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How to make your stock photos look “not so stock”

Looking to make your site stand out from the crowd? Using stock photos can often make your site feel generic. In this special photoshop Minima Tutorial, I’ll show you how you can use filters and actions to create gorgeous, unique graphics for your custom site.

Products used in this tutorial

All of the effects, fonts and shapes used in this tutorial were purchased on Creative Market – this is an amazing resource for fonts, vector graphics and all sorts of graphic goodies to spice up your creative work.

Specific links
Photo Actions (amazing filters and color actions to transform your photos)
Hexagon Shape (taken from the Vintage Badges Bundle)
Textured line used under text
Thirsty Soft Font (rough textured font)

OTHER STOCK PHOTO PHOTO RESOURCES
Envato Elements

pin_notstock

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brenda says

    September 5, 2014 at 8:44 am

    Very nice. Thank you for sharing. Nice way to begin a Friday!

    Reply
    • Michelle Martello says

      September 5, 2014 at 12:20 pm

      So glad you liked it!

      Reply
  2. Heather Allard says

    September 5, 2014 at 12:12 pm

    Awesome video, Michelle!! Thanks so much for sharing. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Michelle Martello says

      September 5, 2014 at 12:15 pm

      Thanks Heather! Glad you enjoyed ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  3. Suzi Istvan says

    September 5, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    Michelle, this was fantastic, thank you! I use Illustrator for everything, but I’d love to get better at using photoshop. Do you happen to know of any great photoshop crash-course type resources? The ones I typically find are meant for photographers, rather than designers.

    Reply
    • Michelle Martello says

      September 6, 2014 at 2:36 pm

      Hi Suzi – A lot of the same concepts can be applied to illustrator (especially blending modes). I find the best training happens through experimentation (and documentation!) – though I remember liking http://scottkelby.com/ for Photoshop training years ago. Honestly what I do is keep inspiration boards and try to replicate and build upon styles that inspire me.

      Reply
  4. Pam Hirsch says

    September 8, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    Hi Michelle – love this video and especially how you used the hexagon shapes as an overlay. I’ve been leery of using stock photos because of needing to attribute. When you manipulate a photo in this way, do attribution requirements still apply? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Michelle Martello says

      September 8, 2014 at 12:56 pm

      Hi Pam – Typically if you purchase stock photos, you don’t have to list attributions (*disclaimer always read the fine print and make sure you abide by the license agreement). If you directly purchased photos from a photographer, make sure you have the rights to manipulate the photo in your contract. Best!

      Reply
  5. Alexandra Lynn says

    September 19, 2014 at 5:21 pm

    Love love love this! I have soooo many stock photos that I haven’t used because I’ve changed branding since buying a lot of them! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this!! I manipulate all of my own images, LOL. Thanks so much for always being such an amazing resource and inspiration!

    Reply
    • Michelle Martello says

      September 19, 2014 at 7:39 pm

      Thanks – and glad I was able to help! I stockpile all of my stock stuff (and organize it) – you never know when it can come in handy for a later project!

      Reply

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