Stock Images

[FatalPriapism]

This is, but isn't, a web design thread. I was just curious how many stock images everyone keeps around for using with their designs...so...how many?

My collection currently is a humble 70,000...approx 45,000 high definition/resolution images and about 25,000 clipart images.

[Modulus]

Thats freaky allot i wonder where did you get that many?
I once had those CDs with thousands of images and ciparts, i remember a colleciton from corel that had tens of thousands of cliparts but i hardly found them usefull.

Currently i buy the stock images when needed at Shutterstock or Dreamstime.

[FatalPriapism]

CDs, programs, bulk purchases, etc

[Webzarus]

Actually none,

I had the CDs years ago ( have them in a cupboard somewhere now ), but spent more time looking for a specific image or clip art than was useful.

Bought a 14MP Camera a couple of years ago, stage and take any photos I need

Draw / create from scratch any clip art stuff I need.

I did ( or have shown clients ), some basics in staging and lighting for those that need product listings. Just not cost beneficial for me to spend hours taking photos when not necessary.

[TheGAME1264]

I have one CD that I bought in 2003 of them that I haven't used in the last several years. Other than that, I very rarely use them. Basically, my rule of thumb is "use stock photos only in situations where I can't otherwise take or have access to the right picture myself", and that's very rare.

I actually bought a photo for a site a few months ago for the first time since I bought the CD. So my collection is a lot less than yours.

[FatalPriapism]

Seeing how I'm not (and don't really have time) to do my own photography...and my from-scratch drawing skills well, suck...I prefer to have a nicely organized little library of images to go through and find what I need

[Vincewicks]

I have one HDD with pics sorted by categories. So, for me It's not difficult to store and find right image

[Alexander george]

I purchased a DVD once with over 3K stock photos and they were in all available sizes! that was some 2 years ago, and i still haven't checked out them all. Wonder how do you even managed to collect 70K. That is a BIG number.

[emmajones]

i am stocking images from past one year and did not make it 1000 yet. 70k is huge collection, just want to know how you make it to such a huge collection.

[Webzarus]

The thing I found out about those "cd packages"... Now probably on DVD ... Most of the "stock images", are pretty useless for "web" related stuff. I ended up passing mine on... Had 12000 stock images and 10000 clip art ( all vector images ), to a friend.

Most were a complete waste of time as I would spend way too much time "looking for a particular image", only finding myself heading out he door with the camera. Part of my process in planning out a project, is to determine what kind of images may be needed.

One of my clients is a heating and air company, they had some cheesy stock photos on their old site... Didn't want to reuse them... So I followed one of their techs to several different jobs sites, and in about an hour or two, we had enough images to redo the site properly and not have to purchase, or worry about copyright issues ...

One that is a resort... I spent about an hour walking around the property early in the morning during a low occupancy week... Since I'm east coast, and the property was on the ocean... Got some great natural light images... ( for something like that, you really can only use images that people will recognize when they visit ),

Using one a decent high resolution camera and a mono-pod, you'd probably amaze yourself... Just visualize the image in the view finder, as the image you would see on the page. And since you don't have to pay for developing... Take lots and lots of pictures... Different angles, different lighting angles, natural light is always best.

Forget about the Artsy Fartsy stuff... You can apply filters in photoshop later if you want to go that route.