Purchasing Stock Images
Written by Joyce & Robert   

Why are good images essential to a great website?

What makes or breaks a website is its content (it's what people keep coming back for!), but in the same way its visual aspect is also vital to your website's first and subsequent impressions upon your visitors.

A balance between content and good design is the best approach to websites. A part of good design is to have quality images where they're used. Poor images can take the shine off a great design – which means you may not be getting the most out of your hard work.  A professional looking image is directly linked to a professional design.

What's the cost for high-resolution illustrations or photos?

Having an artist create a custom an illustration or having a renowned photographer take photos for your organisation can be expensive.  Having said that, there are many of photographers who specialise in this area and they can provide you a competitive quote.  If you have a site that focuses on something that is specific (eg, a personality or specific product) then this is a great option to add something to your website that looks great and presents well.

However, that's only if you require something very specific to your organisation.

If you're after illustrations or photography that fits a theme, but not specific to your organisation, you can consider something known as "Stock Photography".

What is Stock Photography?

Stock Photography is photography (though many sites that provide stock photography also have categories for illustrations as well) that is provided Royalty Free.

Licenses may differ slightly between different stock agencies, but in general the images that can be purchased are fine to be used in commercial websites as long as:
  • The illustrations/photography are not being re-sold (they may only be used for your own design).
  • You are aware that the copyright is retained by the photographer (some agencies request that the photographer and agency be acknowledged somewhere on the website).

Why Stock Photography?

In short:

  • It's cheap.
  • It's good.
  • It has amazing variety – and you can search using keywords.

Can you recommend any Stock Photography sites?

There are plenty of sites out there. You can "google up" thousands, but here is a shortlist of great sites that are reasonably priced.

ShutterStock

http://www.shutterstock.com

A unique feature of ShutterStock is that it operates on a subscription model. For a set fee per month, subscribers can download a large amount of images to use. There are also lower cost subscription methods that are great for using on your website such as 12 medium/small size images for $49 that can be used over the course of a year.

Although ShutterStock is expensive if you only require a few images, I'd highly recommend it if your organisation requires new images on a regular basis as the bang-for-buck is un-matched. ShutterStock's quality control is known to be some of the most rigid in the micro-stock industry.

YAY Micro

http://www.yaymicro.com

YAY Micro is a great choice when it comes to purchasing a few images. Many images can be purchased for as low as €1 and often are adequate for web usage.

Please keep in mind that some images may be too small for some purposes when buying (if in doubt, write us an email with the image you have in mind and we'll be able to tell you whether it is large enough).

Other Agencies

The following are some other reputable agencies, but ones we are less familiar with:

Any Tips for Choosing?

Ah… Now this is the hard part. Really, what it comes down to is to find images that you appreciate, or "click" with.  (no pun intended!)  Don't be afraid to have a cup of tea, sit down and flick through pages, try different keyword searches.  You will be amazed at what you can find!

Apart from ensuring the image is large enough resolution for your purposes (1024 x 768 pixels minimum) the rest is up to your sense of style. Always make sure to check the resolution of the image before you purchase. It will be displayed somewhere on the same page.

A parting tip is backgrounds.  All images are displayed as "boxes", but we can do clever things if you choose an image that has the same colour background as your site and if the background runs all the way around your selected image.  Ideally, we talk about "isolated" images – which means that the background is white, and can be "cut out" later and changed to the colour of your website. 

For example, below are three images:

office

This is your typical, run-of-the-mill photo. All the colours run to the edges and there's no hope of having the image in subtly blend in in any shape or form other than boxy. That's okay though, since that's how things have to be for some subjects.

The choice here is in whether you leave the image as it is, or if you decide to add a thin border. The correct choice? Whichever is more aesthetically pleasing on your website. There's no hard rules when it comes to design!
clock Although this is an isolated image, it is not "perfectly isolated". The image has a white background, but the object in the image is cut off at the edges of the image's "box". On a white website, it does seem a bit odd to the eye when something just "stops" as it does in cropped, isolated, images.
cherry
This is a perfectly isolated image. The image is "whole" and no part of it is cut off. Because of this, this image is the one that will have least trouble blending into any background or page it is placed in.