I often write articles about historical events, people, and scientific subjects. One of the hardest parts about publishing these articles is finding relevant artwork to accompany the post. My usual go-to sites are the popular photo sharing sites like Unsplash.com. If I am really in a bind, I will dig into Google image search hoping to find a freely usable image there.

These sites are OK in a pinch, but it is still hard to find the images I need for my type of articles. It becomes even harder when I need to find an image related to a concept. For example, I write articles about leadership and if I need to find an image about “perseverance” I am not likely to find an image that matches that.

The bottom line is that those free image sites do not often have the images I need. I suppose I could do some photoshop work on them and create my own image, but if there is one thing writers do not have much of, it is extra time to create images.

So here is a radical thought: Why not buy the images?

I know the thought of buying images is instantly repulsive. The thought that we need to buy art goes against our nature – after all, bloggers are the epitome of today’s “starving artist.” Underneath that sanctimony is the obvious reality that most bloggers really are not earning enough to consider buying images for every blog post.

What I do is I source my images from several places, and I purchase them only when I really cannot find what I am looking for. When I do purchase, I am very selective about where I purchase so that I help support photographers in every way possible.

So yes, I do purchase images every so often. It is not my first choice, but it is there. So why would you want to purchase images?

1. It Helps You Stand Out

The problem with the free stock image sites is that the images are rather generic. They look like typical stock photos that are found on every other article and advertisement. That is because you are not the only one looking for free artwork – just about every other blogger and low-budget ad agency is also using them.

How many times have we all seen an image like this one? Or maybe even this exact image?

Or how many times have you seen this person (or a variation of her) in an advertisement?

Or seen a generic image like this one?

You do not want to use these images. Not only will your post look like every other one out there, but sites like Pinterest and Google actually use computer algorithms that bundle these together or worse, just push them down the search results. Obviously, that is not what you want to have happen with your blog posts.

Purchasing images makes this far less likely. Reputable photographers and services will even tell you how often your image has been purchased before you did. This is a very important benefit to purchasing images, it makes your blog post stand out from the crowd.

2. It Supports Other Artists

As a blogger, we consider ourselves artists. Photographers also consider themselves artists. Not only is there considerable time and expense involved in taking photos (travel, equipment, logistics, etc.), but most of the high-quality photos you can purchase have been post-processed. This requires expensive equipment and software as well as skills and time. Many photographers learned this over time and by investing in their expertise through further education and practice.

Here is the sad reality. Just as blogging is not very lucrative, neither is digital photography. While you may pay $5 for a photo, the photographer probably earns about $1 on it. Sadly, most of that cost actually goes to the service provider. More vexing is the fact that a photographer might submit dozens of photos to such a service and yet only one or two of those will be selected.

This is not to disparage the service providers, either. It is extremely expensive to host hundreds of thousands of images safely, provide an effective sales platform, and ensure proper payment processing. It requires a team of programmers and administrative staff and a complex data center infrastructure.

Personally, I look for photographers hosting their own images – you know, to support small businesses – but the reality is that they seldom have the selection that Shutterstock and Adobe provide. It is a trade-off. If they have their own websites, I will go there, but that is typically not the case with images on the big services are exclusive to those services.

Martha Wright is an example of a photographer who hosts her own site and sells printed photos. She does not list digital images, but this is typical of artists who sell their images directly.

Robert Berdan is a nature photographer with beautiful images. He sells digital versions directly from his website.

To best support photographers, you will need to make some effort, but the one thing I can say is that I have never come across a photographer who did not appreciate that effort. They are typically very helpful and willing to accommodate you, which brings me to my next point.

3. More Personalized Service

When you use a free site, there is no personalized service. You could reach out to the photographer directly and see if they respond, but that is a long shot. For some reason, my experience is that once they post their photos on these sites, they tend to forget about them, after all, the photos are available for free. Sometimes there is no photographer available at all.

When you purchase a photo, however, there is an understanding that there is a person at the other end. Post-processing is typically possible. Some sites even let you select different versions of an image, too, but if you need something more, there is likely an artist who would like nothing more than to build a relationship with a blogger who may buy more photos in the future.

Reputable photographers will want to know more about the type of blogging that you do. For example, I found one photographer who specialized in photos of exotic flowers. This was not really my topic, but he had a whole site of photos I could choose from and they were all free. If I were blogging about horticulture, this would have been a treasure trove of material. The point is, that I would never have found them if I had not reached out to him directly.

Perhaps the more important issue that a personalized relationship can address is how the image will be used. When you use a service, it is cut & dry. You pay a price depending on what you will be using it for. If you plan to sell a product with the image, that will be considerably more expensive because you need a commercial license. If you only sell 5 item a year, it is the same price. When you contact the photographer directly, however, you can often agree on a lower price for specific needs.

4. It is a Tax Write-off

If you have a small business, and you need to purchase artwork, that can qualify as a tax write-off. You would be surprised how often this is forgotten. Perhaps this is because artists do not always consider purchasing each other’s work a write-off, but that would be a lost opportunity.

Of course, you need to talk to your tax advisor on how to properly document this. I am not a qualified tax-advisor myself, but when I purchase images, I consider that a business expense, just as I would consider it a business expense to hire a graphic designer to design a logo. For example, here is Semaphore Tax Solutions:

Conclusion

I know that purchasing images can be a difficult decision. As I mentioned, I purchase some images, but I also use other (usually free) options whenever I can. Purchasing is a last resort. After all, it is another expense and small businesses should always strive to minimize expenses.

That said, blogging is also about building relationships and the relationships I have made with photographers have all had positive outcomes for me as well as the photographers. Some have started reading my blogs and I am always hopeful that they spread the word. After all their business is also dependent on relationships.

Ultimately, relationships are what makes small businesses succeed. Anything we can do to increase relationships is a win-win for all involved. Aside from the tax-write off point above (after all, it is tax-season), I believe all the others points also contribute to the goal of building relationships. Likewise, the right image can help build a relationship, but the wrong image can also end it.