Adobe Stock is a service that provides designers and businesses with access to millions of high-quality images to use in their creative projects. Here’s how to use Adobe Stock as a tool for creativity and inspiration.

Finding inspiration

If you find yourself in a creative slump, browse Adobe Stock for ideas. It can be an image, background or even an element that inspires a creative shoot. I used this concept while working on my Assassin Series. Up to this point, I’ve been photographing the subjects on a black background. I liked it, but I knew it was time for something more. I found a city skyline that inspired me to have the Assassin on top of a building. Later that week, we shot the Assassin sitting on a box and created the composite in Photoshop.

Elements help tell a story.

A movie poster of a television show; “Major Crimes”, inspired me to photograph a good friend of mine who happens to be a police officer. I saw the use of a crime scene tape and thought it would make a cool prop for a movie poster. I intended to use real crime scene tape during the shoot, but after searching Adobe Stock for a background image, I stumbled upon a stock crime scene element. The final composite was made in Photoshop.

Try before you buy

The Adobe Stock service is built right into the Adobe desktop apps—such as Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, and InDesign CC—so you can search, browse, and add assets to your Creative Cloud Libraries without initially buying the image. You can composite and make changes to see if the image is right for the composition. Once you decide it’s what you want, you purchase the item from inside Photoshop. The watermark will disappear and you don’t have to recreate the composite!

The next time you feel in a creative slump, spend 30 minutes browsing Adobe Stock for inspiration. It’s best to keep a notebook handy or a Google Doc open so you can write out your creative thoughts. While you are looking, take a moment to become an Adobe Stock contributor.