Crop, Zoom & Flip- 3 Easy Ways to Extend the Use of Your Stock Photos

Hey there, Biz Buds!

I have 3 brilliant time and money saving hacks for you!

As small business owners, we're always on the look out for ways to save time and money.

Looking for stock photos can feel like a total trip down a rabbit hole for time-pressed entrepreneurs- especially on larger stock photo sites that don't curate their images for small business like we do at Clio & Fox! Reduce your time spent searching by re-using and re-purposing what you have.

And if you're one of the savvy biz owners out there, you're not using free stock images. Getting some extra mileage out of the photos in your image library saves you money.

Avoid the time suck of a rabbit hole and learn 3 easy ways to extend the use of the stock photos you already have.

To illustrate, let's take 1 image and work it 3 ways using Pink Desk from the Pretty in Pink Collection.



Ready? Let's Crop!

When I'm looking for a multi-use image, desk flat lays like Pink Desk are a no brainer. The blank area through the middle makes putting a headline in super easy and makes the image easier to crop without it looking like you lobbed off something important.

You want to make sure there is a nice flow to the composition of your newly cropped image. The curved shape of the props in Pink Desk above frames my copy and let's it be the focal point. This side of the image is better than the other which is a straighter shape and wouldn't give the same effect.

When choosing a stock image, make it easy for yourself and opt for photos that will crop to different shapes (Instagram square or stories rectangle, web banner etc) so you can sprinkle that same shot all over your platforms.

Look for a photo with blank space and good composition over all!

Let's Zoom!

Zooming is like Cropping's extreme sister. In this one, we're looking for a detail or vignette in the image and cropping in to isolate it and bring it forward.

In Pink Desk, I really love the mix of the geometric crystal dish contrasted with the soft petals of the peonies as a vignette in the overall image.

Again, I paid attention to the composition and have the elements in the image framing a space for my headline.

BUT WAIT! There's something you should know- when zooming into an image you have to make sure you don't zoom in too far. Image files are a set resolution and will pixelate or get blurry if you zoom into them too far. 

Keep an eye out for jagged looking squares on edges or blurriness as indicators that you've zoomed in too far.



Flip Your Lid!

Most design programs like Canva have a horizontal flip option that's an easy option to change up the look of your photos. (In Canva it's in the FLIP tab in the upper middle bar when you have clicked on the image in your layout.)

Combining a flip with some cropping can create a new image and also give you some different options for where to put your headline.

I chose to zoom into the glasses on a crystal dish because it's a beautiful focal point and also flips well- there aren't any letters that will be backwards and the resulting image makes sense.

These tips work best on high-quality stock images like those found at Clio & Fox. These images are thoughtfully created to work for you cropped, flipped or as is.

 That's it! May your time be valued and your stock images infinitely useful!