Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : web designers...

[nocturnix123]

Hi, Im a web designer, and ive been out of the business for awhile...can somone give me a site where I can find massive amounts of clipart/photos I can use in designing my sites? When you design sites where do you go to find filler images i.e. high quality pics of people/keyboards/mouses/people using keyboards etc. Would prefer if it were free, but as with most things the best comes at a cost.

thanks for your help.

[NetXL]

There have been a couple of threads recently asking this, use search

istockphoto.com
gettyimages.com

[Lain]

I really like the photos at eyewire.com. Very nice and comes in a variety of payment options by quality, or by photo disc.

[JayC]

Originally posted by Lain
I really like the photos at eyewire.com

I like eyewire's selections too, but corbis or accessstock have just as much to offer. Among others; but those are the ones I've used. Of course, when someone says "would prefer if it were free" they might be disappointed, since any of these are generally going to be $30 to $50 for individual low-res images.

Personally, I like the effect that has -- you don't see the pics on every site you visit. If you have the budget they're great, but if you're cutting corners putting even one image per page on, say, a 12-page site is a bit costly. But that's one more thing that differentiates a $100 site from a $1000+ site.

Anyway, as NetXL said this has been coming up a lot lately. Here are two current threads (right now here on the same index page):
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=41699
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=41248

And an older one:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=30697

[nocturnix123]

Thanks guys, guess i should have checked around before i posted that. HOLY CRAP, I had no idea stock photos were SOOO expensive. 29.95-175$ for a picture of the "A" key on a keyboard. A FREAKIN "A"! And dont tell me its some high quality professional picture, i could do that with my digital camera any day. So could a 3 year old kid!

http://www.comstock.com/web/orderpri...eNumber=KS6950

Is it just me or is that totaly insane? Looks like im changing proffesions to a professional stock photographer, 200$ for one pretty picture of a sunset? If these are actualy selling we're all in the wrong business.

So now im starting to wonder what everyone does for stock photos, the less succsessful web designer could never afford 200$ for one measley photo. Something tells me the prices of stock photos are a bit unbalanced. Of course im probably gonna get flamed from people saying you get what you pay for, but I still dont see how anyone could charge 200$ to use a single image.

Im confused somone please explain.

[NetXL]

Some people don't have the time or equipment.

And in some cases, the lighting in the picture is better than what you'd be able to get. I know that A picture might be a little stupid, but most aren't that plain.

[nocturnix123]

Regardless, somone seems to be making far more then they should be. I know Im definately taking a photography class next semester!

[bobcares]

We purchased a 49 CD pack...
I guess it is a good investment... Helps a lot later...

Have a great day

Regards
Amar

[21inchguns]

seriously though......go and purchase this product you wont regret it......they have a sample also..........


http://hemera.com/products/productpo.htm

quality is really good..................

[JayC]

Originally posted by nocturnix123
And dont tell me its some high quality professional picture, i could do that with my digital camera any day.

Well then... why not do so? Seriously, while we do buy stock photos for sites, we also use original photography. Granted I have a few years of photographic experience but for the web that's really not that big a deal... if you know what you're doing with photoshop you can make anything acceptable, and most applications of these photos on the web are very small anyway, have coloration reduced or manipulated, etc... so flaws are easily hidden.

We have two sites in production right now... one is using a landscape photo I took in the Adirondacks, the other a shot of my girlfriend where we might have used one of those stock photos of an attractive smiling face instead. These were both taken with a 35mm SLR and scanned with a high-quality photoscanner but a digital camera certainly could do the job.

I don't know why more people don't do it.

[xelA]

If you guys could spend hundreds of dollars on a high quality, digital, royalty-free images on a disc, which one would it be?

Please name the company and the full name of the CD.

[nocturnix123]

21 inch guns, have you personaly purchased this product? What kind of quality are the images? Im thinking if theres 50,000 maybe the quality of the photos is kinda low. What size resolutions do they all come in? etc. Im gonna try the free trial thing...

Jayc - Id be taking pictures with my digital camera right now but I lost my cable to transfer the images...just got back into web design, so I better purchase another one...just havent got around to it yet. And I know what your saying, if you truly are a graphics designer the photo quality doesnt have to be that great to begin with. But some of the pics like of people etc. are better when theyre done professionaly.

So what Id like to know is, as a designer do YOU use a CD pack, or purchase photos individualy? And if you use a pack, can you give us the title of the pack, and maybe a sample if you have used an image from it in a site. That would be very helpful to some of us who dont have a clue where to find stock photography.