When to Use Stock Photos
If you are in need of images, it makes great sense to use quality stock photos, but even though stock images are more than affordable, people on the low end of the business spectrum are always looking for a bargain, and thanks to online image search engines, it’s easy to find an image that you can grab, regardless of pesky copyright laws! Copy, paste, done! You have the image you’re looking for and it and didn’t cost you a cent! The problem, however, is that it also didn’t earn the photographer any money or credit and, those pesky copyright laws DO exist. In other words, by downloading an image “free” from an image search instead of purchase a professional stock image, you’ve essentially stolen the image.
If you partake in such risky, unethical behavior, then cross your fingers you never get caught stealing the work from someone else, because people are caught every day. You may be forced to remove your e-book from Amazon. The account you had for selling artwork online may be closed and banned from future sales. Your website could be taken down. You can be fired from your job. Yes, no one ever goes to jail for stealing images, but the loss of business and respect can be difficult to overcome if you are caught.
That is where Dreamstime comes in. “When” to use a stock photo can cover a number of situations. Perhaps you’re a blogger trying to turn your hobby or expertise into an internet business or you’re a large corporation, stock photos can save you time and money. The cost to hire a photographer can be prohibitive. Even if the photo shoot was free it will take time for the photographer, models, and props to be scheduled and lined up. Then there is the post-processing time which causes more delays. Purchasing an online photo can be done in a matter of minutes if you’re able to find the perfect image quickly.
There are many internet sites where images are available for free and can be used legally without a fee. The problem with using these images is many of the contributors are wannabe photographers and will do almost anything just to say they are a “published artist.” Some websites encourage the users of the images to make a donation to the photographer. What happens is you have people grabbing images from here and everywhere and uploading them
into their accounts and it’s getting to a point where it’s impossible to verify if the image is truly usable or not.
Free images with people in them can be a legal issue. Just because the image was free doesn’t mean there is any documentation available to prove the people signed a model release. An online stock agency requires all images with people in them to have a signed model release on file. If an issue still does arise, the legal issues will be on the photographer and not you because you had purchased the image in good faith.
Cell phone cameras now come with very good camera capabilities so it’s possible for you to take you own pictures. But if you’re writing a travel blog it may not be feasible to jump on a jumbo jet so you can photograph the Eiffel Tower.
We talked about legal issues mostly do far, but there is another reason to use stock photos, and that’s to help sell your presentation. Billboards, brochures, television commercials, newspapers, junk mail, everyone uses images to present an opinion or sell a product or service.
Pictures get your attention.
When is the last time you visited a web page without pictures or images? A picture grabs your eye and instantly tells you what the text is all about. The text may be the means for how you make your money but it’s the picture that made the customer stop and look. “When” do you need to use a stock photo? You need one to pull those eyeballs away from everyone else and onto your presentation. You need one to avoid legal issues. And they save you time and money, unless you want to hire a photographer or fly to Paris.
Photo credits: Christian Horz, Sergii Kolesnyk.
