit to include copy easily. You can even adjust vector designs to create custom GIFs and animations for fun-filled email campaigns.

Spark joy with our pick of the best colorful backgrounds for print and online designs:

Image by contributor HappyAprilBoy.

Image by contributor Flaffy.

6. Kitschy and Kooky Backgrounds

Best for: Desktop and mobile backgrounds, social media, email campaigns.

Eccentric and quirky, these colorful and off-beat backgrounds use witty photography and kooky concepts to give a twist on traditional holiday themes and characters. From reconstructed reindeer to glitter-strewn fir trees, these backgrounds are fun and breezy.

These kitsch backgrounds are made for pairing with communications, so use them on social media posts and email campaigns for maximum effect. Using a kooky, quirky background on your mobile or desktop is also guaranteed to raise a smile even on the darkest winter mornings.

Embrace eccentricity this holiday season with these kitschy and kooky backgrounds:

Image by contributor Netrun78.

Image by contributor Lu Mikhaylova.

7. Blue and Gold Backgrounds

Best for: Ecommerce websites, luxury brands, winter wedding invitations.

A more elegant and grown-up color palette than traditional red-and-green, an inky blue and rich gold pairing in your backgrounds is soothing and sophisticated. Mimicking a winter night sky, deep midnight blue is versatile and stylish, and makes a natural teammate for warm gold or copper tones. Look for glitter-infused textures for added sparkle and shine, which look beautiful on winter wedding stationery, or marble or ink textures for tactile interest and depth.

If nostalgic Mid-Century patterns or kooky concepts don’t feel like the right fit for your project, blue and gold backgrounds are a simple way to build polish and aspiration into your design. Ecommerce sites and luxury brands should look to blue and gold as an alternative to traditional festive palettes for product packaging and marketing to entice style-conscious adult audiences.

Discover our pick of subtly glamorous and immersive blue and gold holiday backgrounds below:

Image by contributor lavendertime.

Image by contributor tofutyklein.

8. Rustic and Cozy

Best for: Social media — these cozy lifestyle images fit perfectly with trending visuals on your social feeds.

Colorful designs and zany illustrations can be cheerful additions to any design, but sometimes you need something more down to earth. That’s where warm and cozy lifestyle imagery (with plenty of room for text) can save the day. To work as backgrounds, we selected images that feature general holiday scenes and non-specific human details. A piping hot cup of hot cocoa or hands caught mid-gift wrap are just general enough to work in any setting.

Image by contributor Bogdan Sonjachnyj.

Image by contributor Maksym Azovtsev.

9. Minimalist Winter Backgrounds

Best for: Sufferers of holiday fatigue, elegant websites, desktop backgrounds.

If you’re the sort of person who can’t bear to look at another mince pie by mid-November and craves the respite of the post-Christmas period, minimalist winter backgrounds are going to be your soothing companion through the hectic lead-up to the big day.

Calm, chic, and in a winter-appropriate palette of white and gray, these minimalist and moody backgrounds are the ultimate festive antidote. Splash across desktop backgrounds or use on simple, stripped-back editorial designs. While (nearly) everyone loves the holidays, sometimes you need the antidote to all that tinsel and mulled wine.

Discover our suggested minimalist backgrounds to inject calm and composure into your designs this winter:

Image by contributor iamtui7.

Image by contributor PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek.

Looking for more holiday design and photography inspiration? Discover more tips, tutorials and article to make your holiday designs your best yet:

Cover image adapted from photo by Stanisic Vladimir, featuring a background by contributor Zamurovic Photography.

The post Modern Holiday Background Images: Festive Patterns, Textures, and More appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

How Brands Trend on Instagram: A Breakdown By Industry and Category

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Let’s take a look at the trending brands on Instagram in 2020. What are they doing differently from the rest of the pack?

Instagram and brands go together like birds of a feather; it’s as if they were made for each other. With its highly visual approach, its appreciation of aesthetic beauty—and let’s not forget the 500 million users that view it every day—Instagram is the perfect location to launch a brand. Its reach and appeal are so effective that many digitally-native brands launched on Instagram and never ventured into more traditional methods of marketing because, simply, they never had to.

What’s really fascinating, however, is that if you look a little closer at each industry, you’ll notice some interesting differences in the way that they approach their Instagram game. For example, what works for fashion and beauty is not necessarily what works for hospitality.

Today we take a fascinating look at nine of the most popular industries on the platform. We will piece together what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, providing trends, analysis, and insight into the most successful brands on Instagram in 2020. Buckle up, because this one’s going to be fun.

A Look Behind the Curtain

Before we get stuck in, it’s important to mention the way that the following data has been compiled. To pull together the biggest trends across our chosen industries, we used follower count and engagement levels as our top-level metrics, and then selected ten random accounts from the top twenty in each industry as our sample.

We then analyzed each of the accounts, looking at a number of key areas and metrics:

Color
Composition
Medium (photography/graphics/videography)
Typography
Average number of likes per post (sample consists of the nine most recent posts)
Use of Stories, Reels, and other newer Instagram features
Outliers and anomalies (to create balance, we also wanted to showcase some things that certain accounts in each industry are doing that don’t follow the overarching trend)

Our data was pulled from:

Instagram analytics software, including Unmetric, Whatagraph, Hootsuite, and Later
Manual searches on Instagram using the official Instagram app for iOS
We also used Adobe Capture to compile color swatches and composition techniques for each industry
Where companies have multiple accounts, say for example a different account for each country, we have used the top level, umbrella account, or the US account in each instance

Fashion & Beauty

Some top brands in this category are:

Fashion and beauty is the undisputed champion of Instagram. The top ten most-followed accounts across the whole of the platform all form part of this category.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, aspirational photography, celebrity endorsements, and behind-the-scenes footage reign supreme in this industry. However there is also quite a large trend towards educational content, where either employee or customer content is showcased on feed, giving insight into how to wear or how to use products. Many of the accounts we surveyed tend to publish posts every two or three days, usually in families of three posts at a time. This a well-established pattern for Instagram content scheduling.

Although not strictly fashion brands, a few sports brands also creep into this category because of how they present their content. Nike—the second largest brand on the entire platform by follower count (currently 122 million and rising by 45,000 followers per day!)—very much presents its content as a fashion brand would. Their feed features sports personalities and customers wearing their products in poses and situations not that unfamiliar in more traditional fashion houses.

Regarding aesthetics, fashion and beauty definitely employs the most diverse spectrum of colors, with wide variations from one account to the next. Typography seldom features in any of the top accounts, with Gucci being the only account where we could find an example. As you’d expect, imagery is front and center across all accounts, with a high-end editorial and aspirational focus. Much of the content is stylized, either showcasing lifestyle or products in isolation.

Interestingly, fashion and beauty appears to be a traditional industry as far as Instagram functionality is concerned. These brands use Stories and Reels very minimally for the odd behind-the-scenes peek, lookbook, or teaser.

DTC (Direct to Consumer)

Some top brands in this category are:

Direct to Consumer brands are a wide and varied category, usually concerned with verticals that sell physical products such as apparel, wellness products, jewelry, food, and recreation products. You’d expect given the breadth of this category that it would be difficult to find any similarities from one account to the next. However, that proves not to be the case.

Content is very much featured around lifestyle and how these companies can help you gain a particular way of living. In fact, shots solo featuring the products themselves very often don’t get a focus at all. Aspirational and emotive content is king of the castle for this category. For example, Casper very rarely shows or even discusses it products. Instead it focuses on the people that use them, or its versatility and ease-of-assembly.

Stories and videography in general is used heavily in this industry, with a focus on short explainer videos and how-tos. This allows companies to provide additional context for how to interact with their products.

All of this adds up to the feeling of belonging and community. Most DTC companies frequently reply to comments on their accounts, and even ask customers how they can improve their products through Stories surveys.

There is also a consistency in look and feel from one account to the next. The vast majority favor pastels and blue hues to dress their products and branding. Content is photography-driven, with no messaging or wording of any kind. People and context are front and center, showcasing the aspirations and lifestyle of their customers.

Food

Some top brands in this category are:

As you can probably imagine, this is an incredibly vibrant and active category, with the entire industry pushing in different directions most of the time. Despite this, there are some trends that are worth noting.

For example, photography is one place where accounts converge. The flat lay is a staple of food photography. Close-ups of food are also a keen favorite, both via static and video content. Who doesn’t love watching a fork opening up a chocolate tort or a pizza slice pulled from the rest of the pie? A final trend is one towards recipe posts that showcase a family or friends creating meals together, with a vibrant DIY culture emanating from across many of the accounts we surveyed.

In terms of look and feel, food is the first category where typography makes a name for itself. Messaging, slogans, and highly-illustrative titles take center-stage, promoting everything from a company tag line to recipes to upcoming events and offers. Brands tend to use cursive typefaces, making for a fun, light-hearted, and inviting feel to a lot of content in this category.

Color-wise, there are no big surprises with food. Oranges, browns, greens, and reds are the dominant colors, which pretty much covers the vast majority of foodstuffs.

Beverages

Some top brands in this category are:

Beverages is one of the top five largest categories on Instagram, with the top ten accounts gathering an average of 4.5 million followers each. Since both soft and harder beverages are in contention, again the category can feel a little sporadic and disparate in places. However there are some underlying trends that it’s worth observing.

For one, this is an incredibly humorous and self-referential category. Not taking yourself too seriously is absolutely the name of the game. Whether alcoholic or otherwise, humor is employed throughout to entertain followers. For example, Starbucks has regular Stories that are beautifully designed, centered around fun, coffee-based activities and topics. Red Bull devotes its entire feed to customers and ambassadors, showcasing their proclivity towards extreme and active sports, often with humorous quips and one-liners in tow. Jameson Whisky posts regularly with its product turning up in bizarre and exotic locations—on top of a volcano; covered in Christmas lights; left out in the snow.

When not exhibiting humor, many of the accounts at the top of this industry fallback on lifestyle shots, showing customers how to mix their products, or teasing upcoming new flavors and recipes.

Aesthetically, there is a broad range of colors on display, but they tend to fall towards the warmer end of the spectrum. With everything from collage to illustration to straight-up product flat lays, you’ll find the whole gamut of artistic styles. Graphic elements play a large part, often ornamenting or enhancing content, particularly lifestyle or context shots to build atmosphere and mood.

Hospitality

Hospitality is somewhat an outlier in some respects, as it’s the only category we surveyed in which independent brands outperform the larger players in the market. Some top brands in this category are:

It’s also, perhaps less surprisingly, this industry leans heavily on influencer content. Many accounts simply repost influencer and customer shots from their hotels and restaurants. As you’d expect, a lot of the content is striking and engaging interior shots of bedrooms, dining areas, and apartments by swimming pools or beaches.

One irreverent take on the interior shot we liked was the way Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel portrayed their rooms. Rather than showing off beautifully arranged, perfectly preened bedsheets, Watsons displays their rooms ruffled and used, the idea being it invites customers in rather than keeping them at arms length. It’s a fantastic strategy and an interesting twist on the major trend for this category.

In terms of colors, nearly every account we surveyed used the same basic palette: blue tints and shades with the odd splash of greens and earthy tones. Their photography (sea, sand, foliage) and the overarching colors of their branding follow the same palette, too. Photography is beautifully shot, even the shots posted from influencers and customers. Interesting angles and context provide intrigue and that “thumb-stopping” feel in this category.

Again, typography is incredibly minimal in feeds. However, it does feature more in Stories, which these brands use to create dramatic teasers and offers for followers.

Travel

Travel is a category made for influencers. Or maybe influencers made the category. Whichever way around it happened, it’s clear that influencer-centric content is at the heart of the industry on Instagram. We’ve all heard the stories of people packing in their jobs and heading for the beach, becoming “digital nomads” and never working a day in their life again. Well, if the top accounts in travel are to be believed, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Some top brands in this category are:

Whether it’s sweeping vistas, overhead drone shots, jaw-dropping scenery, or sun-drenched beaches, travel has it all. With an average of 2.8 million followers per account and an average of 100,000 likes per post, it’s a category with huge levels of engagement—that wanderlust is real!

Stories are employed in extremely creative ways, with a mix of time lapses, to camera pieces, and swiping overhead videography. Video in general depicts incredible experiences such as skydiving, surfing, and other extreme sports and activities.

Given the category is essentially a huge catalog of the world’s most beautiful destinations, it’s hardly surprising that composition is largely photography-based. There are few to no graphics, typography, or any other elements.

Accounts largely work on rotating themes, with sets of content posted in quick succession, usually hours after each other on the same day. These accounts use colors and composition to create sets of content, which form a travel brochure for each destination that an influencer visits.

Tech (SaaS)

Software as a service has been around since the dawn of the internet, with services including email and communication, sales management, CRMs, marketing toolkits, and more. Both large and small organizations fit together in this category, from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Adobe, to Slack, Hubspot, and MailChimp.

This category is the most graphical of all the industries we’ve covered. A large percent of brands rely on art-directed pieces to advertise upcoming features or upgrades to software. Services such as MailChimp and Shopify use their profile to promote their brand, incorporating their identity into almost every post no matter the subject. Others such as Microsoft and Zoom use their profiles more to share insights and the people and companies that use their products. In either case, these companies use typography, infographics, short teaser videos, and customer profiles to create a cohesive and compelling story for their followers.

One trend worth noting is that this is one of the few industries we’ve covered that makes extensive use of IGTV. Company messages, behind-the-scenes look at their production teams, and insight into customers and upcoming features are all on display, making full use of this longer form channel.

Given the tendency towards branding, colorways are vastly different from one account to the next, leading to a real array of colors and palettes.

Non-Profits

If you had to distil the major theme of this category into one word, it would be evocative. Whether it’s harrowing videos of animals in captivity, a photo series following the BLM movement, or ambassadors and affiliates talking to camera about the causes they support, emotion is constantly on display. Even non-profits such as museums like MoMA lean on emotion to convey the exhibitions they’re showing and the meaning behind each artist’s piece.

Statements, quotes, and calls-to-action are abundant, with a sharp use of graphics, photography, and typography. All of these elements work together to create a slightly unnerving mix of good design and a sense of urgency.

Posts appear almost daily, usually in sets that can include any combination of photos, graphics, video, or a carousel of all these elements. Sometimes, nine or twelve panels will cover a single topic. This creates a compelling and engaging photo montage of a subject, giving a holistic and insightful view.

This approach appears to be working, with high engagement levels. The top ten accounts in this category garner an average of 1.6 million followers each, and some accounts can chalk up many thousands of comments per post.

Media & Publishing

Media and publishing is a category that can be as large as you want it to be. Covering everything from the top-tier media and publishing houses such as Vogue and National Geographic, all the way down to brands such as 9Gag and The Shade Room that amass vast audiences centered around meme culture, through to sports and politics over at ESPN, and New York Magazine—there really is something for everybody.

With vast follower counts (the top ten in this category have an average of 35.3 million followers each), huge levels of engagement—66,100 likes per post—and dedicated audiences that regularly comment and interact through Stories polls, this is likely one of the most active industries on Instagram.

Given the breadth of the category, there is a real juxtaposition of styles, compositions, and colorways, including beautiful editorial photography, clips of killer sports moments, animated GIFs, and more off-the-cuff, hand-crafted moments.

No matter where each brand sits however, the emphasis is entirely people-focused. Photography of people, videos of people, Stories of people; every big moment is seen through the lens of human emotion, connection, and understanding.

Typography appears across all brands within the category. Sometimes text appears as part of a meme post, as a quote from a specific publication, or as a call-to-action. Colors are impactful, bright, bold, and deliberate.

There is a real sense of movement in this category. Given the way the news cycle works these days, it’s hardly surprising. Posts are usually released as singles, each one focusing on a different topic. However, accounts often publish multiple posts, in some cases up to eight, nine, or even ten a day.

Conclusions

Given the fairly narrow set of features that Instagram offers its users, it is fascinating to see the amount of creativity on display. Every industry has its focus, its trends, and its themes. Yet there are plenty of top accounts that tread their own path, constantly keeping their peers on their toes and pioneering new and exciting ways to take their industry.

As we’ve seen throughout this article, it is not necessarily big budget, super-polished content that draws in the crowds. In fact, it’s often exactly the opposite. What is clear however is that consistency, regularity, and an appreciation of aesthetics are still the cornerstones of every trend on Instagram. The mix of these magic ingredients differs vastly from one industry to the next, throwing up new and dynamic ways of expression.

