Stock Photos / Images for Better Website Design

When we speak to our prospects / clients, quite some of them are not familiar with the stock photos. That’s why we post some information regards on website stock photos

Stock photos (stock photography) are professional photographs of common places, landmarks, nature, events or people that are bought and sold on a royalty-free basis and can be used and reused for commercial design purposes - By Vangie Beal

 

Why Stock Photos?

We need content, pictures and marketing strategies to develop a good website. A good picture add visually interesting and compelling content to your website. Buying stock photos can help in reducing / cut cost on hiring photographer. However, if you are very particular for every aspect of your website pictures, you need to get an outsourced photographer.

Reminder: When designing your company website, don’t use images for the sake of using images. It has to be compliment to website content and call to action. Some prefer to make editing to stock photos, adding some content and etc, do not over-complicate the modification process.

 

Where to Buy Stock Photos?

Here are my experiences on buying stock photos:

1. Shutterstock
This is the first website I heard and bought pictures for website development. Shutterstock are popular and have wider range of stock photos, however the pricing are higher to where I subscribed.
Packages:
– 25 images at USD229 – Download images within a year of purchase
– 10 images per month at USD49 (subscribe annually and get USD29)
Link > https://www.shutterstock.com/subscribe

2. Dollar Photo Club
I switched to this website as they are selling stock photo to members for USD1 per image. They require monthly subscription. However, it seems they were shutting down their websites on April 2016 after purchased by Adobe Stock (parent company Fotolia was also acquired). And I have to look for another option.

3. 123rf (Current)
As stated at their website, there is over 86 Million Stock Images, Vectors, Footage and Audio Clips At Stunningly Low Prices! Most of the time I will subscribe for 1 month at RM288 where I can download 5 pictures per day for 30 days. Cost per picture reduced to RM2 however, we need to make it a routine and plan schedule.

Advantages: Cheaper
Disadvantages: Time consuming, Waste (Not everyday we download), Not a Good Option for rush projects.

For projects require more pictures at shorter time, we will subscribe for the On Demand credits. Pictures are range from 1 credits to 5 credits, where cost per credit is RM4-5. Still cheaper compared to other platform.
Link > https://www.123rf.com/products/

Others & pricing

1.  IStock
   Link > http://www.istockphoto.com/my/plans-and-pricing
2. Dreamstime
   Link > https://www.dreamstime.com/credits