Suppose you're going to launch a website for a delicatessen. You could spruce up its Web presence and make it instantly appealing by buying a few mouth watering photographs of juicy olives, rich sun dried tomatoes and fresh ham sandwiches.
Or perhaps you could feature 1920s delicatessen poster art throughout the site? It's easy to dynamically search for images online, whether you want to use them on the Web in low-resolution form, or in a high quality printed brochure. There's no need to call up a picture agency and have someone rifle through transparencies in a back room these days.
Free images There are some wonderful artists' communities on the Web, and many of their members have donated their works for free use. Make sure you read the conditions of use before downloading, though.
We like the quality of the photos at Stock.xchng ( www.sxc.hu). The site administrators manually screen all contributions from photographers for relevancy and quality (no holiday snaps of strangers' kids here!). You can use them for almost any graphics project, so long as you contact the photo's copyright owner beforehand and don't use them for any purpose that encourages hate or discrimination.
Non commercial licences for the quality pictures available at Intuitivmedia (www.im-visions.com/pro/index.php).
MorgueFile (www.morguefile.com) is a splendid repository of quality images donated by talented photographers--and you don't even have to register to download the high resolution versions. The name comes from the term used by newspapers for past reference material--so no, you won't find what you'd think you might find here.
Meanwhile, amateur travel photographers' work can be found at www.bigfoto.com. The images here are of varying quality--if you want a picture of Sydney Opera House, say, you'll sometimes get a picture of someone's girlfriend in front of it.
Other cool places are the US-based public domain collections at National Image Library ( http://images.fws.gov), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) repository at ( www.photolib.noaa.gov). One of the most popular sites for free photos is Freefoto ( www.freefoto .com). You'll find more than 100 pictures from Freefoto on your cover disk, but they must be used for non commercial purposes only. The site's founder, Ian Britton, has taken the majority of the photos, and most of them have been taken in public places, for legal reasons.
"It's easier to make sure that we abide by the law by taking all the images ourselves," says Britton. He doesn't accept contributions from outsiders because it can be difficult for the site's small team to determine their origins.
For the same reason, the site doesn't feature photographs of recognisable people. Despite its name, Freefoto is a profitable business with many visitors paying to use photos commercially. The site gets a huge amount of traffic- one million unique visitors a month, each visiting an average of 10 pages.
Rights-managed images To use a rights-managed image, you'll have to pay a fee dependent on how and where the image is used and for how long you'll be using it. Generally, these prices are negotiable and depend on who you are. For example, a charity might get an image for next to nothing, but a multi-national corporation would pay a fortune to feature an image in their brochure. Your usage of the image will be limited according to your contract and you'll probably have to pay a fee for re-use. Paying a little extra for exclusivity will also offer protection against competitors using the same image in their projects.
The world's biggest image agency is Bill Gates' company Corbis (www.corbis.com). Type in anything from 'lip balm' to 'virus' and you'll get sent back a selection of spot-on image results. Illustrations are also indexed. The other major player, Getty Images ( www.gettyimages.com), also owns a huge number of specialist collections there's a step by step walkthrough on how to search for and price a Getty image overleaf. Although the one-off prices quoted by these agencies won't surprise major publications, to the small time Web designer they can seem a bit hefty. It's little wonder that stock photography is such a lucrative business for the agencies involved.
Royalty-free images If you're a busy Web designer, you'll probably prefer to purchase a royalty-free CD (either the physical item, or a virtual 'CD' held on an image library's servers). Not only is this cheaper, but paying a one off fee licences you to use each photo on your CD as many times as you like and for different purposes. You're unlikely to find many shoddy stock photography CD compilations these days, but not long ago you could expect them to contain tons of monochrome clipart and hundreds of bog-standard photos of boring old businessmen shaking hands, along with a few decent pictures you'd actually use. Now you'll get CDs filled with special textures, tasteful backgrounds, funky photographic angles, lavish illustrations, images of exotic locations enhanced with polarised light, and so on.
Prices vary considerably expect to pay as much as 600 [pounds sterling] (or more) for one CD. Places to purchase these treats include all the major stock agencies like Corbis, Getty Images, Alamy and Digital Vision (www .digitalvisiononline.co.uk).
Many sites offer virtual CD services (VCD), which are cheaper than ordering a physical disk and instantaneous, too. Once you've purchased a VCD you'll be able to access its contents online and search it by keyword. Just make sure you've got a broadband connection.
The traditional method You can get bargains and find free pictures by scouring the images indexed by Google ( http://images .google.com) and AltaVista (http:// images.altavista.com). Email the artist and tell them what you'd like to use their image(s) for. Non commercial usage will usually be looked upon favourably, as will a link back to the owner's home page.
BLUFFER'S GUIDE
Comp/comping image:
A low-resolution image for use in dummy layouts. Most of the preview images you'll encounter at online photo libraries will include an image for your 'comps'. Traditionally, comp images are used by design agencies when they mock up a site or pitch to clients for business. Images must not be used for any other purpose before they're purchased or you'll either get a big rap on the knuckles or a hefty fine.
Model release:
All those recognisable people featured in photographs you see illustrating constipation and impotence cures should have given their permission. Make sure the model release specifications correspond to your usage purposes.
Photo objects:
Photographs without backgrounds. Useful. Rights-managed Image: An image that you're only allowed to use in particular circumstances depending on the licence purchased.
Royalty-free:
You can purchase an image or series of images (on a CD, for example) for multiple usage. Prices depend on image resolution. The lower the resolution, the less you can do with the image--and therefore, the less money you'll pay.
Vector graphics:
Illustrations that are vector-based are small in size and entirely scalable. Because they're mathematically defined by points and curves, they're easy to manipulate. Enlarging or reducing the size of an image will not affect its quality, unlike a bitmap.
Watermark:
A translucent logo embedded into an image to identify ownership. In the image library world, this helps prevent unauthorised copying before purchase.
USEFUL SITES
Alamy
Alamy's website is a joy to browse, simply because it's unhindered by superfluous pop-up windows and Flash introductions. We love the keyword searching, swift results and comparatively inexpensive quotes. Registration gives you the right to access tow resolution, non-watermarked 'comp images' to use when mocking up website designs. images are provided by 1,410 photographers and 110 worldwide agencies. www.alamy.com
British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies
BAPLA is the UK trade association representing picture libraries. Specialist agencies and large multinational organisations are represented here you'll be able to search for agencies that meet your particular needs. www.bapla.org.uk Image Source European-based, CD or online. Topics range from food animals, health, passers-by and www.imagesource.com
Magnum Iconic documentary photographs from some of the world's greats include Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eliott Erwitt, Martin Parr and Steve McCurry. www.magnumpiwtos.com
Pictures Colour Library UK-based agency specialising in images faraway places, exotic cultures and sports www.picturescolourlibrary.co.uk
FAST FACT
Did you know Corbis was founded by Bill Gates in 1989 and is still controlled by
the man himself?. Although it's a private company, it may go public soon. Apart
from the usual stock photo fare, Corbis has acquired a number of important
historical photographs (its Bettmann Archive contains 11 million historical 20th
century images). It cares for its crumbling negatives in sub-zero temperatures,
and physical access is by appointment only. Only a handful have so far been
scanned and put online--most are still deep underground in Corbis' Pennsylvanian
film preservation facility. Read a report of one journalist's trip to the
'picture mine' here: www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0306/cpmine.html
WORDS KIM GILMOUR
Posted by kimgilmour at April 23, 2004 10:50 PM