For all this variation, there is one omission from every single category—the use of Reels is non-existent. This new feature, released by Instagram to rival TikTok, does not seem to translate well with the way that brands operate on Instagram. Either that, or the top brands are still working out how best to use this new feature.

With so much variety on display, it’s difficult to conclude with a trend that nicely encapsulates behavior on Instagram. Unless, of course, you consider creativity as the ultimate trend of them all. From the way photography is used to the way typography is deployed, from how Stories and IGTV bring in rich, immersive experiences, to the way GIFs, memes, and animations are skillfully crafted and slotted between more polished content. One thing is for certain—creativity is keeping Instagram alive.

Cover image by AVstock Team.

Discover more on maximizing your marketing campaigns with these articles:

The post How Brands Trend on Instagram: A Breakdown By Industry and Category appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

Respectfully Document Disabilities in the Workplace Through Photography

Fri, 16 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Three photographers and the charity Sightsavers provide valuable insight on documenting both visible and non-visible disabilities in every workplace.

From online news outlets to businesses around the world, stock photos are widely used for seemingly endless purposes. The images found on stock marketplaces, like Shutterstock, grab the attention of the audience. As we become more and more visual than ever, these images support the stories we’re trying to tell. In this article, we’re discussing the importance of accurately and respectfully documenting disabilities in the workplace for stock marketplaces.

Learn the importance of accurately and respectfully photographing disabled persons in their workplaces. Image by Pressmaster.

We had a conversation about disabilities and photography with Sightsavers, a global organization fighting for disability rights. Three photographers also provided valuable insight on documenting both visible and non-visible disabilities, and how to respectfully capture and keyword images depicting disabilities for stock.

Tip #1: Ask Questions and Get to Know Your Models

“People are often afraid of things they do not know much about,” says Ceridwen Hughes, a mother, photographer, and founder of Same but Different, an organization that uses the arts to ensure a “positive social change,” and partners with other organizations to highlight inequalities and improve the conversation around it. Hughes shares that her son has a “rare disease called Moebius,” and noted that it’s very stressful to see people take photos and say things like “smile” or “look at me” as she says those two are impossible for her son.

That said, don’t be afraid. Photographing folks with disabilities, be it visible or non-visible, can be overwhelming for some photographers. Instead of fearing the idea of it, have a conversation with your subjects. Actually get to know them. It’s easier to shoot when the person in front of your camera is not a complete, total stranger.

Ask your models what they are comfortable with. Image by AnnaStills.

Tip #2: Capture Your Subjects in Authentic and Natural Moments

Hughes noted that whenever photographing someone, she doesn’t “try to hide their disability,” but also doesn’t “make it the sole focus either.” She adds, “I prefer to subtly reference the disability so it might be a glimpse of a wheelchair, a slight profile of a physical difference, or some hint to an invisible illness.”

This is very important. Photographer Chona Kasinger also noted how she tries to “capture folks in an authentic and natural way,” which can be achieved by being creative and communicating with your subjects. Keeping the images as authentic as possible is not just about showcasing the subject well. It’s also about putting out the kind of work many people can relate to.

Sometimes, it’s the small details that make the most impact. Image by Lamzinvnikola.

Elea Chang, founder of Disabled And Here, added that, “many photographers — particularly non-disabled photographers — make the same mistake of overemphasizing the disability while ignoring the subject’s humanity and environment.” When this happens, the image loses its authenticity and the photographer has failed to do their job of accurately conveying the story of the subject.

Tip #3: Don’t Generalize Disabilities

Perhaps the most common image of a person with a disability is someone sitting in a wheelchair. This is the kind of image all stock photography websites have. And, while there’s nothing wrong with that, it would be better if photographers would refrain from generalizing all disabilities. Some folks use wheelchairs, some have speech challenges. There are so many disabilities and the people living with them still have the right to be employed. Thus, when photographing disabilities in the workplace, shoot with intention. Don’t generalize and showcase these people as one and the same.

No two disabilities look the same. Ensure you are documenting a full spectrum of cognitive and physical disabilities. Image by Altrendo Images.

Tip #4: Collaborate with Your Models

“Whether the photographer themselves are disabled or not, images will always be more authentic when photographers have more context about and familiarity with their subject,” says Chang. “There needs to be more photos of disabled people in moments of daily joy, peace, and routine,” she added.

This is to say, don’t be afraid to have conversations with your subject. Feel free to ask what they’re comfortable with and what they don’t like. Even better, ask how they want to be photographed.

“To depict disability more accurately, photographers should approach the project collaboratively and work with subjects to make sure that the participants’ perspectives and lives are being appropriately centered, rather than the photographer or publication’s own idea of what disabled life might be like,” says Chang.

Have a conversation with your models about what their day-to-day looks like. Image by hedgehog94.

Tip #5: See Past the Disability — See the Person

“I have photographed many children, some with extremely complex needs, and I found it easier to have a focus other than the camera,” shares Hughes. And, in difficult situations like this, a photographer should be creative. When shooting an image of, say, a teacher teaching kids with disabilities, make it a point to see those children as who they are rather than ultimately labeling them as “disabled kids.”

“I think one of the main things people may struggle with is seeing past the disability and making that the focus of their image,” she says. Make it a point to not just see someone in a wheelchair, but understand how it affects them personally. “They are often able to highlight things that I may not have considered and it makes the difference between what an able-bodied person assumes and the reality of living or working with a disability,” Hughes added.

Tip #6: Champion Equality All the Time

Photographing disabilities in the workplace doesn’t always mean having a disabled person as the sole subject. Oftentimes, there’s an able-bodied person captured in the frame, as well. This may not seem like an issue, but sometimes, photographers tend to highlight one over the other.

“If there’s a disabled person and a non-disabled person in a photograph together, you can often tell which is which, even when the disability is invisible, because the lighting, angles, and overall photograph tend to be more flattering towards the non-disabled person,” shares Chang. That said, be cautious when photographing people in workplaces. Be mindful of how you compose your images.

The person should always come first, not the disability. Image by Goran Bogicevic.

Tip #7: Create Realistic Situations and Themes

With the desire to produce content showcasing folks with visible and non-visible disabilities, many photographers, especially able-bodied ones, tend to end up creating unrealistic scenarios. This especially happens when you don’t slow down and listen to your subjects—when you don’t communicate and collaborate with them.

So, whether you’re shooting at a workplace or elsewhere, double-check on the set you’re creating. Be sure the props you use are relevant to the people you’re photographing. Also, allot time to build a friendship with your subjects to avoid creating unrealistic scenarios in your shots.

Create scenes that highlight support for people living with disabilities, visual or not. Image by Alex Mazilu.

Tip #8: Be an Ally — Highlight Strengths Above All

“As interviewers and photographers at Sightsavers, we want to ensure we are being an ally and not causing harm through the images we create. This also extends to anyone we hire,” says Kate McCoy, content strategist at Sightsavers.

As an ally, it’s the photographer’s job to showcase the strength in the disability. “Photographers need to take time to understand what matters to their subject and how they would, themselves, describe their experiences with disability, as it is so unique to every person,” McCoy added, further noting that it’s important to remember “that every person is so much more than the challenges they face.”

Cover image by Lamzinvnikola.

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Luc Roymans on Photographing the Night Sky and the Aurora Borealis

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Photographer Luc Roymans shares how he captures beautiful images of the night sky and his remarkable trips photographing the aurora borealis.

The night sky never ceases to amaze. Whether it’s pitch black, full of stars, or glowing with the aurora borealis, there’s something about it that captures our attention and keeps it. Capturing images of the night sky can be an experience unlike any other for photographers.

The ever-mystical milky way over Namibia, South Africa. Image by Luc Roymans.

“When you’re shooting nature, you are often disconnected from everyday life,” says Luc Roymans. Based in Antwerp, Belgium, Roymans is an interior and architecture photographer whose photos have appeared in Elle Deco UK, O! Magazine, The Guardian Weekend, de Architect, among others. His images showcase the playful and unique ways that nature and architecture intersect. While architecture photography is his bread and butter, Roymans’ images of the night sky are equally enthralling. In today’s article, Luc shares his photographic journey and how he captures incredible images of the night sky.

A Love of Design Pre-Photography

I grew up in Antwerp, Belgium. Life was simple back then. No cell phone, barely any internet. I was supposed to become a pilot or engineer. I love mathematics and think in an abstract, graphical way, which, in the end, led to me becoming a photographer specializing in interior design, architecture, and nature.

When I was nineteen and a college drop-out, I went on holiday with my childhood friend to Laguna Beach, California. Over there, I saw a Thomas D. Mangelsen art gallery that blew me away. I purchased a camera during that vacation and started shooting (slide film back then). When I got back home, my mom had enrolled me in a Bachelor of Photography course. I never really shot with it as a “hobby” in mind. As soon as I started, I envisioned it would one day become my main source of income.

The milky way over a salt pan in the Namib desert, southern Africa. Image by Luc Roymans.

Locally, I have some very talented friends who definitely pushed me (back in the day) to improve my skill set. My favorite photographers were Frans Lanting and Thomas D. Mangelsen. At the moment, it has to be Vincent Munier. I graduated in 1999 and have been shooting ever since. It took me more than ten years to reach a point I could live only from photography. Until that point, I did every type of job you can imagine.

Exploring Nature, the Night Sky, and Architecture

I love the voyage that you need to make in many ways to get “the shot” you have in mind. It takes a lot of work, effort, time, and money to do most shots. The final picture isn’t even that important to me. I lost many good shots because I preferred to enjoy what was happening in front of me, instead of taking images. The night sky is brilliant because the whole world we know goes to sleep, and another wakes up. With cameras these days, you can use long exposure to really make the night sky come to life.

A silhouette of a Quiver tree against the night sky in Namibia, South Africa. Image by Luc Roymans.

That being said, while I love photographing the night sky, architecture and interior photography is my bread and butter. This provides me with a steady and good income. Nature offsets that in many ways. It’s much less comfortable, you have much less control over conditions surrounding a shoot, and it’s much, much harder to make a profit from it. I need both to stay in balance, and both feed on each other creatively. They are both types of photography that require specialized equipment and great technical skills.

Shooting Photos of the Aurora Borealis and Humpback Whales

I got the chance to shoot both humpback whales and the aurora borealis in Andenes, Norway. It was a photography trip organized by my friend Yves Adams, who is a professional nature photographer and trip organizer. It was winter so we knew we would have very short days. During the day, we went out on RIB boats looking for whales. Then, at night, we would look for a nice background and hope for the aurora borealis. Searching for the aurora borealis is always a waiting game. There are specialized apps that forecast predictability, which are very helpful. But, you also need clear skies, so that narrows down the opportunities drastically.

The aurora borealis glowing in the sky over Iceland at dusk. Image by Luc Roymans.

Shooting the humpback whales was like a spiritual experience to me. The humpback came towards us and came out of the water to actually look you in the eye. We normally have to conceal and camouflage to blend into the environment as much as possible. To have another animal being so curious and obviously intelligent was mind-blowing for me on an emotional level.

See, when you’re shooting nature, you are often disconnected from everyday life for a couple of days, or weeks. You’re placed in a bubble where only photography and your surroundings matter. When you get back to normal life, it often takes a very long time to adapt again to normality.

Experiencing More Through Photography

Nature photography, for me, is a way to experience things and places I would never experience otherwise. The camera gives me the purpose I need to make certain sacrifices, to be able to have extraordinary experiences most people can only dream about. Being in nature is almost always a very humbling experience, so it has totally changed every aspect of me.

The aurora borealis over the beach. Image by Luc Roymans.

You also, very often, end up in less developed parts of the world, which re-educates you on how lucky you are with the life you live. I don’t see myself as a creator—more like a craftsman who loves registering things as beautiful as possible. And, to the young photographers, I would say hang in there and never quit. It took me more than ten years of backbreaking work and investment. If I can do that, so can anyone.

Cover image by Luc Roymans.

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Unforgettable Photographic Moments: 2020’s "Big Four” Fashion Weeks

Thu, 15 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

From New York to Paris, leading designers reflect on sustainable fashion, champion emerging voices, and envision a more joyful — and more colorful — future.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in an unprecedented fashion month in 2020, as the “Big Four” cities saw wildly creative in-person runway shows, digital lookbooks, music videos, and live-streamed Q&As from labels around the world. This year, Fashion Weeks played host to a puppet show (Moschino), a backyard runway (Christian Siriano), a purpose-built cathedral (Dior), and much more to delight guests in-person and abroad.

The audiences were smaller, but a sense of rebirth and resistance permeated many of the shows — making for a historic few weeks. Here’s a look at just a few of the moments that caught our eye this year, plus some throwbacks from decades past.

New York Fashion Week (September 13-16)

Actress/model Indya Moore walks the runway during the Jason Wu Spring/Summer 2021 fashion show at Spring Studios during New York Fashion Week. Image via Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock.

New York kicked off fashion month this year with a mix of virtual and socially-distant live shows, beginning with a Tulum, Mexico-inspired rooftop show from Jason Wu and culminating in a digital presentation from Tom Ford.

The Tom Ford presentation for the Spring/Summer 2021 fashion show during New York Fashion Week. Image via Tom Ford/Shutterstock.

Harlem’s Fashion Row celebrated Black creatives in fashion, while Zac Posen took to Central Park to dress mannequins in couture ensembles. Hillary Taymour’s environmentalist brand Collina Strada brought climate change to the forefront in an inspired, colorful film, and Maxhosa Africa spread a message of hope: “Happiness is a new luxury.”

Blast from the past: Designer Alexander McQueen walks on water at the end of his 1999 show during New York Fashion Week. Image via Cavan Pawson/Evening Standard/Shutterstock.

In 1999, Hurricane Floyd hit New York City, but Alexander McQueen’s show at a West Side pier went on. There was water everywhere, including on stage, in the form of a shallow pool. “It was art for fashion’s sake,” The New York Times wrote at the time.

“And for his bow, Mr. McQueen dropped his trousers and flashed his stars-and-stripes boxers, evidently signaling his affection for New York.” That year, fashion week survived a category four hurricane, and McQueen made a lasting impression.

Model Coco Rocha swims in a pool during the Christian Siriano fashion show, held at Christian’s home, as part of New York Fashion Week in Westport, Connecticut. Image via Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock.

This year, Christian Siriano did things a little differently. His show took place in his Connecticut backyard, with fashions inspired by some of his favorite childhood films, ranging from Clueless to The Wizard of Oz. From yellow tulle to red trains, the show wowed guests, who were seated six feet apart. Coco Rocha took a dip in the pool, while a show-stopping gown encouraged everyone to get out and vote in November.

The Christian Siriano collection is modeled at Christian’s home as part of New York Fashion Week, in Westport, Connecticut. Image via Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock.

The runway for the Christian Siriano collection took place in Siriano’s backyard, as part of New York Fashion Week. Image via Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock.

London Fashion Week (September 17-22)

From audience-free shows to one-on-one appointments to digital fashion films, this year’s London Fashion Week took an optimistic and uplifting tone despite current challenges. Michael Halpern celebrated frontline workers in a photoshoot featuring his collection, and Erdem Moralioglu filmed his latest work, made during lockdown, on the outskirts of Epping Forest.

A model strutting a colorful ensemble during the Womenswear Fashion Week in London, from the house of Molly Goddard. Image via Molly Goddard/SIPA/Shutterstock.

Molly Goddard’s bright, neon hues lifted our spirits after time spent indoors, and Osman Yousefzada incorporated block-print fabrics from Pakistan. Meanwhile, Preen’s Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi upcycled previously unused fabric stocks to create something new.

Blast from the past: Model/actress Grace Jones at the 2000 show for Philip Treacy hats. Image via Richard Young/Shutterstock.

In 2000, Grace Jones arrived at the Philip Treacy show on the roof of her car, balancing on sky-high heels and dressed in all black, save for her gold glitter hat. Jones has been a longtime muse of the famous milliner. Almost a decade after this moment, she made him the art director and designer of her Hurricane tour. Earlier this year, he wished her a happy birthday by sharing a throwback video of her modeling one of his hats back in 1999.

Philip Treacy’s muse, Grace Jones, arrives at his show, posed elegantly on the roof of her car. Image via Richard Young/Shutterstock.

In one of the few traditional fashion shows of the year, Bora Aksu referenced the 1918 influenza pandemic, the period of loss following the war, and the rebirth that followed. The event, hosted in Covent Garden, marked the city’s first catwalk show since lockdown, as guests sat atop socially distant park benches.

