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How to find the right stock image on Adobe Stock in seconds
How long does it take you to find the right stock image for your project? And even when you finally find one, is it exactly what you’re looking for, or just good enough?
The frustration with stock imagery isn’t lack of choice, it’s the length of time needed to find the right image. Adobe Stock’s extensive library, combined with advanced search and filtering and the introduction of AI Studio, is making that process considerably faster – and getting you a better end result.
Finding the right asset, faster
With nearly 1 billion assets available, there is plenty of material to choose from. But finding the right content for your project may feel daunting – so where do you start? By introducing advanced filtering tools, Adobe is helping to tackle this head on, letting you move beyond simple keywords to find something that actually matches your creative vision.
Visual search – if you already have an image that captures the right composition and mood, then visual search is for you. Rather than trying to find the perfect keywords to describe your image, you can simply upload it to Adobe Stock and use it as your starting point.
This is much faster, and it also means that you can quickly build a collection of images with a similar look and feel, perfect for when your project requires a range of different assets.
Audio search – the same principle also applies to audio. Search by uploading a reference track to find alternative options with a similar sound, mood or style. For video creators, browsing and auditioning tracks can be extremely time-consuming, and still leave you without the right soundtrack. Audio search cuts that time down significantly and finds a closer match for your artistic vision.
Detailed filtering – using the options above can help get you into the right ballpark, and Adobe’s extensive range of filters will help you narrow your search down even further. Aside from practical filters like the asset type, category and orientation, you can start getting more specific about the content itself.
Need a striking landscape to use as a background for your flyer? Quickly use filters to exclude images with people from your image search. Want something bright and energetic to use as part of a high-impact marketing campaign? Use the vivid color filter.
Possibly our favourite tool for designers and marketing professionals is the ability to filter by color. If your project already has a defined palette, this lets you instantly cut out any unrelated assets that won’t fit.
Exploring related assets – once you find something you like and select it, even more options open up. This includes the ability to select ‘more from this series’, presenting other images from the same shoot, or ‘more from this model’ – other assets featuring the same person. This is a very effective way to refine your search or find additional images for the same project.
Taking your image from good to perfect
Through this range of advanced search features, you can get an asset that’s pretty close to what you’re looking for before you even start editing. The next step is to tweak and refine it until you have something that’s just right.
In the past it was necessary to use other software platforms to edit your stock assets if you wanted a closer fit for your project. AI Studio does away with this need by letting you make a comprehensive range of edits before you even commit to a licence.
Type to Edit
The type to edit tool is a simple text box that lets you describe exactly what you want changed and then let the AI work its magic. This can be something simple: in the first example below, we’ve changed the style of the image from a photograph to an impressionistic painting. But it could also be much more dramatic – you can add, remove or transform objects however you see fit.
Change color
We covered filtering by color above, but if you can’t find something that suits your brand or creative vision, it’s easy to apply your own custom color palette. Choose an existing palette, add your own, or extract colors from existing images.
Change the mood
Is your campaign upbeat, emotionally charged or more mellow? Subtle shifts to an image – such as the lighting or expressions – can help set a different mood, and this can all be done in a matter of seconds with the right AI tools.
Remove background
A clean, transparent PNG can be worth its weight in gold, giving you an asset that can easily be overlayed against an existing design or background. Once upon a time you would have needed to use a separate design platform for this type of task, but AI Studio handles it for you.
Expand image
One of the most frustrating parts of searching for good stock imagery can be finding something that’s the right aspect ratio. The expand image tool comes into its own here, allowing you to extend the image in any direction, maintaining the existing look and feel.
If you find any of these tools particularly helpful then you can also use the bulk edit function to apply them to multiple images at the same time. Once again, this is a real timesaver, cutting back on the manual effort required to develop your perfect stock library.
Moving beyond static images
What if you find or refine an image that works perfectly for your campaign, but would really prefer to feature moving content? Adobe Stock AI Studio also allows you to transform any image into a 5-second animation, make motion edits and adapt the color to fit your project.
Once you have an animation that you’re happy with, the AI can also create an original soundtrack that suits the pacing, mood and style of your clip. Whether you upload the animated clip as it is, or use the video as a starting point and move into another platform like Premiere to continue editing, this gives you a good headstart on the video creation process in a matter of minutes.
Commercial considerations
Adobe labels content as commercially safe if it uses their Firefly model, which means it has been trained on content where Adobe has all of the necessary permissions. The edits you make will be commercially safe using this model, if applied to a licensed stock asset. Other models are available, and if you choose to use those instead then you will need to check the training methodology and permissions for yourself.
From quick search to finished asset
Finding the right stock image no longer has to mean scrolling through page after page of irrelevant material. Using Adobe’s visual and audio search tools, detailed filters and AI-powered editing lets you move quickly from initial idea to finished asset – without even needing to switch program. The result is a much faster search process, leaving you with more time to focus on developing your design.