Commercial photography or stock photos?

The quick answer: stock photos are often cheaper, while your own professional images are more relevant when the subject must represent your business. The choice is more nuanced than that, so here is an honest breakdown of when to use each option.

What do stock photos actually cost?

Let's start with what most people compare: the price.

• Paid stock libraries — pricing depends on licence, resolution, download volume, and subscription. Always check the provider's current price and usage rights.
• Adobe Stock and Shutterstock — offer subscriptions and individual purchases, but the images are not unique to your business.
• Unsplash/Pexels — free, but heavily used. Your competitors are probably using the same images.

The price seems low — and it is, in isolation. But there's a hidden cost: stock photos are generic. They don't show your office, your employees, your products, or your culture. They show an actor in a set, photographed to suit everyone and no one. I've seen companies that used the exact same "happy-team-at-whiteboard" image as their direct competitor. That's not a great start to a customer relationship.

What does a commercial photographer cost?

A half day of professional commercial photography starts from 6,000 kr excl. VAT and gives you approximately 20–40 edited images. A full day costs 10,000 kr and gives you approximately 50–80 images, depending on the project's complexity.

One day of photography at 10,000 kr can give you an image library for your website, LinkedIn, newsletters, presentations, and printed materials. A paid stock library may cost less or more depending on licensing and usage, but the images still do not show your actual team, premises, or products.

5 situations where stock photos are perfectly fine

We'll say it gladly: stock photos have their place. Here's when they work:

1. Blog posts and article images — an illustrative image for an article doesn't need to show your company. It just needs to support the text.
2. Decorative elements in presentations — background images in PowerPoint where the image isn't the message.
3. Prototypes and wireframes — in an early design phase, stock photos are perfect placeholders.
4. Inspiration boards — for internal brainstorming and mood boards.
5. Generic concept images — "teamwork", "innovation", "sustainability" and other abstract concepts where authenticity isn't crucial.

The rule is simple: if the image doesn't need to represent your company, stock photos are a reasonable solution.

5 situations where you should hire a photographer

Here it's different. In the following situations, stock photos aren't just inadequate — they can actively damage your credibility:

1. Hero images on the website and About page — this is where potential customers, employees, and partners form their first impression. Imagine a candidate visiting your careers page — and recognising the same stock photos from your competitor's website.

2. Employee portraits — for LinkedIn profiles, the website's "Team" section, and press kits. There's no stock photo version of your actual colleagues.

3. Product images — it should be obvious, but it happens more often than you'd think: companies using generic product images instead of photos of their own products. It undermines trust and increases return rates. See also our guide to product photography for e-commerce.

4. Cases and testimonials — an image of the actual customer or the actual project is far more convincing than a generic office photo.

5. Social media with authentic content — photos from a real working day can make the people, setting, and sender clearer than a generic stock image.

Does it really cost more to use a commercial photographer?

Let's do the maths:

It's not a question of what's cheapest. It's a question of what provides the most value. The 10,000 kr gives you images that only you have — images of your real employees, in your real premises, with your real products.

How to build a professional image library

The best approach is to think in terms of image libraries rather than one-off photo shoots. Plan a full day of photography where you cover everything you need for the next 6–12 months:

• Portraits of key employees
• Work situations and meetings
• Products in context
• Office, common areas, and facilities
• Exterior and possibly drone photography

We've written a full article about how to build a professional image library — with a checklist and planning guide.

It's about credibility

Ultimately, the choice between stock photos and a commercial photographer comes down to one word: credibility. Stock photos tell your visitors that you either didn't have the time, budget, or interest to show who you actually are. Professional images tell them the opposite.

And credibility is hard to put a price on — but easy to lose.