Wise-Women List Archive File
Stock Photo Collections: Member Recommendations
Question:
I need to obtain some photo collections for a few clients who require
business generic images. Can anyone recommend any collections they have
utilized in the past or any ones to stay away from too? Thank you.
Hi
I've used images from Photodisc (photodisc.com)
and from Getty One images in the past (you can get there from Photodisc). I've been happy
with the stuff I've purchased from them.
I always look first at Eyewire has a great selection of professional calibre images, available by the single image download in varying resolutions or as CD collections. Photodisc is also a great company for stock images, available through Eyewire or the Photodisc site. Also check out Comstock and www.tonystone.com.
You might also check WebsiteTips.com's Graphics resources, where there's a
listing of stock photo sites, too:
http://www.websitetips.com/webgraphics/
Give Alamy (http://www.alamy.com/) a try. I like them because, unlike
Corbis and some others, they aren't a screw-the-photographer agency. They have a lot of high-quality images, both rights-protected and royalty-free. I'm about to send them a batch of stuff, though no business-generic.
Peter, if you are interested by inexpensive photos, here is a bunch of links:
http://istockphoto.com/
http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
http://www.freestockphotos.com/
http://www.desktoppub.about.com/compute/desktoppub/cs/freephotos/
http://patrick.verdier.free.fr/
Two questions you should think about first:
Do you want royalty-free images (can be reused and are resold by the
company), or rights protected (licensed for particular use - more
expensive).
What
IMHO, and I do think it is an unfortunate fact of life, but Getty One and
Corbis have pretty much bought up most of the stock libraries. The selection
is vast, and Corbis seems to focus more on the reproduction of historical,
news and art photos, and Getty on images that aren't as identifiable with
particular events, artists, etc.
http://www.gettyimages.com/
http://www.corbis.com/
Some others:
http://www.comstock.com/
http://www.imagestate.com/
(A disclaimer - Getty bought one of the stock photo companies that the
company I work for did business with for years. However, when I was involved
in buying stock photos for a magazine that didn't want its readers to know
they almost exclusively used stock, we primarily used companies that were
bought by Getty. And Bill Gates owns Corbis.)
Sadly, just about every stock company has the reputation of not being
particularly nice to the artists whose work they represent.
Thank you for the clarification. I would require royalty free for
this particular instance.
Thank you all for your excellent resources and tips in this matter.
Happy holidays!
Peter, you may want to take a look at www.rebelartist.com. This is a web
site where the photographers themselves can sell pictures. Any one (I think)
can set up an account to sell - so you have to think of quality. But the
prices are very low from what I've seen. You may find what you need there
and the artists are representing themselves :)
I missed your first email question so I'm not sure this would be relevant,
but I've heard really good things about Hemera Photo Objects. They are just
objects though vs scenes - I think! I've got it on my Christmas list ;)
Anyway, that might also be something for you to look into. The web site is
www.hemera.com.
Editor's Note: Here is an update with a few more resources:
Totally agree....love www.istockphoto.com It's addicting!
Prices vary based on size. Vector and Flash files also available between $2-$5.
Also have recently found www.canstockphoto.com It's very similar to istockphoto.com with $1 downloads.
www.stocktogo.com a little pricier...about $20/picture
Ditto - istock is definitely addictive and they offer a free download every week :) - that always keeps me going back.
you may also want to check out www.tastystock.com - the selection isn't huge, but there's some good stuff and *very* reasonably priced :)
And FYI, here's Wikipedia's public-domain image resource page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_image_resources
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