Memorable moment 2020: Bora Aksu’s nod to 1918, hosted in Covent Garden, London. Image via David Fisher/Shutterstock.

Models on the catwalk at the Bora Aksu show during London Fashion Week. Image via David Fisher/Shutterstock.

The dresses themselves, paired with organza face masks, paid homage to the nurse’s uniforms of that time, before transitioning into 1920s-inspired dresses — a reminder of brighter days to come. “These times will pass, and we will make the future better than before,” the designer said.

The Bora Aksu show, Spring/Summer 2021, during London Fashion Week. Image via David Fisher/Shutterstock.

Milan Fashion Week (September 23-28)

Model Ashley Graham wears a creation as part of the Fendi 2021 women’s Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection, during Milan’s Fashion Week. Image via Antonio Calanni/AP/Shutterstock.

Upwards of twenty labels were able to host in-person shows in Milan this year, more than New York and London, while dozens of showcases were held virtually. After months of quarantine in Nebraska, new mom Ashley Graham walked the runway for Fendi, while Irina Shayk, Precious Lee, Jill Kortleve, and Alva Claire brought Versace’s “optimistic, dreamy, positive” underwater-inspired collection to life.

Model Precious Lee on the catwalk at the Versace show for Milan Fashion Week. Image via SGP/Shutterstock.

The Marni presentation, Spring/Summer 2021, at Milan Fashion Week. Image via Marni/Shutterstock.

Moschino had a puppet show, with marionettes standing in for models, and Marni presented Marnifesto, a film featuring artists and creatives from around the world. Also this year, the designers Stella Jean, Edward Buchanan, and Michelle Francine Ngonmo (the founder of Afro Fashion Week Milan), chose five designers to be part of a showcase of Italian designers of color, an important first step in a larger conversation about inclusivity in Italian fashion.

Blast from the past: The birth of the supers – Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington at the 1991 Versace Autumn/Winter Fashion Show in Milan, Italy. Image via Paul Massey/Shutterstock.

Gianni Versace’s Freedom! ’90 show in 1991 brought together Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington, who rounded out the show arm-in-arm, lip-syncing the George Michael song of the same name. Michael himself sat in the front row.

Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington walk down the runway singing George Michael’s song “Freedom! ’90.” Image via Paul Massey/Shutterstock.

The dawn of the “supermodel” was officially in full swing, and as Evangelista put it, they didn’t “wake up for less than $10,000 a day.” In 2017, as an homage to her brother, Donatella Versace would reunite some of the supers — including Naomi Campbell, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Helena Christensen, and Claudia Schiffer — during the finale of her Spring 2018 show, again to the soundtrack of “Freedom! ’90.”

A model wearing an outfit from the women’s collections during the Womenswear Fashion Week in Milan, from the house of Valentino. Image via Pixelformula/SIPA/Shutterstock.

From the house of Valentino, a model wearing a colorful, floral outfit from the women’s ready-to-wear collections, Spring/Summer 2021, during the Womenswear Fashion Week in Milan. Image via Pixelformula/SIPA/Shutterstock.

For his first-ever Milan show — he usually travels to Paris — Valentino’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli chose the Macchi Foundry, which formed an unlikely, but inspired, industrial backdrop for his collection. Underscoring the romance of the collection itself were lush flora and wildflowers, including an installation from the Japanese artist Satoshi Kawamoto. Meanwhile, the singer Labrinth performed for the 200 (sparely arranged) guests.

A model wearing a monochromatic, frilly ensemble for the Spring/Summer 2021 Womenswear Fashion Week in Milan. Image via Pixelformula/SIPA/Shutterstock.

Paris Fashion Week (September 28 – October 6)

From the house of Christian Dior, models walking down the runway at the Spring/Summer 2021 Womenswear Fashion Week in Paris. Image via Pixelformula/SIPA/Shutterstock.

As of this writing, a hybrid digital-live Paris Fashion Week is in full swing, following a headline-stealing show from Dior, who transformed Jardin des Tuileries into a cathedral, complete with a choir and stained glass windows. Koché presented a show in Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, close to Christelle Kocher’s studio, featuring models across the spectrum of gender identities and expression. We can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Models on the catwalk at the Koché show, Spring/Summer 2021, during Paris Fashion Week. Image via Elizabeth Pantaleo/Shutterstock.

In 2014, Karl Lagerfeld transcended fashion convention by turning the Grand Palais into a supermarket-inspired set. Throughout the “store” were products purpose-made for the occasion — over a hundred thousand in total — bearing subtle nods to Chanel history, and Cara Delevingne was dressed head-to-toe in pink.

Cara Delevingne and Karl Lagerfeld at the Chanel Show, Autumn/Winter 2014, during Paris Fashion Week. Image via Marcio Madeira/News Pictures/Shutterstock.

Writer Tim Blanks delighted in seeing the fashion world elite transformed into “kids in a candy store,” while the fashion critic Suzy Menkes declared, “Not since Marie Antoinette played milk maid on her farm at Versailles has there been such a conjunction of high and low.”

Kenzo’s beekeepers: A model wears a lovely creation for the Kenzo Spring/Summer 2021 fashion collection, during Paris Fashion Week. Image via Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP/Shutterstock.

A model wears a beekeeper creation for the Kenzo Spring/Summer 2021 fashion collection, during Paris Fashion Week. Image via Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP/Shutterstock.

This year, Kenzo’s creative director, Felipe Oliveira Baptista, found inspiration in bees, “the regulators of the planet” for a show that was at once beautiful and resonant. Before the guests arrived, the stools were topped with pots of “Honey of Montmartre,” made as part of an initiative to protect the vulnerable bee population. Nods to bees could be found in the garments, as well — from the veils to the bubbles in the shoes — which many felt were evocative of beehives.

From the house of Kenzo, a model wears a beekeeper-inspired ensemble for the Spring/Summer 2021 Fashion Week in Paris. Image via Pixelformula/SIPA/Shutterstock.

Cover image via David Fisher/Shutterstock.

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The Top 25 Free Fonts for Christmas and the Holidays

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 12:00:00 GMT

We picked the very best free fonts for Christmas and the Holiday season. Use these free Christmas fonts in cards, newsletters, and more.

As the holiday season comes closer, you may feel rushed to find the perfect free Christmas fonts for a special event or a holiday card. It’s not easy to browse through the endless choices and find the best free font for you. Do you use a snowy display font, or do you stick to a luxurious script font? To help narrow down your choices, we’ve compiled this list of twenty-five of the best free festive fonts that are perfect for any seasonal need. Not enough for you? We also curated 20 more free Christmas fonts that work for virtually any holiday design.

If you don’t have access to expensive design software, we’ve included four classic holiday-inspired fonts here that can be found in Shutterstock Editor. Simply open the Text (A) tool and select from the Font dropdown list to apply one of them to your designs.

Why You Should Use Christmas Fonts

There are a lot of fonts out there that you could use on your Christmas cards, gift tags, or branded marketing materials. But why pick any old font when you can have one tailored to the holiday season? Christmas fonts are a great creative tool because they match the festive mood of the holiday season. From beautiful cursive scripts with an old-fashioned feel to down-to-earth handwriting fonts, this set of free Christmas fonts is everything you need to spread warmth and cheer.

How to Use Christmas Fonts

Christmas fonts come in four major categories: elegant scripts, serifs, sans serifs, and cute fonts with a more stylistic flair. It’s important to choose a font that matches both the subject and tone of your message. A Christmas wedding invite will lose elegance if you pick a casual handwriting font. On the flipside, a more personalized message written in an elegant flowing script might feel inauthentic and lose some of its charm.

Use the elegant, professional fonts can anywhere since they’re quite poised. Script fonts are great for greeting cards, gift signatures, and holiday-themed event invitations. The big serifs, like Cinzel, are good for seasonal branding work like headlines on banners and homepage takeovers. The sans-serifs are great for more down-to-earth seasonal projects, like a series of posts for social media.

The cute fonts are a bit wackier, so we recommend saving them for DIY projects and personalized notes. These casual styles work well on a homemade Christmas card from the heart, or a holiday newsletter for your friends and family. There’s just one rule when you’re using fonts with stylized characters and playful shapes — don’t use them in big, chunky paragraphs of text. Save these for headlines and short phrases and your viewers will thank you!

Cursive Fonts

1. CAC Champagne

Give your holiday cards some pizzazz with this classic font. CAC Champagne, an effortless script designed by American Greetings Corporation, creates an air of elegance with its exquisite swashes and slightly angled structure. This font’s calligraphic style and well-spaced letterforms ensure legibility at the smallest of sizes.

Download the CAC Champagne font from Font Squirrel here.

Background image via Jukov studio.

2. Nickainley

Nickainley, a monoline script font designed by Seniors Studio, adds the perfect whimsical touch to holiday cards and is versatile for use in other design applications. Try it with a candy cane themed color scheme in bright red and stark white.

Download the Nickainley font from Font Squirrel here. Free for commercial and personal use.

Background image via Elenadesign.

3. Rochester

Rochester, designed by Sideshow, effectively marries loopy calligraphic letterforms with Victorian styles to make the perfect classy font. Its smooth weight variations and whimsical look creates a style that is both formal and nonchalant.

This font is available in Shutterstock Editor, where you can quickly add it to your own image uploads or any design you’re creating with Shutterstock images. Simply navigate to the Text (A) tool and select Rochester from the Font dropdown to use in your future projects.

Download the Rochester font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via Nella.

4. Pinyon Script

Pinyon Script, designed by Nicole Fally, features curved swashes and angled letterforms with a truly elegant demeanor. Use this classic script font for exquisite party invites and formal holiday cards.

Don’t have access to design software? You can easily find Pinyon Script within Shutterstock Editor in the Font tab when the Text (A) tool is activated.

Download the Pinyon Script font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via Oleg V. Ivanov.

5. The Majority

Give your Christmas card a sense of luxury with this gorgeous script font from Letterhend Studio. Its flowy nature pairs beautifully with a detailed fir tree background.

Download The Majority Demo font from Dafont here. Free for personal use.

Background image via Alex Polo.

6. Waving at Christmas

Waving at Christmas, designed by Cat.B, effortlessly combines calligraphy and festive swirls with a hint of texture. Pair this dashing font with a stunning Christmas-themed flat lay in your holiday designs, or take advantage of its retro feel with a vintage illustrated pattern.

Download the Waving at Christmas font from Dafont here. Free for personal use.

Background image via Maria Rom.

Handwritten Fonts

7. Beyond Infinity

Beyond Infinity, designed by BLKBK Fonts, gives off a whimsical and handwritten feel with its irregular and organic letterforms. Use this effortless script style in your Christmas cards as an eye-catching heading or title that’s sure to wow your viewers.

Download the Beyond Infinity Demo font on Dafont here. Free for personal use.

Background image via Wynian.

8. Mountains of Christmas

Add a hint of personality to your holiday cards with this textured and playful font designed by Crystal Kluge. Combine this winter wonderland themed font with a restrained sans serif, such as Lato, to achieve that font contrast.

Download the Mountains of Christmas font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via Yaroslav Antonov.

9. The Historia

The Historia, designed by Typia Nesia, truly packs a punch with its angled orientation and rough textures. This bold brush script has a handmade quality, making it the perfect companion for imagery featuring handmade Christmas decor, like a candy-studded gingerbread house.

Download The Historia font from Dafont here. Free for personal use.

Background image via Elenadesign.

10. The Perfect Christmas

Just like the name says, you simply can’t go wrong with The Perfect Christmas. This script display font features calligraphic letterforms and snowflake details: truly the perfect font for your holiday card.

Download The Perfect Christmas font from Dafont here. Free for personal use.

Background image via Dora Milanovich.

11. Santa’s Sleigh

Evoke the jolly feeling of Christmastime with this mono-weight display font designed by HypoTypo. Santa’s Sleigh’s whimsical letterforms give your holiday designs a lighthearted appearance.

Download the Santa’s Sleigh font from Dafont here.

Background image via vovan.

Decorative Fonts

12. Bigelow Rules

Make a statement in your holiday cards with this bouncy typeface designed by Astigmatic. Bigelow Rules’s quirky and accentuated serifs bring forth a unique retro appeal unlike any other font. Incorporate this one of a kind font into your seasonal designs to give your headlines an eclectic and spunky appearance.

Download the Bigelow Rules font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via tomertu.

13. Cherry Swash

For a go-to monoweight serif font with added swashes, check out the Cherry Swash font by Natalia Kasatkina. Give your headlines a casual yet whimsical lift by using this font in your next holiday card.

Download the Cherry Swash font from Font Squirrel here.

Background image via Rawpixel.com.

14. Germania One

Inspired by German typography, Germania One marries the blackletter stylization with geometric Bauhaus letterforms to create the perfect Christmas-inspired hybrid. Step up your holiday card game and experiment with a more gothic take on Christmas typography.

Download the Germania One font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via SvetMedvedeva.

15. Xmas Sweater Stitch

Evoke the fuzzy feelings of a Christmas sweater with this holiday-inspired font designed by Chequered Ink. Pair this textured font with a subtle and festive sweater background to make your next design feel ultra cozy.

Download the Xmas Sweater Stitch font from Dafont here. Free for personal use.

Background image via Yulia Grigoryeva.

16. Sacred Bridge

Give your holiday card an old-fashioned and traditional appearance with this all caps display font designed by Bombastype. Sacred Bridge’s sharp swashes create a look that’s sure to set your holiday card from others, making it the perfect font to pair with a photo of you decorated Christmas tree.

Download the Sacred Bridge Demo font from Dafont here. Free for personal use.

Background image via Nancy Bauer.

17. Spirax

Characterized by pronounced thin curves and thick stems, Spirax has a hint of exuberance with its swashed letterforms. Use this calligraphic display font as a simple greeting, or provide important details to your next holiday event.

Download the Spirax font from Font Squirrel here.

Background image via Kateryna Sednieva.

Serif and San Serif Fonts

18. Arima

Arima, a display font designed by NDISCOVER, features an easy-to-read style with a calligraphic twist. Its subtle curved swashes and weight variations make this stunning font ideal for holiday-themed titles and headings. This free versatile font comes in a multitude weights and glyphs for increased usability.

Download the Arima font on Fontsquirrel here.

Background image via Konstantins Pobilojs.

19. Cinzel

Cinzel, designed by Natanael Gama, is a traditional take on the classic Roman serif. This all caps font is ideal for bringing in a more contemporary feel to headlines and titles in your holiday card. Its sharp corners look just like a sprig of holly.

You can find Cinzel within Shutterstock Editor in the Font tab when the Text (A) tool is selected.

Download the Cinzel font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via Elenadesign.

20. Euphorigenic

Add a hint of playfulness and quirkiness to your designs with this serif font designed by Typodermic Fonts. Euphorigenic’s heavy ball terminals and subtle drop caps make for a pleasant and bouncy feeling in holiday card headlines.

Download the Euphorigenic font from Dafont here. Free for personal and commercial use.

Background image via Denis Dryashkin.

21. Glass Antiqua

Taken from slight Art Noveau influences and calligraphic styles, Glass Antiqua presents bubbly and informal letterforms that are ideal for any occasion. Use alone as a playful headline for your holiday card, or pair with a geometric sans serif, like Roboto, for a successful contrast.

Download the Glass Antiqua font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via Dina Belenko.

22. Jacques Francois

Not every Christmas card demands a display or script typeface. Take the classic route by incorporating this simple and reliable serif font into any holiday application. The beauty of serif fonts is that they can be used alone as a headline or as smaller copy text.

Download the Jacques Francois font from Font Squirrel here.

Background image via Yulia YasPe.

23. Medula One

Medula One, designed by LatinoType, juxtaposes old and new styles into a versatile sans serif display font. Due to its condensed nature, use Medula One as a headline or title in your holiday design rather than copy text.

Download the Medula One font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via vatolstikoff.

24. Playfair Display

Playfair Display, designed by Claus Eggers Sørensen, features thick letterforms with contrasting thin serifs. This classic display font was inspired by the works of John Baskerville and the stylization of Scotch Roman designs. Use this stunning font in your next holiday card to really wow your viewers.

You can also quickly find Playfair Display within Shutterstock Editor in the Font tab when the Text (A) tool is activated.

Download the Playfair Display font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via vectorfusionart.

