You can buy photos of normal looking people on stock photography agency websites, agencies that specialize in selling royalty free photos. Any of the popular sites, Dreamstime, iStockphoto, Shutterstock or CanStockPhoto will have thousands of photos you can buy of normal-looking people.
Keyword search on a stock photography agency website
Your keyword search will be important when looking for normal looking people. Many of the stock photography agency sites are North American owned, so if a normal-looking person to you is of a different culture, ie Puerto Rican, Mexican or Asian, your keyword will need to indicate these cultures. Secondly, if you want your normal looking people to be doing an activity, or walking down the street, or sitting at a desk, using these actions in our keyword search will help to narrow down the number of images that are found.
Define your need before you search
Stock photography agencies are clear in their licensing agreements on how photos of people can be used. If you are hoping to use a stock model photo as an added value to your website, marketing campaign or showing normal looking people doing an activity, you can use stock photography for this purpose. Branding, product representation, direct product or company endorsement is not included in stock photography agency agreements.
Search Fotolia for more European normal-looking people or Dreamstime for North American normal looking people. Asian photo searches are explained in detail in this article and may provide you with a more in-depth explanation of keyword searches on stock photography agency databases.
Test this right now in Dreamstime: use the search feature below and hit the button to see what normal looking people images turn up!
Normal looking people image: © Andrejs Pidjass / iStockphoto.com
Amos Struck
I am a publisher and entrepreneur in the stock imagery field. I focus on providing knowledge and solutions for buyers, contributors and agencies, aiming at contributing to the growth and development of the industry. I am the founder and editor of Stock Photo Press, one of the largest networks of online magazines in the industry. I am the founder of Microstock Expo, the only conference dedicated to the microstock segment. I created several software solutions in stock photography like WordPress plugins. Plus I am a recurrent speaker at Photokina Official Stage, and an industry consultant at StockPhotoInsight. I am passionate about technology, marketing and visual imagery.
