Photography

When working as a marketing generalist, photography is a key tool for communicating your brand. There are several types of imagery to consider: lifestyle and product photography. Each requires a slightly different approach.

Phone Photography vs DSLR

You can take photos on your phone, and the resolution is usually more than adequate for both print and digital. But be aware that the lens can distort your subject. Have you noticed how phone photos often appear wider at the edges? This “dome effect” can make product shots appear inaccurate, which is critical if you need correct proportions.

For precise product photography, a DSLR camera is ideal. Your company or place of work might own one you can use, or you might have one. However, if photography isn’t your skill area, it’s often better to outsource product photos. Once you have the product images, clearcutting in Canva is a great way to remove backgrounds and prepare imagery for online stores or other creative outputs.

Lifestyle or behind-the-scenes photos are well-suited to phone photography. You can play with layout and composition principles such as rule of thirds when taking photos or cropping, as this helps create balanced and engaging compositions.

Stock Imagery

In some cases, stock imagery may be suitable. Use treatments, cropping, and filters to make stock images fit your brand’s tone of voice. Canva’s built-in stock imagery is convenient, but paid sites like iStock often offer more diverse and specific options.

When using stock imagery, always consider the “cheese factor”: does it feel authentic and aligned with your client’s brand? You can also include black and white photography to introduce a different mood or flavour.

Retouching Images

Retouching helps clean up flaws, adjust imagery for your brand, and create consistent visual style. Canva and Photoshop both offer tools, but the level of control is very different. As a marketing generalist, retouching is most important for close ups of products. It can be overdone! We only really use retouching to spruce up product images or if there’s a very obvious flaw that we want to remove in the overall composition.

Canva Retouching Tools (Beginner-Friendly)

  • Background Remover / Clearcut – Quickly removes backgrounds for product or lifestyle shots.
  • Adjust – Allows tweaks to brightness, contrast, saturation, tint, and blur. Use sparingly: small adjustments can improve the image, but large tweaks can make it look overly edited. Minor exposure corrections are possible (underexposed areas can be brightened), but overexposed areas cannot be recovered.
  • Crop / Resize – Focus the composition or eliminate unwanted edges.
  • Magic Eraser / Spot Removal – Remove small imperfections or dust quickly.
  • Filters / Effects – Canva filters cover a lot of ground in creating a cohesive look across images. Adjust the filter strength depending on the image so everything aligns with your brand style without looking forced.

Canva is intuitive and fast, perfect for day-to-day marketing edits, social media posts, or email campaigns.

User-Generated Content (UGC)

UGC is a valuable resource—it’s authentic, relatable, and highly trusted by audiences. It can compete with AI-generated imagery because it represents real people and all their flaws - much more exciting and relatable to fellow human beings.

UGC can come from:

  • Tagged posts
  • Photo competitions
  • Influencer partnerships
  • Affiliate collaborations

Tips for reposting UGC:

  • Always ensure you have permission from the content creator
  • Use a cover image or branded tile for social media posts to create cohesive look, without tampering with the UGC

UGC is especially powerful because it acts as an endorsement of your product or service, enhancing credibility and engagement.

Treatment and Filters

Since your imagery may come from multiple sources (your own photos, UGC, contracted campaigns, supplier images), applying a consistent photo treatment can help you maintain a cohesive brand tone.

Three images from three different places — a supplier shot, a phone snap and a stock photo. Individually they’re all fine. Together they look like three different companies.

This is the cheapest cohesion you will ever buy. Write the filter and its strength into your brand guidelines so the next person applies the same one.

Practical tips:

  • Choose a subtle Canva filter (cool or warm tone) and use it across all imagery.
  • Include your filter choice in your brand guidelines, alongside colours and typography.
  • Apply treatments consistently across social media, website mockups, and marketing materials.

Exception: UGC may already have filters applied. Layering another filter on top can look messy, so follow our tips for integrating UGC into feeds without tampering with their content or losing the feel of authenticity.

Commercial Licences and Rules

It’s essential to have proper permissions for all photos. You cannot:

  • Take images from websites and publish them
  • Use photos from other photographers without commercial rights

Some grey areas exist: for example, if a photographer was paid by another business and that business tags you as a Instagram collaborator, you may see that image on your feed, but you do not automatically have usage rights. It’s important to be aware of this.

Photographers usually control where and how their work is published. Misunderstanding licensing can cause legal issues, so always clarify usage rights. This also applies to UGC—ensure creators are aware of reposting, or include rights in your UGC competition terms and conditions.

Safe sources for imagery:

  • Photography you undertake as part of your employment contract
  • Company photo libraries that have been produced with commercial license
  • Canva stock as part of designs
  • Paid stock sites (iStock, etc.)
  • Images provided by suppliers with intent for you to promote their products
  • UG content (with permission)

Practical Scenarios:

  1. Hiring a photographer: Clarify channels, usage, and edits. Provide brand guidelines so images match tone and style from the start.
  2. Reposting social media images: Message the creator first, confirm permission, and clarify any edits you plan to make.
  3. Found online: Do not use without permission. Ensure you purchase the correct commercial license before use.

When in doubt.. check!

When in doubt about photo usage, simply check with the author or creator. They’ll appreciate the courtesy, and it keeps you on the right side of copyright and commercial usage rules.

Model Release: Best Practices for Using People in Media

Whenever you’re taking images or videos of people, consider the best practice of obtaining a model release.

A model release is a legal document that gives permission to use a person’s likeness in photos, videos, or other media. It protects both the creator (photographer, videographer, or marketer) and the subject by clarifying how the images or footage can be used.

Key Points

Purpose

  • Grants legal permission to use someone’s image for marketing, advertising, or public distribution.
  • Protects the creator from future claims by the person depicted.

When You Need One

  • Anytime a recognisable person appears in your photos or videos intended for public use.
  • Examples: social media posts, website images, promotional videos, advertisements, brochures.
  • Not needed if the person is unrecognizable (e.g., back of head, distant crowd) or in a public event where consent is implied, though having a release is always safest.

Typical Contents

  • Name of the person being photographed or filmed.
  • Date and description of the shoot or project.
  • Grant of rights specifying how the images/videos can be used (e.g., online, print, advertising).
  • Signatures of the model and the photographer/creator.
  • Optional clauses: age verification for minors, compensation agreements, or limitations on use.

Special Considerations

  • For minors, a parent or guardian must sign the release.
  • Some brands or agencies may require specific wording for international use or commercial advertising.

Tip: In an ideal world you’ll get a signed model release before publishing any image or video that clearly identifies someone, unless you’re taking images at a public event where consent is implied.

Grey Areas

  • UG Content: Sometimes permission is implied by tagging your company page, but it’s always safest to double-check before posting.
  • Sensitive Cases: Be extra vigilant when content includes children, or marketing for restricted products (alcohol, vaping, gambling). For example, if a photo features someone next to a alcohol brand sponsorship, they may be teetotal and not want their image associated with your content.

[Download model release]

Tips

  • Keep one signed copy on file for every person featured in marketing content.
  • Consider digital signatures for remote shoots.
  • Customize the form if the images will be used in paid advertising, international campaigns, or high-profile promotions.