OK, I'll admit that for what I do, if I can't take the photo myself (which I often do), I can usually find free images to use. But freebie photos won't work for a lot of situations -- clients may demand more exclusive use or simply have very specific illustration needs not found among all the great free resources. So where do you get those images? We've had no Reader's Choice nominations yet in our category for Best Source of Stock, Royalty-Free, or Rights-Controlled Images which is what prompted the title question. Is everyone waiting til the last minute (I know I'm getting notices for a bunch of new nominations as I write this) or has everyone stopped paying for images?
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This is a good topic. Being a photographer, I am finding out more and more over the last several years that fewer and fewer people are paying for photographs. I believe that this is in part due to the economy, photography made easy by camera companies, computers and folks just not wanting to pay.
Hello,
Have you ever consider going to camera clubs for your images? We have some of the best hobby shooters in the USA and around the globe. The club I belong to has been around for over 80 years and many people started shooting film.
We still have a few die-hards shooting BW and they won’t convert but that’s fine. The rest of us shoot with pretty good cameras mostly DSLR’s and Hi-end lenses.
We have a lot of professional people in our club: lawyers,teachers, professors and even a doctor that comes down a few times a season to judge our competitions. All in all we have a pretty solid group of shooters. Check us out: http://www.psri.us I think you’ll be impressed.
Thanks in advance.
Steven
I like http://www.sxc.hu/ for free photography. It is owned by iStockPhoto and provides photos retired from their usual website.
I use istockphoto and shutterstock for photos. I find out that I have neither the time or camera equipment to take the quality of photo that I require. I’ve spent years learning photography and Photoshop. The more I learn the more I appreciate the work of professional photographers. I will continue to buy their work.
More and more I am finding people expect photos to be free.
Newspapers and tv stations solitcate and use photos free, and this gives the impression that all photos should be free.
Usually I can take and use my own photos, but my clients feel this should be a freebie, that the set up and staging of photos does not take time, and well, anyway, a few keystrokes with photoshop and it is fine, so it should not be reflected in costs.
As a amateur photogrpaher for over 30 yrs turning pro (with the aid of a network of similar togs across the UK) it is becoming ever mor eprevalent that people and businesses do NOT want to pay for photography services. Having discussed this at a local Business Link workshop certain members were fined for over use of Royalty Free imagery. Were they to pay a professional, the fees may have been considered high initially but the total cost would be far less than the surcharges placed on the high reproduction use of the RF imagery ( notto mention the legal fees imposed).
The time element of producing an image may be little but it is the skill and time taken to create that image which needs to be recognised.
Consider this. If no-one pays for photography anymore then millions of people around the world will be out of work looking to take your job off you. We all need an income after all.
Phil
iStock is a great source for professional, cheap photos (not cheap vector art however). Also, I always check for public domain images. Every shot the government owns is yours to use (see NASA.gov for some great pics.