Content is crucial for brand development, but its production can be challenging, especially for small businesses and startups. They have to hire photographers, book photo studios, and take care of professional equipment, which can be a lot to handle.
Luckily, there’s an easier solution! You can use ready-made visual materials for your advertising and marketing needs. These images are called stock photos; you can find them on specialized stock photo websites.
In this article, you’ll find out how to buy stock photos. We’ll go through all essential steps, from stock image definition and benefits to main licensing options and top content platforms. Read on!
Understanding stock photos
Stock photos are pre-made images taken by professional photographers. Unlike pictures from accessible internet sources, these files are licensed for commercial, editorial, and personal use. You can buy photos from stock content websites and use them in your marketing materials, like social media posts, online ads, and blog posts. Stock photography covers a wide range of subjects, such as people, nature, landscape, technology, and business-related processes. This allows you to choose the best suitable visuals for your creative needs.
Benefits of stock images
Buying stock photography can be a good option for businesses and creators that can’t produce high-quality content. Here are some pros of such imagery:
- Cost-effectiveness. Content production may seem simple, but it involves additional expenses. In most cases, you need to establish an in-house team responsible for image production. This includes labor costs and equipment investments. With stock photos, you can easily avoid incremental expenses. The price for one image on stock content marketplaces can start from a few cents. Moreover, you can purchase a subscription to get files at more affordable prices.
- Time-saving. There is no need to arrange photo shoots, hire an experienced photographer, or search for appropriate locations. Just buy stock photos online and use them immediately after downloading.
- Legal compliance. Stock content marketplaces distribute all their files under specific licenses. For example, online media businesses may require content to illustrate news; they can download images under an editorial license. If you’re a commercial business, buying pictures under a royalty-free license allows you to promote your products or services without copyright risks.
- Wide content variety. On stock photo marketplaces, you can find images on any topic. In addition to single photos, you can also discover picture series that can seamlessly fit diverse marketing campaigns. The available content is not limited to photos—you can browse vectors, illustrations, icons, infographics, backgrounds, and other types of graphics.
- Professional quality. Since stock pictures are made by skillful creators, you don’t need to worry about technical issues like overexposure, excessive noise, or blur in photos. Moreover, platforms conduct contributor reviews to ensure their works meet the set requirements.
- Usage versatility. With appropriate licensing conditions, you can use stock pictures in various marketing efforts, e.g., website promotions, blog illustrations, social media covers, online advertisements, merchandise, and presentations. If a downloaded image is distributed under a royalty-free license, you can use it in multiple projects.
Common license types for stock photos
You can buy and use stock photographs to fulfill various business needs. That’s why there are several licensing options that accommodate different requirements. For example, some licenses might restrict the number of copies allowed, ensuring the image is not excessively distributed. Others may prohibit the use of stock photos in merchandise, like t-shirts or mugs. Understanding the specific terms of a license is essential to ensure compliance with usage rights.
Let’s look at available licenses in detail:
- Creative Commons—permits individuals worldwide to use copyrighted work for free in accordance with the specific terms. For example, there can be a NoDerivs (ND) attachment, meaning you can utilize a downloaded image in its original form without any adjustments. If a Creative Commons license has an NC attachment, using such content in commercial promotions is prohibited.
- Royalty-free—grants a licensee the right to purchase a particular picture once and use it in several commercial projects without paying additional fees. For example, you can use the same image on your website, social media posts, and Google ads banner. A royalty-free license can be Standard or Extended, differing in the scope of usage and permissions granted to the buyer. Standard license allows using images for various business purposes with some limitations on print copies. Extended license, in addition to Standard usage, allows using a picture in products for resale, such as merchandise and digital products. The terms may differ on each platform, so explore them carefully before buying visuals.
- Rights-managed—allows users to utilize downloaded images for a defined purpose and duration exclusively. The terms and conditions in this license are entirely customized. For example, you must specify photo placement, geographical region, industry, etc. Unlike a royalty-free license, rights-managed prohibits image usage in multiple projects.
