Hilarious? Smart? Silly? Ridiculous? Here are 25 comedic devices to help you find funny stock images that fit your brand personality and voice.
If the beauty of stock imagery is having millions of assets to choose from, the downside (if you can call it that) is knowing how to choose well. And this task of curation is all the more challenging when you’re trying to be humorous!
Fear not—if you’re looking for funny stock images, this guide has you covered.
Learn why stock photography is the perfect vehicle for humor and then explore 25 practical ideas for selecting quirky, funny, silly, or even ridiculous stock photos.
We’re not only answering the question of what makes certain stock photos funny but, more importantly, how you can apply these comedic devices to best fit your brand personality.
Let’s jump in!
Why Use Funny Stock Images?
You certainly could take your own photos each and every time you want to make a funny project, but who has time for that?
Whether you’re in the marketing department of a large company or wearing a dozen hats as you run your own small business, stock assets are a shortcut to high-quality humor.
By sourcing funny stock images, you’ll get so much more than the images themselves! You’ll also get:
- More time: No need to allocate an entire day to staging and photo shoots. Find funny pictures in a few minutes, and speed things up even more by using advanced search filters.
- More money: That time you saved on photo shoots equals money in your pocket! Skip the team of photographers, set designers, and post-production editors.
- More ideas: The funniest stock photos are the ones you would literally never have thought of yourself. Explore what other creatives are making and then add their sense of humor to your own.
- More creativity: Can’t find that hilariously weird scene you’re envisioning? Generate your own ridiculous stock photos with Shutterstock’s AI-powered image generator.
What Are the Different Types of Humor?
Before you start browsing around for funny stock images, it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for—not in terms of the image content itself, but in terms of the type of humor.
For example, take a second to imagine this concept: “funny stock photo of a banana.” What came to mind? Maybe the classically buffoonish slip-’n-fall on a banana peel? Someone using a banana as a phone? A man in a banana suit ominously lurking outside the boss’s office?
These are all funny, just in very different ways.
And, it’s critical to employ the right kind of funny because humor will either connect with or push away your brand’s audience. To be effective, you need a joke that lands well.
Consider this list of popular types of humor to determine which fits your brand best:
- Slapstick: Also called physical comedy, often involving silly gestures and physical movements
- Punny: Classic wordplay a la Oscar Wilde (or similarly, visual puns!)
- Absurdist: Completely nonsensical or impossible, yet somehow insightful
- Farce: Something serious or normal conveyed as ridiculous and over-the-top
- Satire: Humor used to criticize or make commentary on the state of society
- Dark: AKA “gallows humor,” which makes light of morbid topics like death and despair
- Hyperbolic: An extreme exaggeration to comedic effect
- Self-deprecating: Humor that is poking fun at oneself
- Surprise: Incongruous elements that make you look twice
- Viral humor: Memes, memes, memes!
Of course, you can use different types of humor for different brand purposes. You might post a meme on social media, use wordplay to craft a catchy headline for print, and rely on slapstick comedy in a TV commercial.
All of these could work for a single brand! Just be sure that your choice of humor is intentional and appropriate for your target market.
25 Comedic Devices to Look for in High-Quality Funny Stock Images
Slapstick or satire, now you might be wondering: What exactly makes a stock photo funny? We’ve got the answer—25 to be exact!
In the list below, try not to focus on the images themselves but, rather, the principles and frameworks behind them. Then you’ll be able to apply the same comedic devices to any subject that works for your brand.
1. Exaggerated Expressions
When you think “ridiculous stock photos,” these are probably what you imagine: People with over-the-top expressions—whether joy, anger, or surprise.
Note that this style of funny stock imagery works well for memes or other formats where cheesiness is embraced.
2. Subverted Expectations
Another classic way to elicit a laugh is to take accepted norms and turn them on their head.
We (often subconsciously) expect a certain type of person to do or be a certain type of thing—and then we’re delighted when our expectations are definitely not met.
3. Weird Situations
This one is simple: Think of something that would never, ever happen in daily life. Then think, why not?