25. Yeseva One

Yeseva One, a serif display font designed by Jovanny Lemonad, evokes movement with its drastic weight variations and subtle curves. Use this striking font as a spectacular greeting for your next holiday card.

Download the Yeseva One font from Google Fonts here.

Background image via Kirill Bibrich.

Documenting Climate Change Through Nature Photography

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Offset photographer Danita Delimont discusses her relationship with nature photography and why she believes agents are essential.

There’s a sense of immediate urgency when you talk about climate change. With the vision of our world changing so fast, raising awareness about climate change is vital. The role of photographers documenting climate change and, in part, the climate crisis, has never been more important. In this article, we speak to photographer Danita Delimont who documents climate change through visual imagery.

An aerial view of Kluane National Park in Canada. Image via Yuri Choufour / Danita Delimont.

The idea of climate change may (at times) feel abstract, especially because it’s such a slow-moving process in the grand scheme of how immediate our world is today. More often than not, Indigenous communities and those living close to nature and off the land are the first witnesses to this dramatic shift. But, when we see images that capture the harrowing changes happening to our planet, that’s when things feel more real. Aside from photographers, agents also play a role in spreading these photos and making sure they get the exposure deserved.

Danita Delimont is one of many photographers who cover climate change. We spoke with her about her life and relationship with photography. Here’s why she believes having an agent is important, and something professional photographers should take into consideration.

An Interview with Danita Delimont

Shutterstock: Thanks for meeting with us, Danita. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Danita Delimont: I grew up all over the world. I was exposed to so many different cultures and natural settings along the way! My dad was a civil engineer working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Every few years, one project would finish and since he was usually a Project Manager, we had a choice of where the family would move and our parents always involved us kids (four) in the choice. We lived in Paris, Tehran, Tucson, LA, San Francisco, Germany, and then he died and we moved back to Lincoln, Nebraska where my parents were married. I finished high school and went to college at UNL.

The Masai Giraffe grazing on an acacia tree in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania, Africa. Image via Adam Jones / Danita Delimont.

He would always take slides back then and we’d show our travels on the slide projector when entertaining. Because we were regularly moving to new places, I developed a friendly and open way of interacting with people. It taught me how to interact with strangers and develop relationships wherever I went.

Very cool! Was that the transition into photography?

I actually studied some photography in college, learning about B/W darkroom techniques and had my dad’s old Kodak Retina camera from the ‘60s to play around with. My college degree, however, is in Cultural Anthropology. This has been beneficial throughout my career, working with traditional and contemporary cultural images worldwide. When working for the National Park Service as a “Cultural Interpreter” ranger, I often photographed the living history cauldron cooking, brick oven baking, and candle making programs that I developed.

A Black-tailed Deer buck in a wildflower meadow at Mount Rainier National Park. Image via Jamie & Judy Wild / Danita Delimont.

That’s incredibly unique! Can you talk more about your exposure to nature photography?

One of my first jobs after college (after a few seasonal positions with the National Park Service) was working for an expedition/adventure travel company. I did research and wrote their brochures and worked on their expedition ship from time to time. My first staff position on board found me cruising 3,500 miles up the Amazon River on the MS World Discoverer. The ship had zodiacs on board, with experts lecturing on various subjects throughout the trip. We would cruise up the tributaries with the ornithologist to view the birds, or the marine biologist to view the Amazon pink dolphins, or go into the villages with the anthropologist. These cruises, and the lectures and educational aspects about them, strongly influenced my interest in the natural and cultural world.

When NANPA (The North American Nature Photography Association) was founded back in the mid-90s, I jumped on board to be a charter member and have attended their nature summits every year. The ILCP (International League of Conservation Photographers) is also an important group of dedicated nature and climate change photographers, whose yearly conference has been extraordinary to attend. Seriously dedicated photographers share their stories and efforts, and it’s always enlightening in many ways!

What an incredible experience. So, you’re an accomplished photography agent. What does having a photography agent mean for one’s career? And, is it something photographers should consider?

I think for many photographers an agent is important. Many nature and wildlife photographers spend their lives in the “bush,” waiting for the right light, weather, or animal behavior. They are more quiet and reserved, not as comfortable calling up strangers or negotiating licensing deals. With serious amateurs and hobbyists, many have spent their careers in another field, so they may not understand the stock photography business. They know they love taking photos of whatever their passion is and need someone else to help them figure out what to do with their shots.

Icebergs on a black volcanic beach in Iceland. Image via Martin Zwick / Danita Delimont.

These are many of the reasons an agent comes into play. They usually have extensive experience working with clients and photographers, and understand what the current trends and licensing fees are. They know how to negotiate, always on behalf of doing the best for both parties. So, there is a win-win all around, whenever possible. The personal touch that an agent brings to the table can often ease one’s mind, by sharing information and having honest conversations. At the end of the day, it’s all a personal choice that many have made to their benefit.

Couldn’t agree more. Any significant experience that taught you a lesson or, perhaps, affected you in a powerful way?

When on the Amazon River in 1980, noting and learning about how the rain forests were being cut down for timber, and seeing the big scars, was alarming. Also, the mining that was changing the makeup of the natural forest, moving traditional cultures away who relied on the forest, was disturbing.

Another time (1995), I found myself out at Cape Churchill in Hudson’s Bay in October, for the polar bear congregation. I had negotiated a book deal with Dan Guravich, one of the early polar bear “expedition” photographers who ran an operation out there on the cape. This is where all the polar bears, from near and far, “congregate” because the peninsula juts out into the sea and the ice will start freezing up there first, enabling them to get out and hunt seals after a long summer ashore. During that ten-day adventure, I really learned a lot about the role the ice plays in many ways. There were many famous nature/wildlife photographers on that trip and it was great to get their perspective on environmental issues and share in the conversation.

An aerial view of a vast flock of Lesser Flamingos nesting in the shallow salt waters of Lake Natron, Africa. Image via Paul Souders / Danita Delimont.

Scuba diving on other expedition cruises in Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, and Australia in the 1980s/90s exposed me to the beauty and pristine wilderness that has been thriving underwater in those areas. More recent trips have revealed how these areas are now in danger of coral bleaching, as global warming raises the water temperatures.

Throughout my career, working with photographers documenting global climate change has been extremely important to me and I do my best to promote their work.

I can absolutely see why. When it comes to climate change and environmentalism through photography, who are your influences?

Jane Goodall and Margaret Mead influenced me a great deal in my earlier days. I have to say the work Jane Goodall continues to do is admirable. We have a photographer who lived at Gombe at her reserve for ten years, so I learned even more about the rain forest and chimpanzees through her! In nature photography, David Muench was always one of the big photographers in the 1980’s, whose work I loved, along with Art Wolfe and Frans Lanting, of course. I’m happy to say I know them all now and we have a mutual respect and admiration for each other.

A sailboat anchors near a large iceberg from LeConte Glacier, grounded at low tide in LeConte Bay in Alaska. Image via Paul Souders / Danita Delimont.

Let’s also not forget Wolfgang Kaehler, whom I met on the Amazon River. I repped his work for eighteen years before starting my own agency in 1999. He traveled extensively, photographing the more remote parts of the world with adventure travel clients. His German efficiency taught me to be more organized and pick off one project at a time, before moving on to the next. We labeled and bar-coded every slide before digital and every image had a place in the slide file!

Sounds like an incredible network of creatives. What compels you to continue representing photographers and continue building your agency?

Photographers contact me all the time for representation of their work and I am very selective about who I will bring into my agency. In addition to fabulous nature shots, they need to bring something additional to the table that is above and beyond. Many have a personal project or dedicated focus on something, and then shoot stock as an additional income stream.

It’s great to know someone is documenting global changes so we have a record and evidence that can be used to show the general public. They traverse the planet in search of significant content. I’m committed to getting more exposure to their work, in hopes of influencing others and sharing what we have with those that will appreciate and use it for some good.

Cover image via Yuri Choufour / Danita Delimont.

Discover more inspiring artist interviews here:

The post Documenting Climate Change Through Nature Photography appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

10 Visual Trends for Depicting Eco-Friendly Homes

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 17:00:50 GMT

Try ten creative new trends for styling eco-friendly images of homes and show your clients what a better, greener world can look like.

When it comes to eco-harming habits, we’ve made great strides around the world. We have started reducing plastic waste (that is, until COVID-19 hit), choosing recycled and ethical fashion, and eating more plant-based foods. Now, we’re tackling the sustainability of our homes and how eco-friendly our homes really are. In today’s article, we’re visualizing what an eco-friendly home looks like through images on our marketplace. Explore these images to get ideas on what to shoot next in the movement towards sustainability, and the type of imagery you should be using as customers to document eco-friendly home movements.

So what does a sustainable home really look like? And how, as stock photographers, do you create images that reflect the reality of green living? Keep these concepts in mind when planning your next sustainable focused shoot.

Bring the outside in with these eco-friendly home ideas. Image by PhotoSunnyDays.

Trend #1: Depict Approachable Lifestyle Changes

When it comes to capturing images of eco-friendly homes, it’s not all LEED-certified buildings and solar panels. In reality, the shift to visualizing a more sustainable home is about tweaking everyday habits. That includes reducing water usage by taking shorter showers, washing clothes in cold water, or only running the dishwasher when full. Other simple actions like powering down tools at night and swapping energy-draining light bulbs for LED-efficient ones all add up to big changes. This can all be visualized in the types of environmentally-conscious imagery we create and share.

There’s nothing better than fresh laundry. Image by Predrag Milosavljevic.

For many, creating a greener home can seem daunting and expensive. Images that capture these small but mighty actions help others to see these as approachable lifestyle changes—something we all can all take part in.

Trend #2: Focus on Natural Materials in Homes

That bright, airy living room filled with tons of warm, natural wood? Who doesn’t want to live there? Adding natural materials to our home decor is not only an aesthetically pleasing choice but an eco-friendly one too. Wood, bamboo, granite, marble, brick, rattan, wicker, sisal, and jute—these natural materials strengthen our connection to nature and make us feel more grounded. To better embody a more natural essence in your images, use these materials to reflect the outside world inside your interiors.

Clay is a popular natural material to feature in imagery. Image by Korionov.

Trend #3: Surging in Popularity – Linen

We’ve all seen the Instagram ads for linen bedding, and they are popping up in popularity for a reason—natural fibers are (back) in. And for good reason: synthetic fabrics are huge pollutants for the Earth. Natural fibers break down over time while man-made ones do not. The microplastics present in synthetic fibers cloud our oceans while the chemicals used throughout the production process contaminate our drinking water.

Linen tablecloths, bedspreads, and towels are gaining popularity. Image by casanisa.

Biodegradable fabrics not only add appeal from an aesthetic standpoint but drastically minimize our environmental impact. Linen is a perfect example of sustainable material to integrate into eco-friendly home imagery. This highly sustainable and durable fabric is made from every part of the flax plant. Not only is it resilient (it can grow in poor soil) but it uses far less water consumption than even cotton.

Trend #4: Reducing Food Waste in Homes

Food waste contributes around eight to ten per cent of the world’s global emissions. By reducing our food waste, we can lessen our carbon footprint. So how do you capture images that reflect this? Showing subjects choosing oddly shaped fruit and vegetables (which are more likely to be thrown out), purchasing in-season produce, shopping at local grocers, farmers markets and farm stands, packaging up leftovers, and composting are all ways to visually show mindful food habits.

Composting is a great way to visualize an eco-friendly home. Image by Anna Hoychuk.

Trend #5: Decluttering Homes

We owe this trend to the “messiah of minimalism,” Marie Kondo. This concept of less is more is having a huge impact on our living spaces; through downsizing and decluttering, we’re KonMari’ing ourselves to a more intentional way of living. Images that show clear and clean spaces reinforce how simple sustainable homes can really be.

Anytime is a good time to declutter. Image by Kostikova Natalia.

For stock images, this is best depicted in real, lived-in environments. While you can’t show commercially licensed brands in your images, you can show a bit of natural clutter to really embody a “real” home in your images. Customers want to see the real, the authentic. This trend is a perfect way to depict that.

Trend #6: Natural Cleaners

This is another easy one to document. These days natural cleaners are easier than ever to come by, whether they’ve been purchased from a grocery store or DIY’ed at home. Another great example of visual eco-friendly imagery that you can create with this is a flat lay of all the materials used to make your own cleaning supplies, such as aloe vera or lavender.

Make your own DIY cleaning solutions. Image by Andriana Syvanych.

Trend #7: Go Plastic-Free

Beeswax wrap in place of saran wrap, amber-colored glass soap dispensers, shampoo bars instead of shampoo bottles, wooden broom handles—keeping plastic out of the home is another environmentally conscious action in pursuit of a more sustainable home. Make sure to pay attention to the small details in your images by showing as little plastic as possible (and make sure you’re eliminating plastic from your shoot, too!)

Beeswax wraps are the new saran wraps. Image by FrimuFilms.

Trend #8: Biophilic Design and Plants

Biophilic design is about creating spaces that connect us to nature. Think of design elements like living walls, roof gardens, sunrooms, skylights, and spaces that transition from interior to exterior in a natural, fluid way.

Living walls may be out of reach to some, but houseplants are not. They’re affordable, stylish, and provide wellness benefits—plants filter toxins out of the air and are shown to improve air quality. Photographing these urban jungles is another way to emphasize a greener lifestyle.

Surrounded by plants is the best place to be. Image by AnnaTamila.

Any good sustainable home uses the outdoor space available to it. Patio gardens, edible balconies, garden boxes, and plant ledges all show how easy it is to green up our spaces or to grow our own food.

Trend #9: Tiny Homes

A small home is a sustainable one. A smaller house means fewer materials required to build, less space to heat, less surface area to cool, fewer rooms to clean, and less unnecessary furniture and items to fill it with. Big is not always better.

Less is more. Doesn’t this look picturesque? Image by ppa.

Trend #10: Solar Panels

Renewable energy is on the rise, but fossil fuels still account for the majority of our global energy production. Solar panels make use of the single most sustainable resource we have: the sun. Solar energy is renewable, emission-free, relatively reliable, and increasingly more and more affordable.

Solar panels are only going to grow in popularity. Image by shellygraphy.

By making small changes and investing in eco-alternatives, we’re creating greener, cleaner living spaces for ourselves. Images that reflect this show the multitude of ways in which we as humans are choosing to lessen our impact on the Earth. And that’s a design trend that will never go out of style.

Cover image by Followtheflow.

Here are other articles you may be interested in:

The post 10 Visual Trends for Depicting Eco-Friendly Homes appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

5 Inexpensive Photo Editing Apps You Should Be Using

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Looking for an alternative photo editor? Look no further — these are the best affordable image editors for creators of all skill levels.

When I was in college and spending late nights editing images at the computer lab, I just wished I could use a cheap, decent photo editor to do some basic image editing on my computer. Nothing fancy. I certainly wasn’t about to launch a career in photojournalism, so I just needed bare-bones software to edit images into an acceptable state. Apart from Photoshop and other expensive image editing software, there weren’t many options.

Years later, things have changed. There are now several free or affordable image editing apps and software available. Those looking for a basic, affordable photo editing alternative to Photoshop and Lightroom have a few solid options.

1. Luminar 4

Luminar 4 is an AI-assisted image editor for people who don’t know how to edit photos and don’t want to learn. Don’t get me wrong, the software can’t produce amazing images instantly without human input, but it can elevate a user’s skill thanks to artificial intelligence. Luminar 4 uses AI to enhance every aspect of the image editing workflow, and it also works as a plug-in for Lightroom, Photoshop, and other software. At its easiest, Luminar 4 lets users apply a filter a la Instagram that uses AI to enhance various settings.

Applying a filter can change how an image looks, but it’s best to dive into the toolbar to get the most out of any image. Portrait Enhancer, for example, has multiple sliders that adjust a subject’s face, lips, eyes, and other facial features. AI Skin Enhancer is another feature for editing portraits that corrects the image to give subjects a more natural skin tone.

Using the AI Augmented Sky feature, I replaced the sky with a mountain backdrop. I also used some of the other features to touch up the image.

For landscape images, Luminar 4’s Sky Enhancer can completely replace the sky in the image with one from their list. Though some features may appear too advanced to the average user, the software’s interface makes it a breeze. With an abundance of AI-assisted tools, it’s best to experiment and use every slider. To see the progress in any image, users can click the eyeball icon at the top of the window. This toggles the image to its original state. The “before and after” tool is also great to see progress — just look at the world of difference above.

