Are there any stock photo companies in Manila?

How do stock photo companies work?

• I am just starting to put together a web site. I was looking at stock photo companies on the internet. How do they work? I would like to use a few of these pictures on my web site.Do ...show more

• Answer:

  Are you looking to USE stock photos on YOUR website? OR are you looking to Sell YOUR photos as stock photography? I am going to assume you are wanting images to USE. Its pretty easy! Browse some stock photo sites, and when you find an image you want to use, sign up for an account with the website. Once you are registered, you would purchase the image and then pay for it using a credit card. Then you will be brought to a download page! Thats typical of most stock photo web sites. The great thing about signing up (whether you plan on buying or not) is that with in your own personal account, you can create "lightboxes" - basically bookmarking or saving images you may want to use later on! Easy way to go back and reference them. You can usually download a watermarked version of an image to use as a mockup or to see if it would be a good match! Kind of like a try before you buy type thing! These sites offer some great and very usefull tools, and definitely worth exploring on the different stock sites (there are SO SO MANY OUT THERE!) A typical stock photosite I really enjoy using is called Getty One: http://www.gettyone.com (ranging from $45-$500 per image). You have 3 different licensing and usage options. For Lower cost options, microstock is a great way to go. While the images are professional, they are not AS professional as getty stock images, BUT they are more affordable. You'll more than likely find that microstock images will be more widely used out there in the design world - meaning the image will be seen in more projects...NOT that microstock in general is used MORE than a regular stock photo site...for professional high-end design studios, they use sites like Getty one more than microstock. So if you have an image you don't want anyone else to use, you would need to purchase an extra license so you can protect it and be the only one to use it. My fav. Microstock website is http://www.istockphoto.com and you can purchase royalty-free images from $1-$12 depending on what you want! I love this site because they offer vector illustration, motion video, sound, and photos all in one place. They also have a great user forum, and hold photoshop battles too! I usually buy credits and use them as needed for many of my design projects and clients. Good luck, have fun, it is easier than you think! its like buying anything else online really! *Just be sure to read the licensing before you buy an image to see what USAGE rights you have on it. You can usually find that on the website or around the page the image your interested in is on. Feel freeto email me w/ any further questions you may have *EDIT: Just a note, if your website is selling a service or product, or is professional in nature in ANY way, you should not just do an image search and use amature images. They are EASY to identify, and more than likely, the original photographer won't be that easy to get a hold of. With out their permission, you should not use their image. You would be surprised how many people get busted for using copyrighted images on the net. AND yes all stock image companies work differently. I'm under the assumption you are looking for a professional look, so use a professional stock site like getty or istockphoto. Web images for istock are usually 1 or 2 dollars!