Finding inspiration can come in all forms and styles.
Maybe it is the new Jonsi CD that gives you inspiration, or the way the sunset appears on your drive home. Inspiration is key to developing and creating art. I am always searching for things to provide inspiration and ideas.
One place that always provides inspiration is the internet. Do a quick google search and you will find thousands of resources at your finger tips. Each ready for you to use for inspiration. The only problem with google is sifting through everything to find exactly what you are looking for.
Today, I have just the post for you.
One thing that I am always looking for is good royalty free images. When Google image search is not cutting what I am looking for (that was a joke) I tend to turn to other resources that I have found on the web.
Here are 5:
1. SXC.hu
Yes, that .hu is a real site and yes it is filled with tons of awesome images. Better known as the stock.xchng, this site provides designers a place to find royalty free images as well as free stock photos. That is right, they have a huge database of free stock photos to choose from.
2. Flickr’s Creative Commons
Not only does flickr provide you a place to upload your images and share them with the world, it also provides you a place to find images shared by individuals around the world. The Creative Commons group offers you the opportunity to search through all kinds of images that offer different license and permission. This is a great resource for blog images and thumbnails.
3. Freerange Stock Photography
Free Range Stock provides quality stock photos for commercial and non-commercial use.
4. Every Stock Photo
Everystockphoto.com is a license-specific photo search engine. What I like about everystockphoto is they do a lot of the work for you. They also have a forum and blog to help with all your needs and request.
5. Getty Images
I feel like everyone knows about Getty Images. But if you are one of the few that has never heard about Getty Images then I am glad I listed them as a resource. Getty is probably the best royalty free site out there. Providing thousands upon millions of images. Also they have a stock footage search as well.
These are 5 sites that I search every time when in need of stock images.
Is there any sites that you would add to this list?
Thinkstock.com has a nice library with the option to subscribe for a week for $99. They collect images from top stock photo agencies, so many of their images are top quality. If you’ll plan out what you want ahead of time, you can pick up 200 large size, high quality pictures for $99. That’s pretty hard to beat.
I also am a big fan of Veer.com, primarily for the web as their print resolution images can end up being quite expensive. Plus their comps aren’t watermarked which helps clients get a better feel for the image before purchasing it.
These are great Bill, thanks.
I will be sure to add them to the list.
I suggest CreativeMYK.com for freebies and Flickr: The Church Marketing Lab (beta) Pool for inspiration.
Ya, creativemyk is very nice.
I thought about putting it on the list. But great recommendation.
I also enjoy creativemyk another one is cyclo.ps its a great search engine for multiple stock photo sites!
Thanks for the new ones for my list!
No Problem
I’d never heard of CreativeMYK.com, that’s a cool place.
Yes it is , and it is cool to be able to have your stuff reviewed by others.
Thanks for this, Kyle! This is exactly what I’ve been needing. You rock.
No problem Grant, glad you enjoyed it
How about istockphoto.com?
been using istock for years.. their pricing keeps jumping around
Ya you would think I would include the stock photo site that is pretty much industry standard.
istockphoto is good.
I wrote a post about whether we should use stock images (or not) last December and some of these sites I concur with. See: http://churchtechmatters.com/2009/12/24/to-stock-or-not/ for the full low down.
The thing is – the only place we differ was Getty. I opted for morgue files instaed as a site that is truly free, unlike Getty which hides behind confusing layers I find.
You are right, Getty is not completely free. What I like to use Getty for is inspiration and ideas. But I will check out that post. Thanks