With LUTs, users can apply an artistic pre-set color that can change the overall tone of an image. Users can also apply an edit to multiple images via batch processing. There are just so many fun features to mess with. It can make even the most uninspired pictures appear like works of art. Whether the user is a veteran wedding photographer or a camera-for-my-birthday newcomer, Luminar 4 looks to simplify and enhance any image. Skylum’s Luminar AI, due to release in the fall of 2020, is doubling down on AI, making it, according to Skylum, “the first image editor fully powered by artificial intelligence.”

Price Point: One-time $67 payment for one license

2. Gimp

Whereas Photoshop asks for a monthly subscription to access their professional editing tools, GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, gives access to all operating systems for free. GIMP has been around since the mid-90s, and has received numerous updates since then. The 2.10.20 update, released in June of 2020, is the latest, but there are plans to release a 3.0 version soon.

The free, open-source software runs on all three major operating systems. With Linux (Beta) running on Chromebook, GIMP can run on Google’s Chrome OS, making it the most powerful, egalitarian image editing software around. Users on a tight budget can buy a $50 Raspberry Pi and install GIMP. I’ve tried this, and it’s not bad, though it’s considerably slower than using it on a proper machine.

Although the software is free, it offers robust features similar to Photoshop, with improved PSD file support. It’s true that Photoshop has more frequent updates and more tools. However, GIMP’s suite of tools offers much more than the basics, and its non-existent price-point is too good to pass up.

Price Point: Free

3. Shutterstock Editor

Shutterstock’s browser-based editing service, Shutterstock Editor, is made for designers looking to create ebook covers, brochures, social media posts, and other marketing content. The app has excellent templates for various projects, with access to fonts and other image-based assets.

Using Shutterstock Editor’s tools, it’s possible to create any kind of marketing material. For more premium features and ten standard image licenses a month, users can pay $49/month.

Shutterstock Editor’s best feature, however, and the one that separates it from competitors, is the built-in image search tool. Users can access Shutterstock’s vast library of photos, illustrations, and vector-based assets with a few keystrokes on the search bar. The free version of the software allows up to three downloads a month without the “Shutterstock Editor” badge.

Shutterstock Editor Pro starts at $49 and unlocks several features within the app, such as unlimited pro templates and custom preset sizes, Pro design elements, and unlimited downloads without the “Shutterstock Editor” badge. Better yet, users get access to over 300 million images, with ten standard image licenses every month. Creators who want a fast, simple-to-use experience, making anything from an Instagram story to a party invite, can get a lot out of Shutterstock Editor.

Price Point: Free or $49 for Pro

4. Snapseed

This free editor for Android and iOS devices has been around for almost a decade, and it’s still a go-to app for editing images on-the-go. Snapseed, which Google bought from Nik Software, has one of the best user interfaces for editing images, easily making it a top choice for newcomers.

These are all the tools available within Snapseed, giving users a high degree of control on anything from an iPad to Google Pixel phone to a Chromebook running Android apps.

Snapseed initially launched on the iPad before coming to iOS, but it works just as good on smaller phone screens. Like Instagram, users can apply a filter from the “Looks” tab. Or, they can get granular in the “Tools” tab, where it’s possible to adjust curves, add text, crop, and get the image as close to perfect as possible.

I couldn’t resist taking this shot of the sun hiding behind tall grass. The original image was okay, but Snapseed shaped it into something worth sharing.

With phone cameras producing richer, more detailed images every year, it’s worth using Snapseed to squeeze the most out of every shot. Thanks to Snapseed’s wonderful user interface, editing via the sliders is as easy as dragging a finger across any part of the screen. This minimal, user-friendly app will feel right at home with those familiar with Instagram, and those who aren’t will pick it up quickly.

Price Point: Free

5. Pixlr

You can use some version of Pixlr on almost any device (Browsers, Chromebooks, Raspberry Pis, etc). The phone versions of Pixlr tailor more to the Instagram crowd, with filters and options to create collages. However it’s the browser version of the software that’s the most interesting. Using Pixlr on the browser requires no payment, account creation, or download. Once on the website, users can upload an image and start editing right away from any major browser.

However, there are two versions of Pixlr to consider. Pixlr X is similar to Lightroom, offering essential image editing tools to adjust exposure, lighting, sizing, and other values. For most people who want to add some color or resize an image, this version of Pixlr for the browser is perfect.

Then, there’s Pixlr E, a more advanced version of Pixlr that offers tools similar to Photoshop. The tools in Pixlr E are more advanced so you can do more with an image, but it does require some prior knowledge. For most users, Pixlr E may be too advanced.

Pixlr’s free plan, but their paid plans offer exclusive features and premium assets. Screenshot via Pixlr.

Both Pixlr X and E are free to use, but premium features are gated behind a yearly payment or monthly subscription — $7.99/month for Premium or $14.99/month for Professional. Apart from unlocking certain features, the paid versions of these apps also unlock thousands of overlays, stickers, decorative texts, and other assets. Most importantly, paying for the apps gets rid of ads.

The Premium and Professional tiers may be appealing to some, but most users won’t need the extra stuff. However, the free versions are great browser apps, especially for users with Chromebooks or Raspberry Pi’s running Raspbian.

Price Point: Free or $7.99/month for Premium / $14.99 for Professional

And You Get an Image Editor

Ten years ago, there weren’t many choices for image editing software, especially not affordable or outright free services. Now the Android and iOS app stores are full of free image editors, but they’re not all good. With an abundance of choice comes the burden of picking the right software for the right skill level.

Sure, those with the experience and funds to use Photoshop will probably stick with Adobe. Still, for students, creators on a budget, or casual photographers, the apps and software listed above have robust features and tools that are good enough for most skill levels and budgets.

Cover image via Engineer studio.

The post 5 Inexpensive Photo Editing Apps You Should Be Using appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

10 FREE Christmas Sound Effects

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

This free SFX pack is filled with the sounds of Christmas, from jingle bells to holiday party room tone.

These sound effects cover a wide range of sounds you might hear during the holiday season. From distant chatter from a family gathering to the literal sounds of Santa’s “Ho-Ho-Ho,” these are perfect for your next Christmas-themed commercial, feature, or corporate holiday videos.

Whether you’re in the business of producing videos, or simply editing them, these assets are perfect to throw in to fill the empty spaces of whatever footage you’re working with. For example, by adding the sound of jingle bells at a very low decibel under your footage will give it a Christmas feeling.

Download these ten free high-quality sound effects and use them in your Christmas projects. Get a bonus discount in the pack that will allow you to get more stock music from Shutterstock at a discount.

Download 10 FREE Christmas Sound Effects

Like any sound effect, when left alone they can often sound a little rough. So it’s best to throw in music underneath, or room tone, or ambient sounds of the living or dining room during holiday family gatherings. Never be afraid to throw in as many sounds as you can to fill up the spaces.

More Christmas Footage and Music

Image via Yuganov Konstantin.

If you need a full on soundtrack to your video project, we have a massive selection of holiday music on Shutterstock Music and PremiumBeat. Check out this playlist of some of our favorite songs below

We also have plenty of Christmas footage, images, and vectors perfect for contributing exactly the right amount of holiday cheer to your next creative endeavor.

Cover Image via Guschenkova.

If you’re looking for more free sound effects and music, check out our previous freebies below:

The post 10 FREE Christmas Sound Effects appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

18 Free Halloween Fonts for Spooky Seasonal Design

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 15:56:54 GMT

With Halloween right around the corner, it’s time to get started on spooky designs. Get inspired with these eighteen free Halloween fonts.

Typography is an important element to any design, especially in Halloween-themed designs. A simple change in font can make all the difference in the world on how viewers perceive your design. Think of all of your favorite horror movies and what they often have in common: a custom typeface that personifies the movie you’re about to see. Whether that font is ooey-gooey or sharp and sinister, the font itself says a lot about the movie. The same goes for any other project — typography is key.

While arriving at the perfect font for your next project seems like an investment, every font listed is free for both personal and commercial use. Simply click on the link above the font graphic to reach the download destination. When in doubt, always refer to the licensing information set forth by the typographer.

1. Avara

Based from a square grid, this typeface designed by Raphaël Bastide evokes a rugged and mysterious tone with its geometry and lack of curves. Adorn this ominous typeface to a Halloween-inspired social graphic or promote your latest spooky-themed virtual event with the help of Avara as your headline. For accompanying typefaces, opt for a geometric sans serif for the ultimate contrast.

Download the Avara font on Font Squirrel here.

Add a subtle yet chilling vibe to your next project with this typeface. Image via Mimadeo.

2. Averia Libre

Designed by Dan Sayers, Averia Libre is based off of the average of over 700 fonts on Google Fonts. Its rounded and organic appearance is not outright Halloween-themed, but resembles a typeface you might find within an old, dust-filled book in a spooky study.

Download the Averia Libre font from Google Fonts here.

Capture the essence of a spooky library with Averia Libre. Image via zef art.

3. Bearpaw

Named for its resemblance to the claw scratches of a bear, Bearpaw adds a hand scrawled flair to any project. Incorporate effects and layer this typeface over a unique background to take this mysterious font to the next level.

Download the Bearpaw font from Font Squirrel here.

Incorporate a scratched and scrawled effect with this typeface. Image via nnattalli.

4. Butcherman

There’s nothing more skin-crawling than a dark figure that lurks in the distance, ready to pounce. Butcherman’s condensed and hacked appearance visualizes the terror of seeing your worst nightmare.

Download the Butcherman font from Google Fonts here.

Personify your worst nightmare with Butcherman’s eery appearance. Image via Kseniya Ivashkevich.

5. Creepster

Creepster’s fright-filled letterforms and its ooey-gooey effect makes it the perfect headline for any Halloween movie poster or graphic. Contrast this display typeface with a simple serif for a spooky juxtaposition.

Download the Creepster font from Google Fonts here.

Use Creepster to capture the essence of your next Halloween project. Image via IgorZh.

6. Eater

Inspired by the dark spread of a rare disease, Eater’s spiked letterforms give the typeface a chilling vibe that’s sure to keep you up at night. Utilize Eater in your next virtual movie night promotion to get attendees sitting on the edge of their seat.

Download the Eater font from Google Fonts here.

Eater’s chilling vibes adds to the frightfulness of any design. Image via miasynetska.

7. Edo

Designed by Vic Fieger, Edo gives off a subtle yet grungy vibe with its textured strokes. While not explicitly Halloween-themed, this font resembles painted letters in post-apocalyptic cinemas.

Download the Edo font from Font Squirrel here.

Textured strokes lend a post-apocalyptic tone to a headline. Image via FOXARTBOX.

8. Ghoulish Fright

Nothing gives quite the fright like a spooky phrase in this typeface. Ghoulish Fright’s irregularities make it the perfect go-to for your next Halloween graphic.

Download the Ghoulish Fright font from Dafont here.

This typeface’s irregularities makes it ideal for any spooky phrase. Image via Chan2545.

9. Hallowed Grounds

Hallowed Grounds, designed by Jason Ferry, evokes a chilling tone reminiscent of American Horror Story’s type treatment. The ultra condensed letterforms and double crossbars contribute to that mysterious feeling that you can’t quite shake.

Download the Hallowed Grounds font from Dafont here.

Evoke a chilling tone with Hallowed Grounds as your title treatment. Image via balounm.

10. Henny Penny

While Henny Penny’s bouncy and curved letterforms give off personality, it’s appearance feels eerily similar to type that you might find in the Nightmare Before Christmas movie. Contrast Henny Penny’s quirky letterforms with a more polished sans-serif font to achieve a balanced pair.

Download the Henny Penny font from Google Fonts here.

Henny’s Penny’s quirky letterforms incorporates a different take on Halloween. Image via Sudipta Mandal.

11. Leander

Give your Halloween-inspired designs a spooky, literary twist with this typeface. Leander’s textured letterforms and classic serif style gives off a cryptic vibe that’s sure to make an effect on others.

Download the Leander font from Font Squirrel here.

Leander’s literary style feels cryptic and secretive. Image via Stephanie Frey.

12. Metal Mania

For any Halloween design that requires a Metallica influence, Metal Mania is an excellent go-to. This typeface’s classic all caps style and subtle textures serves as the perfect headline for your design.

Download the Metal Mania font from Google Fonts here.

Add a Metallica-inspired vibe to your Halloween design with this typeface. Image via Regina Foster.

13. Needleteeth

Designed by Chad Savage of Sinister Fonts, Needleteeth evokes an eerie tone with its sharp, teeth-like serifs and its condensed appearance. Use this display font as a headline or title treatment in your next Halloween project.

Download the Needleteeth font from Dafont here.

Needleteeth’s needle sharp serifs makes it the perfect Halloween font. Image via herryfaizal.

14. Shlop

It’s always ideal to have an ooey-gooey typeface in your Halloween font library. Named in reference to dripping concoctions, Shlop adds the perfect level of sliminess to your designs.

Download the Shlop font from Dafont here.

Incorporate ooey gooey goodness to your project with Shlop. Image via Africa Studio.

15. Smythe

Designed by Vernon Adams, Smythe features a semi-condensed style with sharp-edged serifs. While subtle, this typeface’s knifelike appearance lends a mysterious hand.

Download the Smythe font from Google Fonts here.

Smythe’s sharp-edged serifs give it a mysterious tone. Image via IndigoLT.

16. Special Elite

Designed by Astigmatic, Special Elite features a vintage typewriter style. Its rugged letterforms allude to all things dark and secretive.

Download the Special Elite font from Font Squirrel here.

Evoke a dark and secretive tone with Special Elite. Image via MyImages – Micha.

17. Trade Winds

Trade Winds adds a breezy flair to any design with its subtly textured and angled letterforms. Use this gusty typeface as an eye-catching heading to your next design.

Download the Trade Winds font from Font Squirrel here.

Trade Winds’s breezy flair adds a subtle hint of horror. Image via Natasha Sergeeva.

18. Zombie

What’s Halloween without a return of the dead? This typeface, aptly named Zombie, features rugged textures in an all caps style. Due to its display characteristics, reserve this typeface for headlines, title treatments, or important copy details.

Download the Zombie font from Dafont here.

Evoke a return of the dead with this rugged typeface. Image via Romolo Tavani.

Cover image via Hayk_Shalunts.

Looking for more ideas for your next Halloween project? Check these out below:

The post 18 Free Halloween Fonts for Spooky Seasonal Design appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

5 Tips on Preparing Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Add some pumpkin spice to your copy and holiday cheer to your images with these five tips for marketing your business during the holidays.

Nothing heralds the arrival of the holidays like cooler weather, peppermint lattes, and seasonal brand content. Kids aren’t the only ones looking forward to the holidays; it’s also an exciting time for marketers.

The holiday shopping season affords marketers the opportunity to connect with consumers through visual content that entices and delights, while also boosting sales. While we aren’t likely to see a huge uptick in holiday revenue this year due to the pandemic, Deloitte’s annual holiday retail forecast reports an estimated increase of 1 to 1.5%. At the same time, e-commerce sales could increase by 25% to 35%, compared with just 14% last year.

What does this mean for brand marketers? The key to maximizing sales is to engage potential customers online.

As you plan your marketing efforts around upcoming holidays, consider these five strategies for creating memorable and effective campaigns.

1. Salute Both Mainstream and Smaller Holidays

There are numerous opportunities in the months to come to align your products, services, and special offers with holidays. While Hanukkah and Christmas get the bulk of the chatter, it’s important to remember that these aren’t the only events worthy of your attention.

U.S. Thanksgiving (November 26th), Black Friday (November 27th), Small Business Saturday (November 28th), Cyber Monday (November 30th), Free Shipping Day (December 14th), Kwanzaa (December 16th), and New Years all warrant a look. Expect consumers to spend less time in lines in favor of shopping on their mobile devices and desktops this year.

Include smaller holidays in your plans. Image by ByeByeSSTK.

2. Know Your Holiday Shopper

Gone are the days when social media was more suitable for reaching younger consumers than older adults. Pew Research Center reports that as of last year, 40% of consumers 65 and over use at least one social media site. Meanwhile 69% of 50 to 64-year-olds and 82% of 30 to 49-year-olds do the same.

Plan ahead with shopper profiles. Image by Stock Rocket.

In its holiday hub and marketing guide, Pinterest shares a variety of holiday shopper personas that marketers can home in on. Aim to engage consumers like these across your campaigns by incorporating their shopping behavior into your ad copy and image choices.

