Comments on: Royalty Free Images – Subscription or Pay as you Go?

By: LaurenMarie - Creative Curio

LaurenMarie - Creative Curio — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:10:15 +0000

The other disappointing thing about the Getty subscription is that although it says “Print Resolution” images, they are only 4″ x 6″ at 300 ppi. Tiny! What if you only want to use a section of that image? Suddenly your 4×6 is 2×3! They should at least offer images at a size we can use with full page ads in magazines.

I’m starting to realize just how good Shutterstock is now. Perhaps the quality of their photography isn’t as high as others, but there is no BS about what you get and you can download very large files without any extra cost.

EvE, I checked out Glow but I didn’t see a subscription service option. Is there one?

By: EvE

EvE — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 17:16:47 +0000

It is definitely true about Getty site, things are alittle bit tricky, you kind of have to be a master to navigate through it. Like I said previously, sometimes, the big guys lose their personal touch and I get frustrated easily so I usually end up calling the 800 numbers. Service is very important. For the money, Glowimages is worth it.

By: Tara: Freelance Designer

Tara: Freelance Designer — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:25:53 +0000

HI Lauren,

Thanks for reporting back about Getty image’s subscription service, you would expect a lot better service when you are paying that sort of money. I would have thought Getty would realise they need to be a bit more competitively priced or offer a really good service. I hate stuff that’s hidden in small print.

By: LaurenMarie - Creative Curio

LaurenMarie - Creative Curio — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:51:10 +0000

Tara, I just thought I'd give my feedback about Getty Image's subscription services. I would say it's not worth it. The usability of the service is wretched. The experiences my coworkers and I are having is frustrating to say the least! The service is very, very tricky, almost deceptive. They hide the subscription stuff so deep in the site it's a miracle if you can find it! It's actually not even on the main gettyimages.com (so if you were looking at those RF images and thinking "Wow! I should sign up!" ha... think again), the subscription images are only on the legacy site: legacycreative.gettyimages.com. Then when you are searching (even if you access this page through your user profile where is says Click Here to Access Subscription Images), you must be sure to check the box that says Subscription Images Only; it's not enough to just check the Royalty Free box. The subscription images are even more limited than those! It's just been a completely horrible experience. None of the sales reps told us anything about this, they didn't even tell us how to use the service and for a day or two we were stumped at how to download things. And we just committed to a one year subscription for $2,000. Oops.

By: Rachel Goldstein

Rachel Goldstein — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 18:06:02 +0000

Great post – here is another list of free stock photography … http://allgraphicdesign.com/graphicsblog/2007/09/16/huge-list-of-free-stock-photos-on-the-net/

Thanks..Rachel

By: EvE

EvE — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:10:49 +0000

I think you all should know that Glowimages has worked out wonderfully for me in the past. I have been in the design business for a couple of years now and I stumbled upon them by accident. They are fast, super friendly and they have a huge library with an easy to navigate site. They are mainly royalty free and I like how it seems that everytime I go to the site, there are new images. Sometimes I like to get away from the corporate big guys and remember how it feels to not listen to a recording. Eh, that’s just me. Check em’ out
http://www.glowimages.com/

By: Links of Interest - CSS-Tricks

Links of Interest - CSS-Tricks — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:50:23 +0000

[...] has a post up over on the Graphic Design Blog about the different royalty free image subscription services. I weighed in on my experience using [...]

By: Graham :: Map Maker

Graham :: Map Maker — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:04:32 +0000

iStockphoto for me every time,

I did have a subscription with liquid library but there was a lot of dated and predictable ‘Tat’ in the library that boosted the number of images available. With the new pay as you go image libraries like iStockphoto you can buy some really useful images and if you contribute to the library either with images or illustrations you can earn a little money on the side as well.

The bigger libraries like Getty Images are great for news and sporting events but your client will need to agree to the cost of purchasing images beforehand.

By: Tara: Freelance Designer

Tara: Freelance Designer — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:40:23 +0000

Hi Lauren
Thanks for your input on this one. I had been holding off on posting this for a while as i was waiting for some onfo from another reader, but I guess they have been too busy. Next time I need some images I will take a look at Shutterstock to see if they would have what I needed.

Hi Justin, I think you are right you do get what you pay for, but saying that there are some good pics on the cheaper sites they are just mixed in with some not so good ones. Unfortunately if you need several pictures the priced of the likes of Getty and Corbis is too much for smaller clients.

By: Louisa Nicholson

Louisa Nicholson — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:35:51 +0000

Thanks for posting the abouttheimage link – VERY extensive breakdown of all the plans available.

I personally do pay-as-you-go but if I were still freelance I too would do a monthly subscription and download as many as I could! Thanks for the article!