Selecting Good Stock Photography in the Age of Digital

The business of stock photography has drastically changed over the last few years. Ten years ago, selecting photographs for your brochure or newsletter meant spending hours pouring over stock photography catalogs and ordering photo research to find the exact image. When the order came in a giant overnight package, designers would spread transparencies out on the light table, squinting through a magnifying loop to check every detail.

Enter the digital age.

High speed Internet connections. CD's. Searchable Archives. Royalty-free stock. These elements have changed the face of communication design forever. The quality, quantity, affordability and accessibility of stock imagery have made it the resource of choice for many organizations.

The advantages of instantaneous access to searchable archives of good images are numerous.

• Speed :: We can never have enough of it. Search. Download. Import. It's remarkable.
• Choice :: Searching "stock photography" on Google delivers 1,470,000 results. You can find pretty much anything out there.
• Price :: While there are free resources, unless you are doing a school report, you may need something slightly more exclusive. Also, many of the free images are only good enough for online display and the selection is very limited. Royalty-free images are reasonably priced, you pay for only the size you'll use and images can be used as needed with no extra charges.
• Flexibility :: Image selections can be grouped, saved and emailed to others in the review cycle. People in different locations can simultaneously review ideas.
• Archiving :: Some companies even keep a record of your buys that you can re-download whenever you need them. To use this resource effectively, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
• Plan ahead :: Will you ever need the picture to be printed? The low cost of "low resolution" images can lure you into costly mistakes. Images need to be 300 dpi (dots per inch) at the size they will be printed.
• Low-cost tradeoff :: Pictures are now so affordable, everyone's buying them. That means your image could show up in your competitor's brochure. Some projects call for more exclusive imagery.
• Image-enhancement :: When you need something totally unique, such as your product in the shot, it may be more economical to hire a photographer than to have your designer spend countless hours in Photoshop trying to get it just right.
• Availability :: Good images still cost money. While many firms have images on file, don't expect your designer to have a database full of images right for your project.

When searching on the web, search for "stock photography" rather than doing an image search in Google or another search engine. Google returns all images from the web -- including those that are the property of others and not legally usable.

About The Author

Beth Brodovsky is the president and principal of Iris Creative Group, LLC. Brodovsky earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design from Pratt Institute, New York. Before launching her own firm in 1996, she spent eight years as a corporate Art Director and Graphic Designer, providing a sound foundation in management and organizational standards and structure. Iris Creative specializes in providing marketing and strategic communication services to clients in service industries and small businesses. For more information contact Beth at bsb@iriscreative.com or 610-567-2799.

---

Start a Photography Business from Home

Anyone with the right camera equipment, and the necessary skills... Read More

HP Digital Cameras - History and Beyond

HP has started making digital cameras only recently. However, the... Read More

Photography Courses Online

There are also some excellent online courses available and some... Read More

The Truth About Pixels, Part 2-1: Printing 4x3 Inch Photos

Why is a 3 megapixel camera better than a 1... Read More

Camcorder Techniques: How To Make Home Movies Your Family And Friends Will Be Excited To Watch

Pre-Production:It's all got to start somewhere, so before you even... Read More

Tips for Taking Better Vacation Photos

Photos are a great way to share your travel experiences... Read More

Infrared Photography and Big City Crime

One of the major problems of the larger cities of... Read More

Easy Tips for Digital Photo Touchups

Using a digital camera to take pictures is great. It's... Read More

Digital SLR Camera versus a Compact Digital Camera

Digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras are excellent cameras that... Read More

Let Those Digital Photos Out! (You Don?t Have To Print Them Yourself)

What have you done with the photos you've taken with... Read More

Light Meter Readings for Film and Digital

Reflected Light Readings for Film and Digital ImagesIn order to... Read More

Using Film Speed Effectively (Black & White Film Thoughts)

It's hard to find sometimes but it's making a resurgence,... Read More

Inspired Vision

A picture is worth a thousand words, so goes a... Read More

Canadas Digital Cameras, Digital Camcorders and Cheap Memory Cards Canada

Digital SLR Camera or Digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera is... Read More

How to take Great Photos of Your Pet

We all love our animals. They do such funny, adorable,... Read More

Removing Cracks and Creases when Restoring Old Photos ? 5 Minute Digital Fix

A common problem with old photos is that they often... Read More

Things You Should Know Before Buying A Digital Camera

In a traditional camera, the lens was king. If the... Read More

Crooked Horizons in Your Photos? ? Here is a Five Minute Digital Fix

Remember the good old photography days?Film camera in hand, you... Read More

Digital Camera Printers

The digital camera is not meant only for capturing images... Read More

Take Spectacular Nighttime Photos with your Digital Camera - Part I

Night photographs express a special something that cannot be seen... Read More

Passionate Organizing: How To Create A System To Organise Your Digital And Traditional Photos

Digital photography promises much. Store your photographs on your computer,... Read More

Basics of Photography

Understanding light is one of the very basic principles of... Read More

7 Things You Must Do If You Want To Make That Perfect Camera Shot

Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all... Read More

Digital Camera Batteries

Every device needs a driving force to operate, just as... Read More

Landscape Photography - Capture the Beauty That is All Around

There are many different types of photography. You can take... Read More