Top Ten Stock Photography Cliches

[Mr. Analog]

I'm sure you've seen them out there (doubly so if you work at Downside) but I think all IT shops fall prey to horribly cliched clip-art:

Top Ten Stock Photography Cliches

[Lazybones]

hehehe..

[Tonnica]

MAN! That brings back some horrid, evil memories. I had to scrape through many a CD with 300 images like that (but with less "pretty" models, more on the "dorky" or "forced into an awkward expression for the shot"). One of the other cliches of stock photography I've been exposed to is sticking images where they don't fit.

Boys & girls club website? Let's slap people walking around a high-rise with a fish eye lens angle in there!

Fishing website? DEPLOY THE GENERIC POCKETWATCH.

Also: the next time you see generic photo, take a careful look at some of the images of people with their mouths open vs. people with their mouths closed. The style of the photographer really comes out in those shots. Some shots with open mouths have the model exaggerate their expression to convey the "feeling" in the photo. A photo can be trying to depict "real, talking experts" but actually brings across "scary lady berating a child over a headset".