The early bird. Shops for the winter holidays early in the year. The sooner you can reach this consumer, the more likely you’ll be to get your products on her shopping list.
The traditionalist. Following holiday customs makes this shopper happy. She’ll appreciate traditional holiday imagery and colors in ads.
The self-gifter. This shopper, typically in her 30s, doesn’t just buy gifts for others but also for herself. Use your ad copy to encourage her to treat herself.

3. Customize Your Social Media Content

One of the simplest ways to attract customers is by updating your social media content with images that reflect the changing seasons. With the holidays approaching, brands everywhere are swapping out evergreen visual content for graphics that embody winter and convey a seasonal mood.

During this time of year, consumers naturally gravitate toward holiday imagery. It reminds them to shop, and can spark gift ideas that ultimately lead to purchases. At a time when consumers are bombarded with visual content, it also allows you to gain more visibility and expand your reach.

Create custom designs and share your content on all your relevant channels. Image via Editor.

When you’re creating content for social sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, highlighting holidays can help you make your products and services appear more timely and relevant. Try using Shutterstock Editor to size your images for specific social media formats, including Facebook covers and links, Twitter headers, Pinterest posts, and YouTube channel cover photos. The tool even offers templates specific to seasonal promotions that might work for your brand.

Start this process as early as possible. You’ll want to leave time to optimize your copy and images for success before the holidays arrive. If, for example, you’re creating content related to Christmas and Hanukkah, post your campaign by early November. Monitor its effectiveness, then optimize as needed to ensure the best possible result.

4. Use Instagram and Facebook Stories

Facebook and Instagram differentiate themselves from other social media content in that they only remain live for twenty-four hours. Whether you’re keen to keep your followers engaged or you’re promoting a limited-time holiday sale, it’s worth exploring this exciting format.

Instagram reports more than 500 million accounts use Stories every day. Facebook boasts a similarly-sized user base. In addition to immersing consumers in your content and brand, Stories can showcase individual products like limited-edition holiday collections. When you’re looking for holiday images to accompany your product shots or use as backgrounds, choose eye-catching visuals with a clear, central focus that draws the user’s eye even if they’re viewing your content on a tiny screen.

While you’re focusing on producing social media content, be sure to explore Instagram’s recently launched Reels. These fifteen-second videos can be overlaid with audio and other effects. Similar to video sharing app Tik-Tok, Reels allow your to produce what AdAge calls “stackable lifestyle and promotional video content.”

You can either share Reels with your established audience by adding them to your Instagram Story, or through Instagram’s “Explore” page to reach a new audience via the Instagram community at large. Sephora uses Reels to showcase its products, post makeup tutorials, and share promo codes.

Stories have a short lifespan, but that doesn’t prevent them from having impact. Image via Sephora.

5. Keep Your Customers Up to Date on Promotions

Email remains a go-to marketing tool for brands. If you’ve taken the time to grow an email list of current and potential customers, it’s an ideal way to get the word out about your promotions. Hubspot research shows 78% of marketers saw an increase in email engagement last year. With consumers spending more time at home due to COVID-19, this number may increase.

As with social media, it’s smart to use seasonal and holiday visuals in your marketing emails to make them appear more relevant. Use engaging images and keep your email copy short. Studies show 46% of all emails are now opened via mobile device, and mobile users are more likely to skim emails quickly than read a lengthy message.

Keep your promotional messaging short and to the point. Image by elenabsl.

But it isn’t enough to spread the news about limited-time specials and sales. You’ll need to remind consumers about them, too.

Aim to send three messages about each promotion: initial news about the offer, a reminder a week later, and a “last chance” message a few days before your holiday deal expires. Do the same on social media to develop your omnichannel brand presence and make consumers aware of your holiday promotions wherever they are. This strategy will maximize your seasonal exposure.

Cover image via Baramyou0708.

Looking for more on creating effective holiday campaigns? Check out these helpful articles.

The post 5 Tips on Preparing Your Holiday Marketing Campaigns appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

Introducing the New and Improved Shutterstock Editor SDK

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:00:00 GMT

The new Editor SDK is now available for integration. Deliver an intuitive photo editing experience in your app with a customizable image Editor.

The Shutterstock Editor is a free, easy-to-use online image editor that allows anyone create impressive designs. The Shutterstock Editor SDK is a customizable code package that allows you to integrate the Editor experience into your product.

For example, Acoustic (formerly IBM Watson Content Hub) integrated the Shutterstock Editor SDK into its content management system to enable marketers to quickly customize images to fit their branding and campaign needs.

After gathering feedback from users, we’re excited to launch a new and improved version of the Shutterstock Editor SDK!

Here is what you can expect from a Shutterstock Editor integration.

More designer-made templates with custom upload option
Powerful photo editing features with a simplified UI
Vectorized PDF to support distortion-free scaling
Easy to integrate with flexible customization options

More designer-made templates with custom upload option

The Shutterstock Editor is built to let anyone, regardless of prior design experience, create stunning designs in minutes.

However, facing a blank canvas can be intimidating. Sometimes we need some structure and guidance to get our creative juices flowing. To help users overcome the initial challenge of a blank canvas, we provide and are constantly expanding our professionally-made design and text templates.

Design layouts

Design layouts provide a background image that corresponds to sample copy. These are ready-to-use so users can quickly edit (or not) and have a polished design to push across different campaigns.

Text templates

Text templates provide a variety of text layouts in different fonts and colors. They can be paired with a background image or color to create a design with a prominent call-to-action or text-based information. The size, font, color, and position are all editable.

Custom template upload

We work with professional designers to create modern design and text templates that cover the most common use cases. But if you’d like to serve custom design templates for your users you can upload them into your white-labeled Editor experience. This allows your users to choose from any of the design or text templates Shutterstock provides or the ones that you uploaded.

Powerful photo editing features with a simplified UI

Along with the rise of Instagram, many users are now accustomed to and expect various photo editing options including filters, adjustments, cropping, and more within their image editing experience.

With the new version of the Shutterstock Editor SDK, we dramatically simplified the user interface to present users with the various editing features in a way that eliminates confusion, maximizes canvas space, and provides clear navigation from one step to the next.

The image editing features available in the Shutterstock Editor SDK include:

Crop
13 filters
Brightness
Saturation
Colorify
Contrast
Hue rotation
Temperature
Exposure
Vignette
Blur
Borders
Alignment
Horizontal and vertical flip
And more

Vectorized PDF to support distortion-free scaling

Image by eric laudonien

A common use case for the Shutterstock Editor SDK is supporting the purchasing flow for print-on-demand and custom merchandise companies. For instance, Letmeprint integrated the Shutterstock Editor to allow their customers tailor the image they’d like to print to their exact design and brand needs.

The unique challenge of supporting printed materials is making sure that images look crisp and beautiful across prints of any size from a business card, to a mug, to a large promotional banner.

In order to ensure the quality of images for different sizing specifications, the new version of the Shutterstock Editor SDK now supports vectorized PDF files. Vectorized PDF files can be scaled up or down without making images blurry or losing clarity. Unlike non-vector files, vectors are mathematical expressions that represent shapes, lines, and curves. Thus, they can be enlarged while maintaining the integrity of the image for lossless scaling.

Easy to integrate with flexible customization options

The Shutterstock Editor SDK exists to enable external parties to innovate with Shutterstock technology and deliver strong product experiences while minimizing development resources.

A critical aspect of integration products is the ease of integration, simplicity of customization, and a streamlined developer experience. For this version of the Shutterstock Editor SDK, we added more theming and customization options as well as improved flexibility for developers.

Theming

Dark mode available to fit your product’s UI modes
Option to change header, toolbar, navbar, button, and accent colors to align with your branding needs
Delivery via API

Customization

Option to change default canvas height, width, and design
Upload custom design and text templates

You can start testing with the Shutterstock Editor SDK on your local testing environment for free. If you’d like to test on your own domain, get in touch with us for access to the Shutterstock Editor SDK.

Get a demo of Shutterstock Editor SDK today.

Featured image by Great Bergens.

The post Introducing the New and Improved Shutterstock Editor SDK appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

Outsourcing Editing for Photographers: What You Need to Know

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Explore the pros and cons of outsourcing editing as a freelance creative or small production house, as well as valuable tips on improving your workflow.

“Delegation is a delicate, but useful, skill,” photographer Evgeny Atamanenko tells us. Today, he has nearly 15,000 images in his Shutterstock portfolio. Throughout his career, he’s outsourced photo editing a few times. “Employing photo editors can be handy and save you time, but I’ve always made it a point to double-check everything myself.”

When hiring out photo editors, make sure to double-check their work. Image by Evgeny Atamanenko.

Instagram

Photographers are artists, but they’re also entrepreneurs and business owners, and one of the most important decisions they can make is whether or not to edit their photos themselves. Some swear by outsourcing to professional retouchers, while others prefer to incorporate editing into their own workflow. The truth is, there are benefits and drawbacks to each approach, and what makes sense for one business might not work for another.

Online resources make outsourcing that much easier. Image by Rawpixel.com.

These days, outsourcing is a hot topic. As online services crop up — making the process easy and painless — more photographers are taking the leap. Below, we’ll cover the pros and cons of outsourcing editing as a freelance creative or small production house, while also sharing tips along the way.

Outsourcing Pros and Cons

Paying someone to edit saves time. Image by Gorodenkoff.

Pro: You’ll Save Time

Most photographers spend more time editing than they do shooting, and that’s the appeal of paying someone else to do it. Outsourcing is popular among wedding photographers for this reason. When you factor in the volume of photos and the quick turnaround times, efficiency is everything.

For many, $200-$300 is a small price to pay in exchange for several days of work you could spend earning more money. Before making a decision, calculate how much time you spend on editing and ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Con: You Have to Pay for It

The idea is to earn more than you spend. So, if you’re not bringing in enough income to justify the cost of outsourcing, that’s something to take into account. Luckily, most photo editing services are affordable, so unless you’re asking for complex, difficult edits, you’re unlikely to pay a fortune. At the same time, beware of scams. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Quick Tip: Find someone you trust. If you do plan to outsource, the most important factor is working with someone who understands your needs and vision. You might have to do a little research to find the retoucher who’s right for you, but in the long run it’ll save you time, money, and disappointment.

Do some digging on the best professionals in your area, or ask colleagues for references. If you’re using a service, do your homework, read reviews, and ask around. ShootDotEdit is a popular online option, and there are other similar services available.

Pro: You’re Hiring a Professional

Photo editors can perform this work in a professional, timely manner. Image by Rawpixel.com.

If editing isn’t something you’re passionate about or it isn’t where your strengths lie, you might benefit from another pair of eyes. Photo editors do this for a living, so chances are they know some advanced tricks you haven’t learned yet. Plus, they can do it quickly and painlessly.

Con: You’re Giving up Some Control

This is the biggest reason photographers put off outsourcing — they don’t want to give up their creative freedom. “I always edit my pictures myself, as editing is part of my creative process,” Aleksandra Suzi tells us. “Post-production is a time when I can change my mind as much as I want and create totally different moods and styles.”

If, like Suzi, editing is a strong suit of yours, it might be something you’d like to keep as part of your workflow.

Editing your own work allows you to be in complete control of the end product. Image by Aleksandra Suzi.

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Quick Tip: Give feedback. When outsourcing, keep the lines of communication open with your editors. If you have a style you’d like them to use, or an edit you’d prefer, let them know about it. Retouchers are experienced, but they aren’t mind readers — it might take a few times to get it perfect.

Send references and explain exactly what you want. The more guidance you can provide, the better. You can also send them a package with your presets as a starting point. If your editor or service isn’t willing to communicate with you and listen to you, they probably aren’t right for you. Take it as a sign to move on to someone else.

Avoid over-editing your images. Image by Rawpixel.com.

One thing to keep in mind? Avoid over-editing. A good editor will make your photos shine — not change them beyond recognition. The days of retouched bodies and skin are in the past, as they should be.

“If you do outsource, it’s important that your editor values authenticity, rather than perfection, in photos,” the photographer Eric Kunau stresses. “I think it’s more important to show wrinkles, moles, imperfect teeth, etc., than having ‘perfectly’ Photoshopped people.”

Make sure your editor values authenticity. Image by Eric Kunau.

Website | Instagram

Plus, no matter what you decide — outsourcing or not — it helps to have your own retouching style and a solid understanding of different techniques you can use to make your images “pop.” Learning how to process your images helps you to identify your mistakes and solve them, making you a better photographer. A unique editing style can also make outsourcing more rewarding, since you can have the retoucher mimic your aesthetic and match it in their work.

The photo editor your choose needs to understand your aesthetic style. Image by speakingtomato.

Ultimately, the number of photos you produce can help you decide whether outsourcing is worth the cost. If you work in small batches of images, you might prefer to do it yourself. If you’re creating thousands of images per week, however, you might spend so much time editing that you miss out on valuable shooting time. In that case, it might be time to outsource — or delegate — some of those responsibilities.

Of course, you always have the option of doing some edits yourself, and then outsourcing the rest. While some edits — like boosting contrast or playing with saturation — might take you seconds, others are more time-consuming. For instance, if it takes you hours to erase a logo or copyrighted detail from your stock photos, you could be wasting your time.

Some photographers even outsource during the busy season, then switch to doing the editing themselves when things slow down. If you’re a stock photographer, chances are you want to get your images processed and uploaded as quickly as possible. With tight turnaround times and timely topics, it makes sense to outsource.

Hire a professional to assist you with the marketing side of your business. Image by wavebreakmedia.

Finally, editing isn’t the only business task you can outsource to professionals. You can also hire someone to take care of your marketing, email, and social media posting, helping you to reach more clients while also saving you time.

For stock photographers, keywording is another job to consider outsourcing. SEO experts understand how to craft metadata that’ll get your work found faster. For the emerging photographer and business person, accounting is non-negotiable, and hiring someone to do this for you can make all the difference.

It can be hard to let go of control over your business, but with the right team, it can also be a game-changer. Focus your time and energy on what fuels you creatively (and brings you income). And, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, delegate the rest as you see fit.

Cover image via Rawpixel.com.

Learn more about growing your photography business here:

The post Outsourcing Editing for Photographers: What You Need to Know appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

Mirrorless vs. DSLR: The Pros and Cons Examined

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Weigh the differences between mirrorless vs. DSLR cameras with thoughts and experiences from Shutterstock and Offset photographers.

We’re a few years into the “mirrorless revolution,” but the question at the forefront of many emerging photographers’ minds remains: “Should I stick with a tried-and-true DSLR or opt for a brand-new, top-of-the-line mirrorless camera?”

According to a survey conducted last year by the website DIY Photography, photographers are still split. Around forty-four percent say they use DSLR cameras and twenty-eight percent say they’ve switched to mirrorless. When we asked a handful of photographers from the Shutterstock and Offset collections, we found something similar — there were arguments for both, and they were equally valid.

It’s important to weigh the pros and cons of each prior to purchase. Image by CheroStock.

The main difference between the two is, of course, the mirror. A DSLR has a mirror within its body to reflect the image to an optical viewfinder. A mirrorless camera, on the other hand, uses an electronic viewfinder. The image passes straight to the sensor without the need for a flip-up mirror.

However, the differences don’t end there, and anyone in the market for a new camera will carefully weigh the pros and cons of each system. Below, we’ll give you a quick rundown of what mirrorless and DSLR cameras have to offer to help in your decision.

The Argument for DSLR Cameras

Battery life is an important aspect to consider when choosing a camera. Image by Eric Kunau.

Battery Life

Electronic viewfinders in mirrorless cameras can be a battery drain, and mirrorless batteries tend to be smaller, so DSLRs tend to deliver more shots per charge. A pro DSLR, for instance, can take up to 1,000-2,000 shots per charge, as compared to the 300-400 typical for a mirrorless camera. If you travel to spots where access to power is limited, this is one factor to take into consideration.

“I use a DSLR, a Canon 6D Mark II, because I like the long battery life,” California-based photographer Eric Kunau tells us. “That said, you can take equally stunning photos with a mirrorless camera, which can also be more practical if you’re on-the-go.”

Website | Instagram

Ergonomics

Some photographers prefer the bulkier, weightier feel of a DSLR. Especially if you prefer to shoot with long lenses, the solid, reliable body of a DSLR might be the way to go. Plus, they have more space for various external manual controls, which is a game-changer for some photographers who don’t want to rely as much on a digital interface.

