i stockphoto.com

Michelle,

thanks a ton for your extensive explanation - I find it very helpful to those professionally involved in web design. Some time ago, when I started working in the field, I got totally messed up by the quite different restrictions every photo stock had. Step by step, I got deeper in what was forbidden and what not. Anyway, thanks for your post again and I am the second here, in the thread, waiting for your document on image rights, so please PM it to me, if you don't mind, of course.

Nathan

 

Hi Mark How do you handle this with a client? Do you let them view the stock photos before you purchase them and implement them into your design?

 

yeah.. how about your client? Sometimes they are like it or not?
Because i think it's seem strange if you use stockphoto without their permissions, right?

 

one of the best is Fotolia.com ( the largest collection of images )

 

It's pretty much the only one I use, I always forget to sort anything out to submit though, doh!

 

checkin the site now..hope they got tons of vector illustrator art..been in to that lately....great stuff on creativity web design..thanks

 

You download a comp image it will have a watermark though. thats why I use them ,they're not cowboys.
I'm not to sure about the 'free' stock photo place, seems dodgy. In the uk every photo/drawing has automatic copyright, I don't see how these people have a huge supply of copyright free stuff. And no-one else does :S Do they have proof its copyright free?

No

 

You just have to read the extended license agreement. If you plan on using them for templates of any sort, you will pay 90.00 per picture. Otherwise it's great!

 

I use iStockphoto on a nearly daily basis and find it great.

My only criticism is that they REALLY need to clamp down on the keywords photographers are selecting to describe their photos. If you search for a keyword you nearly always get tons of completely unrelated photos.

In contrast, the same search on, say, GettyImages gives you laser targetted results on your search.

My 2c.

 

Yeah, that is a problem: when you submit a photograph, they ask you to use a lot of keywords (its not really the fault of the submitters). I think 4 keywords is enough for a photograph.. not 10.

 

I think it is not quite as you say, 8everything. Many submitters know that when they submit images, and take advantage of that thing putting a lot of keywords so their images come up as often as possible to make you buy their photos. It's kinda like SEO for image microsites.

 

Of course that's what we do. However, for searchers its a pain.. so I think istock should minimize the amount of maximum keywords that can be used.

 

Yes, all sites like istock, fotolia and such, should do the same, for searchers sake and to give a fair change to every photo.

 

That's a good point. The website itself is slow enough, and to find the right photo can take time.

 

I switched from iStockPhoto to fotolia. I love the feature where you get to view more images of the model. Not all photos at fotolia are $1, but overall, they are cheaper than istockphoto's new pricing.

 

Great site. But some warning to use the "most downloaded" images if you still want to be unique

 

Spent hundreds of dollars already at istockphoto.com

They are great!