Like most things, stock photography and advertising follow constantly changing trends. Look anywhere on the internet and you’ll get listicles of visual trends you should tune into for 2019. Content and style reflect what’s happening in pop culture (think big hair and punch-in-the-face colours of the 80’s). Aesthetics can also be influenced by what’s new in camera and imaging technology. Visual trends are determined by what is and what isn’t working in advertising. So let’s take a quick jaunt down memory lane to see what we used to love, versus what we love now — aesthetically speaking.
Swatch Watch Print ad 1980
Swatch Watch Print ad 2019
TECHNOLOGY
Let’s start by looking back only a few years ago to some of the trends that riddled the industry due to the accessibility of certain technologies. When computers and editing software became more widely used, the trends were to push the software and take your photos to extremes with techniques such as exaggerated HDR, oversharpening, and cheesy photoshopping.
At the same time, DSLRs became less expensive and with the excitement of having more controlled functions and the additional options that these cameras provided, photographers tended to create unrealistic, overly produced looking images. These images enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame while they flooded microstock libraries. However, now that everyone has a camera in their pockets, the excitement of that new technology has diminished. Now with the explosion of social media, marketers and their audience gravitate towards an idealized, yet still relatable aesthetic to images over the stylized punchy images of the past. Relatable content has you believe “yeah, that could be me!” by using imagery that looks like it could have been taken by a friend on their phone, but with a bit of polish.
AUTHENTICITY
In addition to the aesthetic trends leaning towards the more authentic, we’re also loving that same trend in subject matter. For instance, why were seniors only depicted at home wearing cardigans playing with their grandkids? Seniors live an active lifestyle just like anyone else!
Or, why would an everyday coffee scene be full of similar looking Caucasians when, in reality, what makes living in a metropolitan area beautiful is the diversity of the people around us? Simply put, an authentic life is extremely diverse and images are finally reflecting this.
COLOUR
Beyond the subject of authenticity, recent trend reports state that bold pops of colour are currently trending and will continue to grow. We’re not talking about adding those 80’s lasers or rainbows to your photos, we’re talking about using bold, strong colours to add a striking element to your images. The colour could compliment the natural tones in a landscape, bring out your main subject in a dark image or potentially give an image a whole new mood.
Although it’s important to stay aware (and ahead!) of trends we believe the importance lies in the image being of the highest quality and as timeless as possible. Trends are fun and exciting but we prefer to have images that could be in a campaign and not make the creative director shudder when they look back at it in a couple of years. That’s why at Hero, you’ll find (we hope) images that bridge crafted with authentic, while giving a nod to current trends.
What image trends made you cringe?