The Optical Viewfinder

The DSLR’s viewfinder allows for dynamic range when viewing with your own eyes. Image by Rawpixel.com.

With a DSLR, you’re looking through the lens as opposed to a video screen. While mirrorless screens continue to improve, many photographers still prefer the dynamic range that comes with viewing an image through your own eyes.

Durability

DSLRs are built to withstand extended outdoor use. Image by Jacob Lund.

In addition to being bulky, DSLRs are resilient. They’re built to withstand heavy use and difficult conditions. Similarly, DSLR sensors are more protected from the elements than mirrorless sensors, so they require fewer cleanings, especially if you’re dealing with dust in the great outdoors.

Lenses Galore

DSLRs provide you with more lens options. Image by Erika Roa.

DSLRs have been around far longer than mirrorless cameras, so they tend to give you more options in terms of lenses. DSLRs are also easier to buy used for this same reason.

“I use both a mirrorless and a DSLR, but I use my DSLR for client work, as I have a variety of lenses to choose from, depending on the session,” Washington-based photographer Erika Roa tells us. With that being said, you can use lens adapters to mount most lenses on a mirrorless camera.

Website | Instagram

The Argument for Mirrorless Cameras

Mirrorless cameras are smaller, lighter, and more portable than the bulkier DSLRs. Image by Anna Bogush.

Portability

Mirrorless cameras tend to be much smaller because they’re made without a mirror box and the prism needed for a DSLR. That also means they’re lighter and more portable, making them a favorite among travel photographers. They’re also much more inconspicuous.

“I have both types of cameras — DSLR and mirrorless — but, for now, I prefer to work with mirrorless cameras,” Georgia-based photographer Anna Bogush explains. “They’re lighter, more compact, and faster, while also giving me the same quality level I expect from a DSLR. Overall, they help to be more mobile, especially when I shoot outside the studio.”

Instagram

Silent Shooting

Because mirrorless cameras make less noise, they’re perfect for documentary photographers. Image by DarKinG.

Mirrorless cameras don’t have the mirror flip characteristic of a DSLR, and that means they make less noise. They also have fewer vibrations for the same reason. For documentary photographers, the ability to shoot silently can make all the difference.

Live View

With mirrorless, you’re able to see the exposure while compositing your shot. Image by AlexMaster.

With an EVF, what you see is what you get, unlike when using an optical viewfinder. For beginning photographers, the ability to see your exposure while composing your shot is a significant advantage of mirrorless cameras. You’ll see in real time how your settings change your exposure, depth of field, and more.

Stunning Lenses

If DSLRs come with more lens options, mirrorless cameras can compete by having some of the best, most cutting-edge lenses available. Due to a shorter flange distance (the distance between the lens mount and the sensor), manufacturers have been able to create some wide-angle lenses that just wouldn’t exist for a DSLR.

Speed

The speed of the mirrorless camera contributes to its superiority. Image by Gabriel de Almeida Vergani.

Another side-effect of the mirror in DSLRs is that it physically limits camera speed, so here’s another area where mirrorless cameras take the lead.

Video

Mirrorless is perfect for shooting 4K video. Image by November27.

Ask many of today’s leading photographers and they’ll tell you that the future is video. In recent years, mirrorless cameras have come out ahead in this respect. Most mirrorless cameras offer 4K, even on the lower end of the price scale.

“I currently use a mirrorless camera — the Sony a6300 — in part because it helps with video production,” Brazil-based photographer Gabriel de Almeida Vergani tells us. “I like having the ability to easily shoot 4K video.”

Website | Instagram

The Verdict: It Depends!

The choice between going mirrorless or staying with a DSLR will ultimately depend on your comfort level and your specialty. If you’re a travel photographer who values staying light and mobile, mirrorless cameras might come out ahead. On the other hand, an adventure photographer looking for rugged durability and long battery life might prefer a DSLR.

As time goes on, the gap between the two systems continues to narrow. While once mirrorless cameras struggled to match the autofocus capabilities of a DSLR, they’ve since improved by leaps and bounds. As manufacturers continue to invest in mirrorless systems, they’ve even been able to offer options that surpass those of an average DSLR — like eye AF tracking for wildlife photographers.

These days, it’s hard to go wrong with either system. If you’re comfortable with your existing DSLR, it might not be worth transitioning all your gear over to another system. If, on the other hand, you like to have the latest gear, mirrorless might be the way to go. These systems tend to evolve and incorporate new technologies more quickly than DSLRs.

Basically, it comes down to what is right for your photography needs. Image by Tsuguliev.

Instagram

According to many, mirrorless is the wave of the future, and camera manufacturers seem to agree, at least to some extent. “I have used DSLR cameras since 2008, but I plan to switch to mirrorless in the next year or so because mirrorless technologies are constantly changing and pushing the industry forward in ways that DSLRs are not,” Saint Petersburg-based photographer Nikolay Tsuguliev says.

For many, the choice of camera body isn’t as important as the number and quality of lenses you can use with it. If you can save money on the camera, you’ll have more to spend on lenses and accessories. Eric Kunau advises, “There are so many affordable and convenient ways to rent cameras and lenses these days, so I suggest photographers try out different equipment before committing.”

Cover image by Tsuguliev.

Find more pro tips and gear insight here:

The post Mirrorless vs. DSLR: The Pros and Cons Examined appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

5 Tactics to Keep Viewers Engaged with Social Video

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

Producing social video ads at scale? Here are five solid tactics to keep your viewers engaged with your video ads. Use these elements in your edits.

You’ve spent money on video production or animation and you’re set to spend more money on social media advertising. So, the last thing you want is for the video not to be engaging and for your audience or potential new customers to skip the video that could potentially lead through to your product.

Unfortunately, there’s no secret formula for what makes a successful video. You could have a thirty-second spot with a budget in the millions, only to be bested in views and audience reach by a spot filmed on an iPhone that happens to have a funny dog in the background.

However, while there isn’t a secret formula to what makes a successful video, there are several tips that can keep your viewers engaged with your social ads.

Build a strategy around these well-established insights. Image by liravega.

As someone who enjoys creating narrative content, if I were to open a video advertisement with a slow fade from black, with sweeping orchestral music slowly building up, I would likely lose 95% of my targeted ad audience. The internet is abundant with video content. So, when someone is being shown something through advertising as opposed to searching for video content, you have less than five seconds to reel them in before they scroll past or, in the case of YouTube, request to skip the advertisement.

This could be because the modern attention span is extremely short, or because YouTube’s five-second ad skip feature has made it the norm. Regardless, it’s important to grab the viewer’s engagement right off the bat.

1. Make The Purpose Of Your Ad Apparent Straight Away.

You’re not going to engage everyone, even when your video is targeted towards the right demographic. As a Fuji user, I have no real interest in watching a Nikon video ad, despite my social stats pointing out I follow camera-specific pages.

However, if a skippable video notes within the first five seconds that a new camera is set to be released, and can do a new and exciting feature, even as a user of the competing company it could be compelling enough to keep me watching to see the new product. Additionally, even if I decide to skip the ad once I’m able to do so, I still get the ad’s core message.

Some companies have taken to advertising their product solely within those five seconds. While somewhat more playful and unique to larger brands, you can’t skip an ad after five seconds if it’s over by then, right?

2. Ask A Question

If the ad is targeted towards your already-established demographic, you may not have trouble in the video reaching the right people. But, there still could be that issue of keeping them drawn in for the entire ad. An excellent method for keeping the viewer engaged through the initial five seconds is to ask a question or pounce in with a statement.

Business leader and social media guru Gary Varnercheck is the master of this. Even if you haven’t heard of him, you’ve more than likely seen his videos recommended to you in your social feed. At the start of each video, Vaynerchuk does something smart, and you may not even realize he’s doing it if you have already been following him for a while.

View this post on Instagram

Hey bosses and managers and owners a little convo on this Wednesday morning that I hope brings some value and insights and maybe leads to some action around this conversation.

A post shared by Gary Vay-Ner-Chuk (@garyvee) on Sep 16, 2020 at 5:30am PDT

He gives a five-second soundbite from the middle of the video, usually a question, and then starts the video from the beginning. Before you can even think about moving to the next video, you want to know the answer or resolution to his comment. Employ this technique with your video ad and watch your engagement rise.

3. Video Orientation

The way your video is orientated will directly affect how many people engage with it. Need to put a call to action to tell your viewers to rotate their phones? Yeah, you’ve just lost a lot of money. While most social media platforms offer various resolutions for you to upload video content, specific resolutions work better for engagement, and they are primarily vertical resolutions. I’ve previous written a full rundown on vertical video, but this snippet is relevant to video engagement.

Most importantly, it’s the way we consume content. Forbes reported that a study found that almost 94% of us hold our phones vertically. The studies also suggest that if we come across a video that requires us to change our phone’s orientation, instead of doing so, we’re 2.5 times more than likely to skip it. Although it’s just a flick of the wrist, it’s an inconvenience (this doesn’t account for when we actively seek out horizontal content.)

Therefore if you want your engagement to be higher, conform to the platform you are publishing on. For a full list of video specifications, check out The Guide to DIY Facebook and Instagram Ads.

Make sure that viewing your videos is a frictionless experience. Image by Naumova Marina.

4. Have Your Video Work With or Without Sound

I don’t know about you, but I find there’s nothing more intrusive than scrolling through your social feed and having videos automatically play. This is especially jarring if your volume is turned up, and you come across a loud video. As such, I always make sure the volume is turned off within the app settings, and I have to turn on the sound myself. It turns out that I’m not alone with that. 85% of Facebook users watch videos with the sound off. Therefore to keep your video engaging, the product or service should be identifiable without sound.

Many viewers watch social video with no sound. Keep your message accessible to your audience. Image by GoodStudio.

There are a few ways in which you can do this. The most obvious is with closed captions. But, the more energetic and engaging method would be to have animated typography and imagery that display the product on offer. Take the following video from PremiumBeat for their 2019 Free Week offering.

There is no voiceover or presentation, but in this particular example there doesn’t need to be. From watching the promo without sound, you can still understand that there are fifty-one free motion graphics for download including animated circles, squares, line pops, plus many more.

Even if your video has the information presented through a host, incorporate your ad’s core features into animated text to ensure the engagement strong throughout for those watching without sound.

5. Interactivity

A more recent addition to the world of video ads is allowing your audience to be an active participant with the ad, rather than a passive viewer. Both Facebook and Instagram have elements that enable users to participate in a poll when ads are published through the story feature.

Interactive features will keep your audience checking in. Image via Instagram Business

Instagram states:

Interactive ads in Instagram Stories, starting with the polling sticker, allow businesses to be more engaging and playful to build better connections. Not only do they help stories ads stand out, but they can generate more impact on your campaigns by encouraging people to watch longer. In nine out of ten beta campaigns, the polling sticker increased three-second video views.

Of course, if you opt for this route you need to follow the resolution guidelines for Instagram stories.

Bonus: Professional Presentation

Even when you elaborate on all the tips suggested above, your video’s overall presentation is critical in keeping your audience engaged. Thankfully, we have a wide variety of tips and tutorials in making sure your production is as professional as they come.

However, sometimes, you may need a specific video clip that is simply unobtainable. Perhaps because of the weather or season, or maybe the location is out of budget for the travel expense. Thankfully, this is where you can browse the entirety of the Shutterstock video library. Whether your ad needs a clip of astronauts exploring an alien planet or a dog looking playfully into the camera, there’s a clip for everything.

Summary

That was a lot of information, let’s summarize. Content is plentiful, and everyone is trying to grab the attention of your audience. To stay first in the race and keep your audience engaged, you want to follow these steps:

The purpose of the ad should be apparent within the first five seconds.
If your ad needs more time to display its purpose, open with a question or statement.
Optimize the video resolution for the platform you are publishing on—preferably as vertical video to maximize engagement.
Make sure that viewers can understand the ad without sound.
If publishing on Facebook or Instagram, get interactive.

Cover image via TarikVision.

For more on using video on social media, check out the articles below.

The post 5 Tactics to Keep Viewers Engaged with Social Video appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

Fall Stock Photos You Should Submit to Shutterstock

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 09:00:00 GMT

We asked eight talented photographers to discuss the images they expect will be most popular this fall, and share their best tips for capturing them.

“Fall is by far my favorite season to document,” South Carolina-based photographer Megan Hassold tells us. “There is so much beauty to be found in the changes of our natural environment, and it is also a time of human connection. For many, it means family and traditions are at the forefront. I believe that will remain true this year — although it may look a little different.”

Get creative and stay safe. Image by Megan Hassold. Gear: Nikon D610 camera, Sigma 50mm 1.4 Art lens. Settings: Exposure 1/250 sec; f2.8; ISO 1000.

Website | Instagram

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the look and feel of many of our seasonal gatherings and celebrations, but lifestyle photographers around the world are working with their families to shoot on-demand, timeless images around autumn themes, from pumpkin carving to Thanksgiving dinners. They’re finding inspiration in daily life and highlighting those small, yet important, moments that bring people together during this time of year, while also getting creative and staying safe.

“As lifestyle photographers, I think we find ourselves in a unique position to document this unprecedented time,” Hassold adds. “Be ready to photograph families gathering around video calls, pumpkin picking with masks on, and discovering brand-new family traditions.” We asked eight talented photographers to tell us about the images they believe will be most popular this fall, and how to capture them. Read on for their ideas and behind-the-scenes insights.

Shoot Idea: Walks in Nature

Plan photo shoots in an outdoor environment. Image by Adriaticfoto. Gear: Canon EOS 5D Mark III camera, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. Settings: Focal length 180mm; exposure 1/500 sec; f2.8; ISO 500.

Instagram

“Some of the ideas I plan to shoot this season are solo outdoor sports — families, children, and couples in the park, and other excursions in nature,” Jovan Mandic, who runs Adriaticfoto with his wife, explains. “These are timeless fall themes that sell well in my portfolio.’

With limited traveling capabilities, it’s important to find beauty in your home environment. Image by Adriaticfoto.

“This season, unlike others, there won’t be large groups of people in my photos. My focus will continue to be on highlighting human diversity and incorporating different ages and generations. In my photos, I will try to show that people, although socially distant, are not alienated. We want to continue to maintain closeness and socialize in new conditions, and I hope to reflect that.’

“The pandemic has significantly influenced me as a photographer. Travel to other countries is limited, but it has also inspired me to explore my hometown more deeply and find new locations. I am lucky that my country, Montenegro, has beautiful, diverse people and beautiful nature.”

During this time in isolation, nature photos are a perfect avenue for photographers. Image by Monkey Business Images.

Pro Tip: Incorporate Warm Tones

The fall season wouldn’t feel the same without a warm color palette. Image by Erika Roa. Gear: Nikon D700 camera, Sigma 35mm ART lens. Settings: Exposure 1/160 sec; f3.2; ISO 3200.

Website | Instagram

“When shooting for fall, I feel like we must really lean into warm color palettes,” Washington-based photographer Erika Roa advises. “Fall is so heavily associated with reds, browns, oranges, and yellows that, without those colors as a strong presence, the seasonal feel won’t shine through.”

Shoot Idea: Cozy Moments at Home

Capture that cozy moment with the use of warm lighting. Image by Léa Jones. Gear: Fujifilm XE3 camera, XF23mm f2 lens. Settings: Exposure 1/160 sec; f2.

Website | Instagram

“When you have children, fall seems to be the busiest season, but I love to make time for walks in the woods — just to smell the earth and the leaves on the ground,” Massachusetts-based photographer Léa Jones says.

“My favorite part of the walk, however, is coming back home to a warm cup of tea. I love to challenge myself to take photos of coziness. I find it much harder than it looks. Translating the coziness of a scene with the camera is not easy. My favorite tip is to shoot in light that inspires you. Warm light really brings the fall colors out.”

Cozy at-home shoots were the most-mentioned ideas among the photographers we interviewed, and there are several ways to visualize this theme. Erika Roa tells us, “This fall will be all about cozy days at home — baking, enjoying cider, and exploring our backyard as nature changes the look of it. I’m really hoping to capture the feel of it in jackets, hats, flushed cheeks, steamy mugs, and seasonal foods.’

“Also, I feel we are going to see more at-home images evoking coziness and hygge, as we are all spending more time at home and actively seeking more of a sense of safety, contentment, and relaxation at this moment. I think we are going to see images that are more attainable and less aspirational. It’s going to be a while before we carelessly travel or go to a concert again. But small, elegant dinners with a few close friends or a solo walk in the woods are things that we can feel are within reach.”

