I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “I can get a stock photo for $1.99 or even FREE, so why would I pay higher prices for images?” I get it. I also get that there are literally millions of images to choose from at the cheap-to-free price point. Sounds great, right? Perfect. Let’s wrap this up and get a coffee.
But maybe there’s more to it? That’s because the cheap-to-free model isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, right? Not only are you spending hours sifting through irrelevant options, but they can also come with all kinds of not-so-fun surprises from legal, to usage, to technical, to simply looking super ‘stocky’. And that’s just to name a few issues.
Let’s take a deeper look into the Hero productions to see what makes our images different and why we aren’t in the cheap-to-free bucket.
Production Value (and Production Costs)
Our images cost a lot to make. We hire models who are comfortable in front of the camera, pay for the right locations, we have stylists on set to make sure the wardrobe is perfect, plus hair and makeup professionals to get the models looking their best (yet still natural). Finally, we purchase or rent the right props for that final touch in authentic staging. And that’s just what you see in the photo!
Behind the production there are production assistants, photo assistants, photo retouchers, and keyworders to hire. Then, there’s our team coming up with the concepts, planning and producing the shoots, etc etc etc. It’s a huge operation! But, it’s worth it. It’s worth it because after putting together the right production with the right touches that no one else really does in the right way, we get those images that are… special. That’s what production value really means.
Legal
Each and every one of our nearly 80,000 images is model and property released. This is a really BIG DEAL and something that you can never say about the UGC out there, let alone some of the RF and RM imagery on the market. We like to say that our images are “tied with a bow”. They are released, have logos scrubbed off, and are ready to use.
Technical Proficiency
We take great efforts to ensure that our images are clean and ready to pop straight into your creative. They’re in focus, virtually noise-free, and are scrubbed of all logos or distracting artifacts. When you license a high res Hero image, you know that you are getting a file that is capable of being used anywhere from a tiny mobile ad to a billboard or double-page magazine spread.
Image Intelligence
We pride ourselves on making great images. Not just pretty images, but commercial, usable images. Images that show thought and knowledge about the current image economy and marketing needs. We think about things like ‘what’s the tagline on this image?’ or ‘where can the end user put copy?’ or even ‘do we believe this moment is really happening? Does it feel authentic and real — but in an up-leveled, aspirational way?’. As a team, we have over 100 years of combined stock photography industry experience and knowledge to draw from. Furthermore, during those years, we have made concerted efforts to keep up with commercial trends and provide the industry with relevant imagery. We watch trends and read reports about the kind of content that is being used and how it is being used, and we do our best to pivot to stay on point — and even push the envelope where we can.
So, now that you see all that goes into the making of an image, maybe these images seem like a bargain! What do you think? Where do you get most of your images? Let us know in the comments!