120+ Premium Stock Photos and Images Bundles in 2021

What stock is and how does it work?

It could be surprising, but online photo stocks are not the traditional ones. The first stocks appeared in 1920 and they stored real photos that newspapers and advertisement companies may use. Nowadays such stocks are called “traditional” or macrostocks. The photos there are exclusive and expensive (from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars). On the other hand, modern online photo stocks are called microstocks – they sell the items online only, those photos are cheap and every item is sold lots of times. Besides these two there are also midstocks, an intermediate link between the two others. They sell photos online, but the items are more exclusive and costly than microstocks have. Basically, there are two types of stock photos available for users: right-managed and royalty-free ones. Other variants do exist too, but they are not as popular as those two mentioned. Rights-managed stock photos are high-quality and costly. To purchase one, you have to pay lots of taxes, which means it will be more expensive. However, it will be a really great product that you will be able to use without limitations. The number of publications, the way it will be used in your project – that is all up to you. Purchased item is completely yours to put it wherever you like. Royalty-free stock photos are much cheaper, but they have some limitation in use. As its title says, to get this item you don’t have to pay different taxes, only a single payment. However, you won’t be able to use it everywhere you like – the number of publications is limited.

Why do people use stock photos?

Time. To create astonishing photos specialist has to go through some sufficient preparations – choose a place, models, equipment, light, move all the stuff to the chosen place and finally do the shooting. And after that the process doesn’t finish – there’s plenty of work to process the pictures with Photoshop. On the other hand, it will take only about a minute to buy and download the photo from stock. Money. Photographers work costs a lot. You can’t make someone do so many preparations and then pay only for one photo you needed. So, when you don’t need a big and expensive photo session it is wiser to use stock photos.

Stock photography disadvantages

• Not unique. You are not the only person who could buy those photos – any other designer or website owner could use them too. It is especially bad if the company built its brand’s appearance on some pictures from the stock and then competitors use the same pictures to make his products look similar and steal the customers.
• Without a “soul”. Original photos are really rare on stocks. Photographers prefer to sell there more versatile pictures because there will be more chances that they fit someone. There are millions of “laughing people”, “businessman near the whiteboard” and “resting on the beach” photos that look almost the same, but if you have some witty idea it will be a harsh quest to find at least one good image.
• Not ideal. When you are choosing from ready-made variants you probably won’t find an ideal solution. All the pictures you find will be “good enough”, but you won’t have an option to change lighting, angle or zooming – and you will have to accept it.

Advantages of stock photos

Now, when you met the cons, let’s take a look at the pros. This could change your mind if you are not sure about stock photos and overlap the disadvantages. The benefits may even make you abandon the idea of finding a photographer for a custom photo session.

• It is fast. I’ve already mentioned previously – a professional photo session is a really long procedure. You will have to wait for about a week to get your pictures from photographer and it will take not more than an hour to get all the images you need from the stock. Feel the difference.
• Stock photos are cheap. At least, they are much cheaper than a personal photo session. I’ve already mentioned this benefit too. An average picture on the stock could cost from $2 to $10 and if you have a small budget, they are a real treasure.
• Perfect for demos. When you are creating some design for clients it is sometimes important to show an intermediate stage of the work and to make it look more like the final result you can use stock photos. They are also great for website templates – designers fill them with stock content and the client can change those pictures after installing the theme.
• They fit simple websites. If you are creating a simple little online store you don’t need unique photos for it. Different educational materials, instructions, and brochures also will look perfectly fine with pictures from the stock. Such things simply don’t have an appropriate budget to use unique content.

7 types of stock photos you should avoid

The quality of the visuals is extremely important for your project’s efficiency. The users are very sensitive to the photos they see and when some of them are not really good or fitting – the response you want to achieve may be opposite. You may have noticed, that lots of modern sites look subtly similar. That is because lots of stock photos are made according to some standard cliché. Every photo stock has a few types of photos that have to be an absolute taboo if you want to create something up-to-date, more or less original and impressive. I’ll list them for you to make sure you will recognize them at sight.

Happy corporates

Idea symbols

Lamps, clouds, 3D figures, and exclamation points – all those things smell the times when the internet was young and designers created websites without photos at all. Come on, there could be hundreds of other ways to show your team is creative and come to excellent ideas! Such trivial symbols make people feel bored and won’t impress anyone.

Weird emotions

Laptop on the beach

Boards

Very happy family

Bad-quality photos

The low-resolution photo could ruin the whole look of the project you are creating. Such pictures show that you don’t spend any efforts to find a good photo, you don’t respect the viewers and are a lazy person. You don’t want to make such an impression, do you?

How to choose the proper stock photos?

Now, when you know what to avoid, it’s time to talk a little about the ways to do everything properly. Professional designers that monitor the trends understand how to pick the photos intuitively, but what to do if you are a beginner? Of course, it is important to use our own taste – if you like the picture, there will be enough people who will like it too. Besides that, I listed a few tips to help you create an indeed great and non-trivial design.

1. Use the picture that is connected with the other content. Don’t pick some random and common pictures, that doesn’t explain anything to the viewer. If you are talking about hobbies – don’t put a picture with the word “hobby” designed in some pretty way. It is better to pick a few photos that comply with the types of hobbies you are talking about, such as fishing, video games or hand-made.
2. Keep your audience in mind. If your project targets well-endowed males 35-40 years old you can’t use the pictures with wild parties, pink unicorns or bright-colored suits. When choosing a picture – think about people you want to like it and seek the photos keeping in mind that virtual character’s taste. Pictures that don’t match the audience won’t help you to succeed.
3. Prefer fresh stock photos, not popular ones. The more popular the pictures are – the more people would like it, won’t they? But at the same time, the more popular a stock photo is – the more designers have already used it. You should seek for the most recent pictures, that are new both to the designer and to viewers.
4. Pay attention to the licenses. There are different types of licenses that allow the stock photo usage in different cases. You need to read the conditions carefully to be sure you will have the rights to the image for your purposes. Besides that, if there are people on the photo, you have to have their permission to use those photos for advertising or promotional purposes (that is called model release).
5. Un-stock the photos. Add some text over the image, crop it to pieces, overlay some color, make the picture more contrast, blur it – all those tricks could make the photo look completely different, so nobody will recognize it. It is a witty way to use things – not just copying it, but “stealing like an artist”.

Stock photo bundles

Besides that, the bundle is convenient. You don’t have to waste big amounts of time seeking for every picture separately – they are already gathered into a collection you can use the next second you downloaded it. Bundles make design creation faster and easier. MasterBundles has lots of offers for every occasion. It is a place where bundles are gathered, so you don’t have to seek for them separately. If you subscribe for the newsletter – you are constantly informed about the newcomers which help you to stay in touch and get the bundles you need before they are out of stock. The average life period of a bundle is from two to four days – that’s why they are so cheap.

Conclusion

Stock photography could become a perfect tool and give you lots of opportunities. To become successful, you should just use it right, follow the advice and do not overdo. I’m sure that you will create an awesome design, especially if MasterBundles will have a bundle that fits your niche and purpose. Good luck with building a vivid project!