Is it worth it to sign up with a stock photography site? Do photos cost a lot?
Stock photography sites
(6 posts) (5 voices)
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Check out iStock, Stock Expert, and Stock Exchange (offers totally FREE photos). The photos are not that much. You purchase credits in order download photos. You can spend $5 and download a couple of photos. Stock Exchange offers FREE photos and the opportunity to purchase credits.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Also iStockPhoto.com has some freebies (photos, video, audio, and vector images) weekly if you have an account with them, so no credits to download are required.
I highly recommend using a stock photography site if you need photos for your website or blog - unless you have your own photos that you've taken and don't need to worry about copyrights or royalties. If you plan to use images that are not your own on items to sell then you need to purchase a special license to do that, but for general website use a royalty-free image from a stock photography site is fine.
I've tried many of them and my personal favorite is iStockPhoto.com.
Posted 2 years ago # -
WriterMom2
MemberShutterstock charges a monthly fee. Not sure about Getty Images; I think you can purchase credits. Whenever you find a site, make sure you read everything. You can purchase credits on Stock Exchange, Stock Expert, and iStockPhoto. If you ever meet any graphic designers, ask them about stock photography because they'll know which sites are best.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hey Carter - glad to see you chime in!
I do also check several of the "totally free" sites whenever I need a photo, and sometimes they will produce something good, and at least almost always something useable. And I ALWAYS take advantage of the photos that are offered for free (generally only for a very limited time) from sites like iStockPhoto and Fotolia, which I keep for some potential future use). But sometimes I have a vision in my head of what I want, and I just can't find it combing the free sites, or sometimes I just don't have time to do lots of searching.
Since the "pay for" sites are generally pretty reasonable (except Getty, which is generally expensive), I never hesitate to go ahead and purchase an image if I need to - which on iStockPhoto is usually only a couple of dollars for a royalty-free photo. If you need really large, high-res photos (rare since most use is for websites so only 72dpi is needed) then you really only pay a little bit more - $5 to $10 for a large version.
I wouldn't suggest a monthly fee site like Shutterstock unless you REALLY need a lot of photos monthly - gauge your own use and then you can decide for yourself if a site like that is a good deal for you.
Posted 2 years ago #
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