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Industrial stock photos and royalty free images

As industrialization spreads throughout the world, more companies are involved in the manufacturing of medicine, consumer goods, vehicles, and more. Factories produce many of the items that people rely on. Websites and publications that cover the industrial beat look for images with industrial backgrounds, and so do manufacturing companies for marketing materials. Shutterstock has a wide selection of industrial stock photos and royalty free images. Scroll down to learn more about how to use industrial imagery, and to peruse our selection of curated industrial images.

Using industrial images in print materials

  • When creating any type of printed material, images play an important role that compliments the text and makes the reading more digestible to the reader. Just like on a website, people tune out when they see large blocks of text.

  • Pamphlets and brochures that include lots of jargon about a specific industry need images, as they provide important context that the reader can scan immediately. A company that deals in industrial robotics, for example, may want to include an image of an automated robotic arm.

  • A newspaper, magazine, or textbook can also include industrial images to discuss anything from the manufacturing process of products to industrial waste to unionization in factories.

Using industrial images in print materials

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How to choose industrial images

Industrial images conjure thoughts of heavy machinery, conveyor belts, and industrial buildings. Images of factory workers, factory automation, and factory robotics are also good examples of industrial images. Everything from computer chips to coffee makers to pre-packaged food is made in factories. For news stories, web pages, or brochures, images with factory workers help humanize industrialization, as it is sometimes seen as an entirely automated process. Whether you are looking for images of people wearing protective clothing, or photos of smokestacks, stewater, and powerplants, Shutterstock’s immense library of industrial images is here for you.

Questions about industrial images


What are industrial visuals?

Industrial visuals are images that depict or represent various elements regarding the manufacturing of products via factory workers or industrial automation. Images can include workers on assembly lines, aerial shots of factories, and industrial design blueprints. Other popular industrial visuals include images with heavy machinery, such as cranes, as well as energy plants and natural gas or oil pipelines. Images of factory workers wearing safety equipment and photos taken inside factories are also good examples of industrial imagery.


How to choose engaging industrial images?

With so many industrial images in the Shutterstock library, it’s important to narrow down the selection to images that offer the most impact and value for your project. Images with people are a good choice, especially if they are engaged in an activity that is easily understandable by the viewer. Such images have a higher chance of standing out and catching a viewer’s attention. High-octane imagery without people like metal sparks that come from welding or grinding can also be a visual way to support and communicate strong messages.


How to find high-quality industrial images?

High-quality industrial images are easy to find on Shutterstock. To start the process, type what you’re looking for in the Shutterstock search bar. In this case, you type “industrial” in the search bar. If you’re not able to find what you’re looking for or you want to narrow down your options, you can find various options on the left-hand side of the search results page. You can choose to see the most relevant images first, and you can select whether you only want to see images, vectors, or illustrations. If you’re only looking for images with people, you can select that, too, as well as the person’s ethnicity, gender, age, and even the number of people in the image.


Where can you use pictures of industries and factories?

Images and illustrations of factories can fit within a variety of projects from internal corporate memos to advertisements and header images on webpages. Companies that may not want to take images inside their factories can use industrial stock images from Shutterstock. Industrial backgrounds and textures are great for PowerPoint presentations. Human resource departments may also use industrial stock photos in their internal presentations and tutorials. Even better, images with workers wearing protective equipment are suitable for factory safety videos, brochures, and slideshows. Newspapers or online publications can use images of industrial factories when publishing stories about technology and automation.


What are popular industrial images?

There are many types of industrial images, but the most popular ones on Shutterstock regard safety, building, automation, and workers. Images of factory workers walking or collaborating with each other are popular in our image searches. We also see a lot of demand for images of workers wearing protective clothing, like safety vests, protective eyewear, face masks, and hard hats. Other popular images focus on industrial automation. These visuals include those with robotic arms and other equipment used in factories to automate the assembly and production of products. Lastly, aerial shots of factory buildings are also in high demand.

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