Royalty Free Images

[MM3]

Hi All,

My question is about royalty free images. We are a small web design company looking to move to the next level and pursue some larger projects, but we are on a limited budget like most small companies and would like to get the most for our money. That's why I'm looking for some more professional opinions.

Every web designer should have access to copyright free images that they can use for their clients without worry.

-Where is the best place to get royalty free image stocks?
-What do some of you use?
-Is there a free or inexpensive place to get images for designers just starting out or is a good idea to just invest in an image stock from the start?

Thanks and I look forward to your replies...
-Mike

[USALUG]

Check some of these out....... YMMV :)

http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
http://www.imageafter.com/
http://www.morguefile.com/
http://animeinn.com/gallery/index.shtml
http://badassmovieimages.com/
http://www.artrenewal.org/
http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
http://freestockphotos.com/
http://www.photo-gallery.dk/oversigt/default.htm#anchor508424
http://photoswest.org/
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/
http://free-stock-photos.com/
http://www.superiorpics.com/
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

[Reece]

nice links USALUG :)

If I may add..
Mike... Ask around locally...
You may find a photographer locally who has no website * shock* and will trade their stock images for the all or part site cost. *check the pics FIRST! to make sure you are getting what you need.*
Or find a young and or hungry artist to help out ~ graphics and photos. It is an investment you need to make at some point if you really want to compete.

As for me... I invested in a VERY GOOD digital cam... And tell clients I will take the pics for free to use on site. They love their own images used on site and feel they got a discount as another local designer might charge then 500 bucks or more to do same. It's my edge to compete locally; yes I realize may not work for you.
* I also get permission to reuse.. Kind of creating my own stock.
Logo, buttons, and other graphics I do my self. And I am currently developing a site for a local photographer who HAS no site. Cost? Use of his stock images cd...Which he sells for about 300 bucks a pop. It goes no where near covering the actual work, but for the use forever, to know I HAVE the images at my disposal.... well I think I lucked out.

PS. I would never have found him and made the deal without joining my Chamber of Commerce. Have you looked into the networking there/ or a similar association. Many local businesses will swap services....

[MM3]

Thank you for the list of great links USALUG!

Reece, taking your own is a very good idea and we had talked about it before since we too have a good digital camera, but we weren't sure how receptive clients would be. We like to use images of people -- smiling, business atmosphere, etc. in our designs and most people seem camera shy. The local biz idea is very good too, thanks for the reply.

Regards,
Mike

[WanderingZero]

http://sxc.hu/

Thousands upon thousands of stock photos, all are royalty-free for non commercial use, and a lot are royalty-free even for commercial use.

You do have to sign up, but they don't flood your inbox with ads, and it's free. There is a 100 images/day limit however...

[Derald]

As a graphic designer, I purchase royalty-free images from image banks like photodisc.com, and the cost of the image is a reasonable expense of the project.

If a couple of the images can be used from the same CD, I purchase the CD and charge a per image fee for each, which comes close to the total cost of the CD. The advantage of purchasing a CD is that you can use it for other projects and add it as an expense to that project.

You retain the rights of usage by purchasing the images or CD yourself. The stipulation with most image banks is that you cannot give a copy of the original unaltered image to someone else (your client). You are allowed to transfer the new altered artwork to the client.

Derald

[le_gber]

I personally use Corbis.com which is a great website with REALLY great pics. They provide royalty free pics and also CD's. They have a really powerful search facility as well.

Hops this helped

Leo

[clambam]

Royalty-free is one thing, free is something else entirely. I generally use www.gettyimages.com. They have an extensive collection of both copy-protected and royalty-free images. You can get 72 dpi royalty-free images for as little at $65.00.

Marc

[webstar]

Hi there,

I am also a small (home based) web design company,and I have recently hooked up with an awesome artist who does mostly "real" drawings and renderings, but also does computer graphics. She has more than reasonable prices (Canadian dollars as well!)and does great work. I am still working on her website:http://www.sandymckinnon.com. We work together on websites where clients want more than stock photography and clipart. She'll make original drawings to use for buttons (rollover buttons) and other pictures, and I scan them in and incorporate them into the website.
At the moment we are working together on this site (these's URLs are temporary for client preview purposes so in the future they may not exist anymore): http://www.webstardesigns.ca/sandi and another version with different drawingshttp://www.webstardesigns.ca/sandi/index2.htm. She's done all the drawings for the rollover buttons and the seashell at the lower right hand corner.

We work great together, and she's filled a gap that I had in my business.

[edrugs.com]

istockphoto.com
it's a cool concept. Let's photographers and designers get together. You can even submit a request for a specific image.

[firesidebks]

I live in the Ozarks and am working on a book of Ozark Wildflowers. I have a couple of photo albums of photos taken throughout the Ozarks, some flowers, some scenic, some fishing. I even have one with some cartoons and other artwork. You are welcome to use what you want for websites or layouts as long as you don't try to publish it in a book somewhere and sell it.
http://community.webshots.com/user/firesidebooks
I'd like to hear from you and see what you've done with it if you do use it, but that's not a reqirement...just a courtesy.

[cohwill]

Check out these two sites:

http://www.creatas.com

http://www.picturequest.com

[httpman]

Here are a few one that I use from time to time, and which are not listed in above posts :


Low cost, usefull to start

http://www.comstock.com/. High-end photos, once registered you can download as many images as required (free but watermarked), then build your project. Once the client is OK, just buy those he prefers. Photos are somewhat expensive, but very high-end.

http://www.crystalgraphics.com/powerpictures/main.asp Very low cost CD collections : 100 photos / CD, of which half are very good, for only 49$. Once you bought 1 CD, you can easily use it for 3 or 4 different websites. I have started my medium/large accounts businness with one of their CD, 2 years ago.

http://www.photostogo.com. A lot of great photos, 25 to 30$ each one, and a powerfull search engine. Here also you can download a free watermark version for your project, before buying.


http://www.stockphotographyonline.com. Nice photos, starting from 25$. Unique feature : you can get a free demo CD with 5000+ photographs, makes it faster to find your future photos...

More expensive, but the highest quality (maybe later ?)

http://www.fstopimages.com/index.php : Collections from artists. Very nice, very specific.

http://www.pixland.com/fr/framehome.asp Photos are expensive, CD collections are not (up to 100 photos for around 500$).

http://www.iconotec.com. A lot of high end collections, made in France (yeah, we also do great pictures here in France !). The site is in English.

http://www.image100.com/ An english site. They sell a collection of CDs called "difference". Take a look, it's great. once you are registered, you can have the watermarked photos for free.

[kjonmyway]

check out www.istockphoto.com

It is a community of photographers and graphic designers of varying skill levels who have agreed to post their work royalty free.

You may have to dig a bit to find what you are looking for, (they have over 50,000 images), but you have the advantage of buying individual images, rather than a cd filled with images that you may or may not use. The best part is that each image "costs" one credit, and you can buy 20 download credits for only $10.00!

I have used many images from this site with great results. Hope this helps.

[MM3]

A quick thanks to everyone who replied. We definately have quite a list of links now and a few extra ideas. Plus we made the featured Site Design topic of the day. Anyone else who has an opinion, feel free to post.

Thanks Again,
Mike

[ramox]

Another site
http://imageblowout.com 500+ FREE royalty free images