LERN finds that the best photographs in a brochure leave the reader guessing whether they are stock photos or real photos from the organization.
The best stock photos should look like high-quality real photos, and the best real photos should be high quality enough to leave the reader wondering if they are stock photos. Using lower quality real photos, especially on the cover, can do a poor job expressing the quality of the organization’s programming if the image is pixilated or the aspect ratios are off.
High-quality, real photos work well on the cover if they are taken with a nice camera and fit the space they are used in. If this can’t be achieved, then using stock photos can be a great option. Just make sure the stock photos are as realistic as possible and reflect what are you promoting.
Real photos often work really well on the inside pages of the brochure because the quality doesn’t have to be as high and they are typically much smaller. If you don’t have images of a subject you are trying to depict, stock images are again a great option because of the diversity of the images available and the ease with which they can be acquired. So, having a mix of real and stock images can work well, just try to keep the reader guessing which they are.