With safety issues at the forefront, capturing cozy, at-home images is on the rise. Image by Erika Roa.

Pro Tip: Play with Natural Light

Be conscious of your natural light sources and use them as often as possible. Image by Megan Hassold.

“During this time of year, I am especially drawn to rich colors and moody lighting. A pop of rusty orange or long afternoon shadows can immediately evoke feelings of fall,” Megan Hassold explains. “As the weather cools, many of us naturally spend more time inside, which can make lighting a little more complicated (and/or amazing). When possible, turn off those artificial light sources and look to the windows. Take note of the light in different rooms in your home at different times of day, and use it to your advantage.”

Shoot Idea: Fun with Leaves

Use natural, vibrant colors in nature as your background. Image by SnapRapid.

“I am lucky to have (too many) maple trees around my house, so I generally spend my weekends leaf blowing the leaves!” Léa Jones says. “I love to take photos of them while they are still on the ground, especially by my front door or on the patio. The colors change fast, so when the light is right, you have to run for your camera. It could be all gone the next day — I have learned that the hard way.”

Keep your camera close to capture those innocent, unpredictable moments. Image by Léa Jones.

Pro Tip: Focus on Textures and Details

Comfy sweaters in outdoor lazy environments scream fall. Image by The Good Brigade.

“I plan to incorporate textures that scream fall, like chunky knit sweaters,” Megan Hassold tells us. “I will also look for opportunities to shoot seasonal details like pine cones, little hands baking, and the steam coming off a cup of hot chocolate.”

Image by Megan Hassold.

Seasonal details bring out the beauty of the moment. Image by PH888.

Shoot Idea: Social Distanced Pumpkin Picking*

Compliment fall’s natural colors by having your subject dressed in warm palettes. Image by Marti Austin. Gear: Canon 5D Mark III camera, Sigma Art 35mm lens. Settings: Exposure 1/5000 sec; f2.5; ISO 400.

Website | Instagram | Facebook

“This year, we will go pumpkin picking as a family, the same way we have every year since my daughter was a baby,” Virginia-based photographer Marti Austin explains. “Although I’m sure it will look different this year, I plan to capture many of the same pictures I do each year. I plan to incorporate as many of the COVID-related changes I notice, as well. Apple picking is another favorite fall activity I love to photograph.’

“If I know I’ll be taking photos of my own family, I make sure everyone is dressed in a way that will complement the warm, muted colors of fall — warm browns, tan, burgundy, burnt orange, olive green, etc. I’m always on the lookout for details that are quintessentially fall, but this year I’ll also be looking for details showing signs of life during the coronavirus — masks, gloves, signs, six foot markers, etc.”

*Please note: As of this writing, visiting patches and orchards are considered moderate risk activities by the CDC. It’s important for everyone to use hand sanitizer before touching or picking pumpkins or apples, wear masks, and practice social distancing. Be safe, and check and follow the local regulations in your area before planning a visit, as they might vary.

Pro Tip: Try Different Lenses

Choosing the right lens can ensure social distancing during photo shoots. Image by Marti Austin.

“During fall especially, I like to shoot with a wide lens as it allows me to capture much of the scenery surrounding my subject, whether that is colorful autumn leaves or a field full of pumpkins,” Marti Austin explains. “More recently, however, I’ve started shooting with a 100mm lens rather than the 35mm, which had been my default lens until COVID struck. Using the 100mm lets me stand far from the families I’m photographing, while still getting ‘close up’ shots.”

Open up that aperture to create bokeh in the background. Image by Marti Austin.

Whatever lens you use, open up that aperture. “During fall, I always try to create a cozy feeling in my images by using warm tones with a large aperture to create bokeh in the background, and if it’s possible, I try to shoot during golden hour to get that gorgeous light,” Austin adds.

Shoot Idea: Seasonal Foods

Image by Anastasia Nurullina / Addictive Creative.

What speaks to autumn more than Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie? Image by Lordn.

Thanksgiving and fall, in general, pose the perfect opportunity to create food photos, whether it’s vegan holiday dishes or trendy top-down compositions. “During the pandemic, I tried my hand at food photography for the first time,” Russian-based family photographer Maria Evseyeva explains. “I was thinking about it for a long time, and I finally had enough time to learn some new skills. It was really exciting to try something new, and now food photography is part of my portfolio, too. It’s a good option right now because you don’t have to think about social distancing!”

Seasonal table settings can also be dynamic subjects during the holiday season. Image by Maria Evseyeva.

Instagram

On Shutterstock, visuals of treats and sweets have been trending, so combine still life and lifestyle photos of people making and enjoying seasonal desserts. Don’t forget Thanksgiving table settings either.

Pro Tip: Browse Shutterstock and Offset

Consult the Shutterstock library’s fall-themed photos for inspiration. Image by Natalia Deriabina. Gear: Sony Alpha a7 III camera, Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 lens. Settings: Focal length 46mm; exposure 1/500 sec; f5.6; ISO 100.

Instagram 1 | Instagram 2

“I recommend looking at best-selling fall-themed photos on Shutterstock and analyzing them,” Slovenia-based photographer Natalia Deriabina suggests. “Ask yourself, ‘What do I love about this photo, and what would I do differently?’ That’s a good way to spark new ideas. I also draw inspiration from my own life, so if I go on a picnic with my family, I might visualize that in my photos.”

Shoot Idea: Crafts and Projects

Seasonal activities are perfect photo opportunities. Image by Natalia Deriabina.

“I plan to shoot the things that bring me joy this season because I want to make others happy, even during this difficult time,” Natalia Deriabina says. “Every year, we decorate our apartment with our children using autumn-style natural materials. We paint pumpkins or carve them, cook a lot of pastries, draw a lot, or do other creative activities. I’m going to capture all of this.”

Shutterstock’s October Shot List includes DIY projects like painting and yardwork, which are all topics to explore right now, along with larger home improvement projects.

Pro Tip: Use What You Have

Use props and backgrounds that you already have readily available. Image by Maria Evseyeva.

Fall photo shoots don’t need a big budget to be successful. “I always try to use things I already have, which makes everything easier to organize,” Maria Evseyeva says. “For example, this is a photo of my daughter picking leaves in my own garden, so it’s a ‘real-life’ capture without any special props or accessories. There are so many beautiful things to capture this time of year. My only problem every year is not having time to capture them all.”

Shoot Idea: Rainy Days

Create inspiring images of leisure time in nature. Image by Impact Photography. Gear: Canon EOS 6D camera, Canon EF 85mm 1.8 USM lens. Settings: Exposure 1/160 sec; f3.2; ISO 100.

Website | Instagram

“Bad” weather isn’t a reason to cancel a shoot. “Photographing people outdoors on rainy, cloudy days is a good way to capture the spirit of fall,” Vladimir Cosic of Impact Photography says. “Get out there, and use props like umbrellas, rain coats, and boots.’

“Capture those raindrops on skin, those water splashes created by car tires or kids jumping in puddles. Foggy fall days can also allow us to create the illusion of depth on our photographs, especially when using an aerial perspective.’

Capture playful, vibrant images in a park or outdoor setting. Image by Anna Nahabed.

“In my case, my best-selling autumnal photos all depict people spending leisure time in nature with vivid foliage colors all around them. Take the opportunity to spend as much time as possible outdoors. Look all around you. A simple walk through a city or a park could inspire you to create awe-inspiring images.”

Pro Tip: Stay Safe

Make safety a priority. Image by Impact Photography.

“As the coronavirus pandemic is still here, I plan to organize all my autumnal shoots in accordance with the recommendations of local and global health experts,” Vladimir Cosic tells us. “The health of everyone involved is my priority. With that said, my plan is to photograph individuals or smaller groups of people outdoors. I also plan to photograph small groups consisting only of close family members spending time together and celebrating Thanksgiving.”

“We all have to accept the fact that things will be different for a while, and we have to learn to live with the new normal and make the most of the situation. We should be practicing social distancing on set and disinfecting all the surfaces and props we use. If you work with a team of people, the best thing would be to do the editing, tagging, and uploading remotely, from home offices, to avoid unnecessary contact.”

Shoot Idea: Colorful Landscapes

Use family and friends for landscape shoots. Image by Roberto Westbrook / Blend.

“In the place where I live, I am surrounded by a lot of nature and country life, so fall is the most beautiful season of the year,” Natalia Deriabina says. “I hunt for stunning sunsets and amazing landscapes, and I use my family or close friends as models within those landscapes to highlight eternal, timeless themes. I plan to go to the mountains and observe the changes in nature. Autumn is the time to slow down, spend more time with family in the evenings, and embrace the small comforts of life.”

Pro Tip: Start thinking About Next Year

Start creating fall-related material for next year. Image by Natalia Deriabina.

“The most amazing spectrum of fall foliage tends to appear almost at the end of the fall in November, so this is an ideal time to capture people spending time in nature, as well as landscape images characteristic of the season,” Vladimir Cosic explains. “Of course, by this time, it’s usually too late to upload autumnal images because most people are already getting ready for the winter holiday season. So, the most important thing I can suggest is to plan ahead and create fall-related content this year for the next one.”

Cover image by Anastasia Nurullina / Addictive Creative.

Find more autumn inspiration here:

The post Fall Stock Photos You Should Submit to Shutterstock appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.

Lens Basics:16-35mm or 24-70mm for Video?

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 15:00:52 GMT

The lens market can be a confusing place for beginners. While the 16-35mm and 24-70mm are a favorite with photographers, how do they fare when used for video?

The 16-35mm f2.8 and the 24-70mm 2.8 are two of three lenses that create the holy trinity of lenses that you see more or less every manufacturer produce—the other being a 70-200mm 2.8. Due to their wide range of focal lengths and fast speed, they are a favorite with photographers who prefer a couple of zoom lenses opposed to a large number of prime lenses.

Additionally, buying several professional prime lenses can quickly ascend into the thousands of dollars margin. But on the topic of affordability, f/2.8 zoom lenses don’t come cheap. Because of their build and quality, you’re typically going to see $1,500-$2000 minimum for one lens. So with that, which one should we get for video?

While the article below covers everything presented in the video, some segments may specifically call to the visual examples found within the tutorial. Make sure you save the video to your Watch Later list for when you’re free.

16mm is Wide

I’m primarily a prime lens user when it comes to video. I prefer that extra sharpness that comes with the prime glass. But late 2019, I approached landscape photography with more enthusiasm and picked up the 16-35mm and 24-70mm for my photos. And while I had no intention of using the glass for video, the versatility and proficiency of carrying fewer lenses became preferable for some shoots.

This short film was shot with a 17.5mm prime lens (equivalent to 35mm with the camera used).

For landscape photos, the more expensive 16-35mm is the perfect lens for extenuating the scenic imagery. Still, many photographers suggest that that the broader end of that focal range is more specialized than your standard focal length and rarely used outside of landscapes. I love to use it for my video content as I live in quite a scenic location and emphasize the location more than the subject. But, it does have several limitations for video.

The 16-35mm covers a 19mm range, whereas the 24-70mm covers 46mm. That’s a lot more focal length for various angles. So what are we finding in that extra 8mm in the 16-35 that causes this lens to cost more usually? We need to acknowledge just how much extra viewing distance those extra 8mm gives us. Many don’t realize just how wide 16mm is on a full-frame camera. It costs more due to the lens’s engineering to make sure there’s no severe distortion at this wide of a focal length. So what’s the overall discrepancy between 16mm and 24mm?

Take this shot at 24mm; it’s a wide shot and we could easily use it as an establishing shot.

Wide shots make excellent establishing shots for video.

However, when we reduce to the focal length to 16mm, we can see the extremity of the wide focal length. We’re quite literally getting the left to right corner structure of the ruins in the shot, which sometimes doesn’t as natural to watch as a video clip as opposed to a still image.

Additionally, the subject, the location, has become a much smaller element within the image, while the foreground interest has taken up a larger space within the composition.

Using a 16mm zoom will pull in more elements from the foreground.

Wide Angle for Gimbal Work

From the angle of view, it should be noted that the 16-35mm, at 16-20mm, makes the perfect choice for gimbal work. Suppose you have a camera with less than excellent autofocus, and you may sometimes struggle to get efficient autofocus when the gimbal is coupled with a longer focal length. However, when you’re using a lens with a wide focal length, in our case, the lower end of the 16-35mm, it has a wider focusing distance. So, you could set your camera to manual focus, your lens to 16mm, the focus to infinity, and gimbal away like a Terrance Mallick movie without the worry of elements dropping in and out focus.

In the opening thirty seconds of this short film, I used a gimbal. The lens was set to 16mm, f/4, focus to infinity.

Focusing distance is simply the depth of field. It is typically controlled by the aperture to maximize and minimize the depth of field. However, the focal length also plays an essential factor.

The website Cambridge in Colour is a fantastic resource for both practical and technical applications. Their article on the distribution of the rear and frontal depth of field depending on the focal length clearly shows that a wide-angle has more rear distribution. This means that if appropriately focused, by the time the image falls out of focus on the horizon it looks completely natural.

Take a guide on depth of field with you when you shoot on location. Phone template from Suesse.

Wide Angle Detriments in Video

It’s also important to note that at 16-18mm, standard screw-in variable ND filters will often produce a form of vignetting. At 24mm, it’s not noticeable.

Yet when we revert to 16mm, we can now see the darkened areas of the image.

This kind of vignette can be hard to remove from video.

With a RAW photo, you can typically restore the vignetting as long as it isn’t too extreme. However, with video, especially with elements that cross into the darkened regions, it’s not going to be as easy, if at all, to fix. Therefore it isn’t too practical if you’re filming at 2.8 in strong sunlight. So to some extent, it feels quite impractical to have a lens that can’t make use of its wider focal length in specific circumstances.

The Merits of the 24-70mm Zoom

We’ve talked a lot about the 16-35, so let’s look at the merits of the 24-70mm. Running with Cambridge’s In Colour‘s information, we can see that with the increase in focal length, the field window’s depth becomes increasingly narrower regardless of your aperture.

How do we use the 24-70mm lens to capture more cinematic footage? Image by WHYFRAME.

I think this is an important aspect to consider for those creating short-form narrative video content. Even though numerous elements create the “cinematic” look, it’s undeniable that a shallow depth of field will certainly add to it. Take these two shots; the first one is shot at 20mm.

The subject blends into the background with a wider focal length.

There’s nothing inherently wrong; it’s fine. But if you lack other production elements, lights, costume, and everything else that makes the film look, you can assist in raising your production value with a tighter focal length. When we punch into 50 and have that shallow depth of field separate the actor from the background, it does promote a better sense of cinema.

A shallow depth of field pulls your subject from the background for a more cinematic appearance.

The visual language of filmmaking is told through the shots presented on the screen, and several core shots can only be acquired with specific focal lengths. Thankfully, you can pretty much form all of them through the focal lengths found within the 24-70mm focal range, from establishing shots, mid shots, and extreme close-ups.

While yes, you could in theory obtain a number of these with the 16-35mm, depending on the selected focal length, you may get distortion when too close. Or, if you’re at 35mm and trying to get a close-up, you’ll find that you’re going to have to get the camera right up into the face of the subject. If that’s quite literally a human face, it can make for an awkward experience.

On the topic of camera placement, the increase in focal length will also dictate where you position your camera to frame a mid-shot. And of course, the further you move back as you increase the focal length, the more compressed the background becomes. As such, shooting from 50mm to 70mm is an excellent way to isolate your subject from your background.

Of course, what you think looks better is subjective, but it’s important to note the wider the focal length, the more accentuated the image will appear. It may cause your subject to look unflattering, whereas 50 to 70mm starts to photograph the face more accurately.

16mm portrait on the left vs. 70mm portrait on the right.

Conclusion

I think it could be summarized into the following; if you’re mostly filming landscape or even cityscapes, get the 16-35. It offers that extra versatility in wide locations, and also hits the sweet spot of 35mm for shots with people. But, if you’re mostly filming people and narrative content, opt toward the 24-70. It still lingers in the wide region for landscape, but tightens in for a more extensive range of conversational and narrative focal lengths.

Just getting started with making your own video content? Learn more about the art and science of video production with these articles:

The post Lens Basics:16-35mm or 24-70mm for Video? appeared first on The Shutterstock Blog.