Selecting Good Stock Photography in the Age of Digital

The business of stock photography continues to evolve. When I first wrote this article I discussed how marketing and design professionals had to look through catalogs, pay for photo research and custom shoots and review transparencies on a light table. That now seems as far in the past as dial-up Internet.

The quality, quantity, affordability and accessibility of stock imagery have made it the resource of choice for many organizations.

The advantages of easy access to large archives of quality images are numerous. With new usability come new issues:

• Choice: From rights-managed to royalty free, the trend in stock photography now includes greater usage of user-generated-content sites like istockphoto as well as subscription services like Liquid Library and ShutterStock
• Price: While there are free resources, unless you are doing a school report, you may need something more exclusive. Also, many of the free images are only suitable 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 using a tool called lightboxes. People in different locations can simultaneously review ideas.
• Archiving: Some companies even keep a record of your buys letting you re-download whenever you need them.
• 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. A few dollars more for a larger file is usually worth the investment.
• Low-cost tradeoff: Pictures are now so affordable, everyone’s buying them – and from the same few places. That means your image could show up in your competitor’s brochure. Some projects call for more exclusive imagery. Consider Getty Images, Corbis or Punchstock for these projects.
• Image-enhancement: When you need something totally unique, such as your product in the shot, or something no one else will have, it may be better to hire a photographer rather than have your designer spend countless hours editing 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.
• Keeping it Legal. It is tempting to do a Google image search and grab pictures to use right off the page. For the most part, images on the web are the property of the owners. Unless it is for a personal or school project, seen only be a few and with a limited shelf-life, I wouldn’t recommend it.
• Fair Use. Flickr is a photography site where users upload their images for viewing. Some images the owners are willing to share under certain conditions. New guidelines have been developed to allow for use, protect the owner and offer guidance to potential users, review at www.creativecommons.org.
• Time: Despite the availability and speed of internet searches, finding just the right picture can take hours of searching. Plan ahead, and if using a design firm, discuss the type and style of images you want to cut down on time and possible charges for additional search time.

When you begin, search for "stock photography" rather than doing an image search in Google or another search engine. Having a list of go-to resources for quality images greatly improves your ability to market effectively.

As the President of Iris Creative Group Inc, Beth Brodovsky helps organizations and businesses use communication to build involved communities. You can reach Beth at 610-567-2799 or beth@iriscreative.com. Follow @bethbrodovsky on Twitter or connect at www.linkedin.com/in/bethbrodovsky.