Hi, Portfolios all over the web are full of stock photos, like images of real people, servers, buildings, and even superb icons. My question is that do all those guys have full rights to these photos? Where do they buy them? I want to incorporate them in my design, and I am afraid of legal issues here. Right now, at this moment, I am browsing iStockphoto, and its awesome it has stock photos and icons etc. But every picture is not free. Will I have to buy every picture I need? ~ Thanks for your help.
If I can't take the image myself I usually use iStockphoto too, and yes, you'll have to purchase each image you use.
He means actually using his own camera to take pictures, which means HE is the owner of them. That makes perfect sense when practically possible.
I purchase images from iStockphoto, and have considered using their competitor BigStockPhoto. Also, some images on flickr are free for use. I am a photographer like mjda and could shoot the images I need, but time = money and stock photos at just over a dollar each (for web size) make it generally not worthwhile to take my own.
Indeed at this cost, and for Web use, it is probably not worth shooting the images yourself. Saves money and time. I love a lot of stuff in iStockPhoto and seriously considering to join.
Even if you don't plan on buying anything at this very moment, if you plan on buying at all in the future, you should consider joining now. There is a free photo every week. I usually download them all. You can never tell when you might need one. You can also download 1 free vector image a month. Again, get them all.
You can use them, but in the long run it'll be cheaper to get your own camera and snap your own pictures. At least that's what I do now, and it saves me a lotta money on stock photos. Another good idea, draw your own images and convert it into a clipart in Illustrator. That always comes in handy, for me...
iStockPhoto's good, I agree, I also have a paid membership with www.sxc.hu as well & find myself using them a little more. to each their own!
There are lots of cost free graphic sites out there. Quality won't be as good as the best on istock or similar paid for site but many are good quality. Most free graphic sites do expect link backs, donations etc. My site for free graphics is totally cost free for thousands of images except vectors so why not give my site or another free site a look. After all what have you got to lose except a few minutes of your time. My site is here if you are interested
i use istock if you upload your own work you get points to buy other peoples work. ive never had to buy any because my work on there gets so many buys.
Freerange Stock - no link back required, no credit required, none of that. High quality photos, totally free. (Many photos are the same photos found on paid microstock sites.) http://www.freerangestock.com