Stockphotos are a necessity for any graphic designer. Finding the right photo and the right service can be a tricky process. I recommend a few things to do when getting started.

  • Figure out a budget
  • decide what kind of pictures you need
  • give a sort of rank to the quality you need
  • set a size to what you need
  • figure out a total quantity to how many you need

Once these factors have been decided upon, it is really up to you how you want to proceed. I do have a few suggestions to help you along the way. If you are going to need alot of photos, I highly recommend choosing a stockphoto subscription. Stockphoto subscriptions give you a certain amount of daily credits or downloads. This gives you the flexibility to come back either, when you need to, or everyday. That way you always have a resource for stockphotos when you need them.

If… you only need one or two photos right now and probably not any in the future, you can buy one photo at a time. I will tell you upfront that the cost on these are going to be 2-10 times more than if you were on a subscription. This may save you money over a subscription price, but you will pay alot per photo.

There are many high end stockphoto sites out there. The two I recommend looking at first are:
www.shutterstock.com
www.istockphoto.com

Shutterstock is by far my favorite. It has probably the best overall subscription plan that I have found. For around 200-250 dollars a month you can download 25 of any size shape or kind of photo or graphic a day. Istockphoto has some good photos and decent prices if you are looking for only one or two at a time. They use a credit system. You have to buy credits and then use them in chunks to buy each photo. Credits are roughly a dollar or dollar and a half a credit depending on quantity.

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