4. “That Feeling When . . .”
These funny stock images revolve around the harshly realistic, and usually unglamorous, moments of everyday life. They’re the kind of photos that make us laugh because we can relate all too well.
5. Meme Aesthetics
Meme humor is ever-evolving, but a popular style at the moment embracing the bizarre, eclectic, and nonsensical—usually combining a wide variety of visual aesthetics and purposely giving off that “I was amateurly designed” vibe.
6. Dark Humor
Gallows humor can be tricky to do well, but for a certain audience, it’s sure to be a hit. Try to avoid going too gory or gross.
The most effective and non-offensive dark humor is smart and incisive, like this image of every meeting we’ve ever had.
7. Incorrect Proportions
Another way to create humor is to mess with the proportions of real-world items—make something huge tiny, or vice versa.
Somehow, it still feels relatable despite the oddity, right?
8. Obvious Staging
Dream up a recognizable situation, and then pick a stock photo that takes it to the extreme. Think super-collaborative business people high-fiving, or a concerned parent having a heartfelt talk with a moody teen.
Or, as pictured below, whatever has happened here. . . .
This type of image is admittedly over the top, so it’s best for memes or other self-aware kinds of humor.
9. Pure Absurdity
Here’s an exercise for finding amazingly funny stock images: Think of three random phrases, pair them in a random order, and search the final phrase on Shutterstock.
What you’ll get is something like this:
10. Exaggerated Poses
This one’s similar to exaggerated-facial-expressions humor, but often has another layer of context to make things extra weird.
These silly stock images are the kind that make you ask, “Hold on, what’s going on here?”
11. Bizarre Juxtapositions
Here’s another popular approach to humor, both visually and verbally. Take two things you don’t expect to see together and put them together as if nothing is strange at all.
12. Breaking the Rules of Reality
Another way of subverting expectations is playing with the rules that govern our physical world.
13. Animals Being Animals
The animal kingdom is full of hilarious opportunities and it’s easy to find funny stock images of animals doing their animal thing.
For example, pugs are inherently funny. . . .
14. Animals Being Human
Give animals some human traits, and you’ve got a recipe for all-ages humor. See: smiling squirrels, a llama brushing its teeth, or a cheetah drinking coffee.
15. Anything Being Human
Need super-easy silly stock images? Find a photo of googly eyes on a vegetable or another inanimate object. It’s both cute and funny.
16. Funny Camera Angles
Photographic techniques can also lend themselves to more humorous photos, such as the fish-eye lens.
17. Clash of Worlds
Another framework for humor involves bringing two disparate worlds together in an unexpected way—like these creatures doing something totally mundane.
18. Almost Mundane, But . . .
Take a situation that would otherwise be completely forgettable and then turn one part on its head. Maybe literally.
19. Things Used Incorrectly
A common type of slapstick comedy could be described as “prop humor.” This often entails using commonplace items in incorrect ways, like a hairbrush for a microphone or a banana for a weapon.
20. Surprising Mishmashes
Funny stock images don’t have to be photos only! A collage like this can turn heads by bringing two completely different elements together.
21. Impractical Items
This type of humor feels more intellectual than laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s definitely eyebrow-raising.
Find images that take everyday items, situations, or scenarios, and elevate them to absurd heights.
22. Satirical Twists
Satire is intended to be funny in a serious way—similar to the impossible item described just above, satire is often less LOL and more “Hmm, interesting.”
This type of humor will only work for very specific brand voices.
23. Animal Expressions
Again, pugs are inherently funny.
24. Unexpected Substitutions
Funny stock images like these rely on a surprising substitution.
25. Insightful Composites
Here’s another example of funny stock images not being strictly real-world photos!
Ready to Find the Funniest Stock Photos?
Humor comes in all varieties, and you need flexibility to crack the right jokes, at the right time. That’s where Shutterstock’s most flexible plan comes in!
With Shutterstock Flex, you get all-in-one access to all the funny stock images you need, with built-in FLEXibility to choose the perfect mix for your brand.
License this image via Anton Vierietin.
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