Are you experiencing Unsplash fatigue?

Question

I love Unsplash photos. They are fantastic. I have been using them for a few of my products, but then I saw the same faces everywhere all over the internet. Like literally. The same girl doing a video call is there in a news article on the future of work, on the cover of an annual report for a university, on the landing page of a SaaS tool, and ten thousand other places. Seriously?

Well, I tried something different with Thursday. I created a social on Thursday for my team - we played, we posed, we smiled, we laughed. And there it goes. Photos of real people using the product instead of stock photos with no connection to the product. https://thursday.social/

What do you think? Do you recognize an Unsplash photo when you see one?

Accepted Answer

I did notice and appreciate your intentional and custom photo choices... and yes I recognize stock photos regularly from many sites... But I'm also a stock image user, and someone who is mindful of stock photos. Your average Joe is probably not, and will likely have no idea. Sure, more average citizens use stock images today than 20 years ago, and the most popular images will surely be recognized by Joe as "I've seen that before"... but probably not until he's seen it 4 or 5 times.

BUT we live in a world today that appropriates and recycles images, gifs, videos and music endlessly. So I don't think it's as big a problem as it used to be. You'll probably only be seen as the loser if your visitor sees your use second. If he sees you first, the other guy is the loser! Lol

Seriously, I hate the idea of not being original, or of someone thinking I'm copying someone else... But I also use stock photos when it makes more sense. If you can afford a photographer or artist, do that first. If not, use tineye or Google reverse image search to see who may be using the Unsplash image... and know what your direct competitor is using.

Bottom line for me... Be as original as I can afford to be. Don't be lazy. And then don't worry so much. Most people don't care.

Kit Fach · Answer

I think it depends on what you're using it for, I think for your product landing page you're probably better off using custom photos. I personally do see Unsplash stuff everywhere but I use it so much myself I think I have a little bit of a skewed perspective.

But I think for a lot of things it's a huge time saver. Most times I've been involved in photo-taking it takes a long time to set up a photo pick the right one, edit it, and do everything else that goes into it. For some things, it's worth the effort especially if you have someone who knows what they're doing.  On the flip side, I've seen some promo videos/photos done by teams that looked really amateurish and put me off the product even though I know they were going for authentic. For your use case, I think it worked out great and looks natural.

I think for something like a blog, Unsplash is a great tool for featured images and images in your content. As taking your own photos would take a long time and not look nearly as nice as a simple Unsplash image. The biggest trick is just to pick Unsplash or other royalty-free images that all go together colorwise, that will make things look well put together and professional.

David Lee · Answer

Yeah, I do recognize Unspalsh photo from miles away and I use them as well ; p. But I also understand why people use it so I have nothing against them. 
I've actually signed up for Freepik, Adobe Stockphoto, and Pexels to increase the library; so far so good.

I love your photos on Thursday, they add so much energy on your website.

Deepa from True Sparrow · Answer

@vertigocreative Very well explained. I totally agree with you on being original and not lazy.

Deepa from True Sparrow · Answer

@kit_fach Thanks! I will take the compliment about our marketing page images and pass on to the team. It did take a lot of time and effort to make them look natural. But as a remote team, we had fun taking pics and videos when we got together. It was a fun 'Thursday' session!

Are you experiencing Unsplash fatigue?

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