Matthew Gates https://www.notetoservices.com 4m 949
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
In Search Of Stock Images
Whether you run a website, a blog, or interested in photography, stock images are a business in-demand by the Internet world. A stock image is any photo, in most cases, more professional looking than an amateur photo, that is used for the purpose of fulfilling a creative design, expressing an emotion or feeling, or portray scenery.
Most people use stock images to tell a story, use on websites, in presentations, or in their art projects for design. Stock images portray people, places, and things with a broad genres from animals, people, houses, locations, food, furniture, items, and many other objects. You may find stock images on Ebay.com, Amazon.com, or any other merchandise e-commerce website. Most of the articles on Confessions of the Professions are stock images, though they may not all be professional stock images.
Stock images come in many different formats, from amateur to a professional photo. Stock images may have been taken from a cellphone camera or a top notch high quality camera. Stock images may come in a natural environment or placed into a certain setting complete with lighting and possible photoshop. Stock images mostly serve to compliment their surroundings.
While a Google, Bing, or Yahoo contain their own image galleries, which people borrow from, there are many other websites that serve never-before-seen stock imagery, or stock images that require a license to use. Some stock images are free, while others are very expensive to buy. Oftentimes, when a stock image required payment, it is stamped with a watermark to prevent it from being stolen. Once purchased, however, an image may be used on the site, where it may be downloaded by anyone, and eventually it may lose its value.
This article explores both the free and paid stock photography websites.
panoramio.com does require registration, but is a website that shares user-submitted photos and panoramic views from around the world. Search the Google Maps for anywhere in the world that you would like to see and you will see photos taken by photographers and ordinary people from around the world who have uploaded gorgeous photos. The website holds contests and a forum. It is uncertain whether you can use these photos or not, but if you do use them or link to them in any way, it is courteous and proper to give the author credit for the image.
pixabay.com requires a registration and is a website that offers stunningly beautiful high-vector quality images. Not all images are free, as some are pulled from Shutterstock. Most, however, are completely free to download in a variety of sizes. You may message the authors of each photos, and while the website says you can use the images freely without paying attribution, it is still common courtesy to give credit to the author for the image.
photopin.com has no registration or ability to upload photos. However, these images are unique and are not likely to be found on Google, Bing, or Yahoo images. The website does run on sponsored photos, so the first dozen images you see are not free, however, the remaining are free to download in a variety of sizes. Photo attribution and license is required and the website does provide the code to implement on your website if you do use an image.
freeimages.com has optional registration and about a half a million images to choose from. Not all of these images can be downloaded and require registration, which is free, but you must purchase a membership to download the images without a watermark. These images may be unique and are categorized. With hundreds of thousands of images to choose from in over 25 categories, you are likely to find what you are looking for in a stock image.
gettyimages.com is probably the most widely known and widely used website full of images used by many media corporations and news outlets. These images are often high quality and cannot be found elsewhere on the Internet, even containing rare photos of celebrities and stock photography. These images are usually watermarked by the gettyimages signature and can be used as is. Registration is free, but in order to remove the watermarks, however, purchasing individual images is required.
unsplash.com is one of my personal favorite websites that is updated with new stock photography every 10 days. These images are of extreme high quality and cannot be found elsewhere on the Internet. There is no registration and images can be downloaded as is. While you can use these images free of charge, is it common courtesy to give credit where its due both to the author of the photograph and the unsplash.com website.
kaboompics.com offers free high-quality photos for business and personal projects, separated into the categories of abstract, city & architecture, fashion, food, landscapes, and other. Each page of photos offers about 10 photos per page with hundreds of pages. Simply click download and the photo is yours. No registration is necessary.
fancycrave.com offers hundreds of free high resolution photos with the ability to search for additional photos. No registration is necessary.
stockphotos.io is a community of people sharing their favorite high-resolution stock photos. No registration is necessary to download the photos, but in order to comment, like, or share photos, registration is necessary.
stocka.co offers high-quality gorgeous images for free, but has an extended section which requires registration and the purchase of images of all sizes including S, M, L, XL, and EL.
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