- Editorial—authorizes using obtained content only for illustrative purposes; commercial application is prohibited. This license is suitable for news agencies and online media that want to provide a visual representation of the reported events. Images under an editorial license may highlight political meetings, military actions, or social patterns.
Who buys stock photos?
Various individuals and businesses purchase stock photos to fulfill their visual content needs. This includes marketers, advertisers, designers, bloggers, website owners, social media managers, publishers, filmmakers, and individuals creating presentations or personal projects. Design and marketing agencies can gain a significant advantage when buying pictures under a royalty-free license, as it implies incorporating the same images into various projects, saving both time and resources.
Where to buy stock photos
If you’re searching for high-quality images to buy, browse reputable stock content marketplaces. These platforms offer extensive libraries of appealing content licensed for diverse business purposes.
Here are three of the best sites to buy stock photos.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos is a leading stock content marketplace with contributors from 173 countries that deliver high-quality, unique, and affordable content for your commercial promotions. Currently, their library contains 191+ million stock photos that you can explore on the Depositphotos website.
You can also browse vectors, illustrations, backgrounds, patterns, infographics, icons, videos, music tracks, and sound effects.
The platform’s library is replenished daily, allowing you to find necessary visuals for any creative project. All files are sorted into thematic categories and trendy collections. For example, you can explore images of business, medicine, nature, landscape, etc. Depositphotos also offers curated seasonal collections, so you can easily find relevant and timely design materials that align with specific themes, holidays, or events throughout the year.
To quickly navigate the wide variety of content, Depositphotos provides an advanced filtering system. You can sort files based on orientation, location, season, number of people, color, and other useful parameters. Moreover, you can use the “Reverse Image Search” tool to find licensed files in the library that resemble your uploaded reference visual. To download unwatermarked premium images, create an account and purchase a budget-friendly subscription or on-demand plan.
Photocase
Photocase is a popular stock content marketplace primarily focused on images of humans. This platform offers a wide selection of photos that highlight each person’s diverse and individual nature, making it ideal for marketing campaigns that celebrate the uniqueness of individuals. While its specialization may be narrow, Photocase provides high-quality creatives covering specific topics, including conceptual ideas and worldwide events.
To find outstanding content for your business needs, explore the “Best In…” category, where the most sold and appreciated images are curated into collections. Photocase offers a convenient navigating system, allowing you to browse frequent searches and sort files based on your preferences. For example, you can explore exclusive picks, avoid images on sensitive topics like politics and religion, and even set specific locations. All visuals on Photocase are distributed under a royalty-free license.
EyeEm
EyeEm is a user-friendly stock content marketplace with thousands of visual materials that you can use in your commercial promotions thanks to royalty-free licensing. For your convenience, all pictures are sorted into specific collections like business, travel, teamwork, etc. You can also explore the platform’s extensive library using keywords and filters, setting up image quality, resolution, color, and style.
EyeEm provides a unique option to book a photoshoot, which is particularly beneficial for large and medium-sized companies without in-house creators. The platform boasts a worldwide network of photographers, videographers, and producers who are ready to fulfill your specific needs.
Tips on finding relevant stock photos for your project
Finding the right stock photos for your project can sometimes be challenging, given the vast array of visuals available on stock content marketplaces. However, following these five simple steps can help you discover the most relevant images for your needs:
- Use relevant and accurate keywords representing your desired image subject to narrow your search effectively.
- Refine your search with filters on picture quality and resolution to find visuals that meet your project’s requirements.
- Explore curated categories and collections based on themes and styles to discover high-quality photos.
- Download image previews before purchasing to ensure chosen pictures align with your vision.
- Read picture descriptions and licensing details, as they offer valuable insights into an image’s context and usage possibilities.
Conclusion
Stock images are valuable resources for businesses in need of high-quality visuals for marketing and promotional efforts. These pictures offer many benefits, including cost-effectiveness, time-saving convenience, and legal compliance. Explore photos on the stock content marketplaces mentioned in this article and find visuals that align with your creative goals.