Photography

Photography plays an important role in bringing customer stories to life. The photographic style for the QuickBooks Blog is editorial, optimistic, and authentic. It should reflect the vibrancy, excitement, and diversity of our customers, and showcase real small business owners and their actual environments. Successful photography will feel genuine, allowing the audience to identify with our customers, their stories, and our brand.

NOTE: Annual brand campaign photography shouldn’t be used in editorials.

Illustration depicting a person interacting with QuickBooks software

Image viewpoint

We recommend incorporating a mix of photography throughout the QuickBooks Blog to help tell the small business owner story.

Medium

Medium shots are used to spotlight customers, their environment, our products, and the interactions between them.

Close-ups

Close-ups are useful for highlighting one specific element. Combined with a shallow depth of field, they help bring focus and eliminate background noise.

over the shoulder viewpoint of sales transaction between customer and business owner

Over the Shoulder (OTS)

OTS shots select key moments of success, engagement, and interaction.

Lighting and saturation

Lighting and saturation of photography should appear natural and inviting. Use soft to medium lighting instead of direct or hard lighting. Hard lighting creates dark shadows and bright spots on or around the subject matter that can be distracting or unflattering. Avoid overly saturated images, or flat, desaturated, or stylized images using digital filters.

Smiling small business owner standing outside of store with soft lighting and natural saturation

Soft lighting with natural saturation.

Smiling barista standing with arms crossed with hard lighting and unnatural saturation

Hard lighting, stylized, and unnatural saturation.

Cropping

Successful image cropping can significantly increase visual interest, portray harmony and balance, or introduce tension or uneasiness.

Crop photos in a way that supports storytelling.

Crop out unnecessary noise, but don’t crop out important details.

Subject matter doesn’t always need to be centered.

Tight cropping on a subject can add tension and drama, while wider crops leave breathing room.

Open cropping of person working on laptop in an office

Open cropping focuses on the subject within an environment.

Close crop of person working on laptop in an office

A close crop focuses on small business owners, their emotions, and actions happening within the frame.

Working with stock

Stock images are allowed with approval from your Brand and Marketing (BAM) partner. Be aware of the following conditions when sourcing images:

Images should be royalty-free.

Images should be of high quality and feel authentic.

Internally, QuickBooks currently uses Adobe Stock.

Examples

Flourist in store watering hanging plants

Business type is clear, feels authentic and natural.

Smiling small business owner in workshop

Feels like a genuine moment by displaying authentic emotions.

Small business owner checking inventory in storefront

Not overly posed, with body language feeling organic to the environment.

What not to do

Generic stock photo of small business owners standing outside of glass door

Feels generic and cliché with no real story being told.

Corporate looking stock photo of person with folded arms.

Feels corporate, washed out, and overly posed.

Conceptual stock photo of person laying on floor throwing paper in the air

Unauthentic due to showing a moment that’s unrelatable and hard to understand.

Hero images

Hero images capture the readers attention and offer a preview into the content. It's critical that hero images directly relate to the headline and narrative of the article to be successful.

Avoid applying text overlays or other content directly on images.

Generic small business owner stock photo with text overlay

The image feels generic, and relies on text overlay to represent the headline.

QuicBooks banking featured on mobile phone with debt card

The image is dynamic and represents the headline.

Additional photography resources

For additional information about photography, check out our complete brand photography guidelines.

View brand photography guidelines