How We Use AI in Our Stock Photography

AI seems to have found its way into just about everything, including photography. So we thought it was worth explaining where it fits into our stock library.

First, the big one: we do not license AI-generated imagery. All our stock photographs originate in a camera.

AI helps with some of the work around those photographs. We sometimes use it to help write captions and generate keywords or tags. This makes images easier to find in the archive.

In editing software, we occasionally use AI-assisted masking. To select parts of a photograph for basic adjustments. Such as contrast, lightness, darkness and colour. It’s a handy way of selecting an area that would otherwise need to be carefully outlined by hand.

For our general royalty-free (RF) and rights-managed (RM) photographs, we also sometimes use AI-assisted object removal to tidy up unwanted elements.

Editorial photographs are the exception: we do not use AI editing on our editorial images. These photographs are intended to document their subjects, and we keep that distinction clear.

Some of our commercial RF and RM photographs combine camera-captured images or multiple exposures. This might involve a photographic composite, combining exposures to manage a scene’s brightness range, or focus stacking—blending photographs taken at different focus points to keep more of the subject sharp.

From 1 November 2026, all composited images produced, including focus-stacked photographs, will be marked as such. That gives you a clearer picture of what you’re licensing and helps you decide whether it suits your intended use.

We’re happy to use useful tools, and equally happy to explain where we use them. If you have a question about how a particular image was made or edited, just ask.