It is so easy to find fantastic photos using the images search at Google and similar websites. Snagging photos or illustrations for your website from there, however, is like swiping jewelry off the counter at Cartier. Someone spent time finding, creating, or legitimately paying for the images on their website. It is not only rude but illegal to then pull them off for your site. “But stock photos are insanely expensive!” Not any more! I remember the days when I was first starting out and Getty had the monopoly on stock photos. We’d spend an average of $2,000 an advertisement. Those days are gone! Now the average photo or illustration can be acquired for $0-50.
Something to keep in mind is that no matter where you purchase a stock photo, odds are other people are using it. Taking the time to learn how to take good photos and going out and doing your own shoot is always preferable. With a large budget, hiring a photographer is the ideal. For those of us without thousands of dollars to throw around, a quick stock photo is a good way to go, especially in news items or other site updates that are ephemeral. I’ve included a few seasonal examples from each site.
It may have a strange url, but it is perfectly legitimate. When using the photos, keep in mind that they do not usually have model releases. That means if you use a photo with a person in it, be sure no faces are visible. The search function does not correct spelling, so be sure to say precisely what you’d like. I’ve messed this up several times! Look for photos with a white dot next to them, not grey. That means you can use them right away without asking permission, and do not need to give a credit back. Be sure to search using the dropdown “downloads descending” because it usually shows the best images. They have both stock photos and illustrations available, but not in vector. Did I mention they are all free?
iStock Photo – http://istockphoto.com
They have some truly beautiful and professional photos and illustrations available. All have been carefully juried for quality, so you know your money will not be wasted. The lower the resolution of the photo, the less expensive it is. Illustrations tend to be a bit more, but that is because they come with fully editable vector versions that can be recolored and manipulated if you have a program like Adobe’s Illustrator. Best of all, each photo with a person is required to include a model release—that means you can use any photo you like. Keep an eye on their free photo of the week, too. Some of them are quite good and you can snag a high resolution version for a print campaign as well that way. The prices are reasonable, averaging about $10-25 each. I usually use them for more important photos on a site, and accompanying ad campaigns, rather than just as one-off news items.
There are others, like Dreamstime, etc, but usually it is more trouble than it is worth using more than one site. They each have their own way of paying for the images, and when working with a site trying to track down what photo was from where gets complicated. Make life easier for yourself and pick one. Some even have memberships per month that are quite reasonable that give you access to thousands of images. That’s only a good choice if you use stock photos frequently.
