Richard Reynolds Photography

Taking Photos For Life

iStock Photo Review: The Pros and Cons of iStock

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Choosing the right stock for you is a challenging task. You don’t want to spend hours searching through millions of photos only to realize that your budget does not fit to the pricing and plans. This iStock photo review is meant to save you from acquainting with the stock site until you are ready to make a purchase. Here are some pros and cons about iStock that you should know:

Pros

  • Content variety. You have millions of stock content to choose from. iStock covers all themes and styles that will surely fit your creative needs.
  • Exclusive content is the highlight of the stock site. It features photos that give your project a greater sense of uniqueness.
  • High quality. iStock offers multiple image resolution options, all in high quality. The photos will definitely boost the quality of your projects.
  • Simple pricing. iStock photos are available at no higher cost. There are only two price points – a la carte with credits and pricing by collection.
  • Simple licensing. Photos include a wide usage royalty-free license that allows you to use them multiple times, in any project for as long as you like.
  • User-friendly. The stock site includes curated categories so you can explore the library with ease. It also features an easy-to-use search engine to help you find what you are looking for with keywords.
  • Additional media types are also available in the stock site, including stock footage and audio files.

Despite these great advantages, iStock is not without a few disadvantages. Despite the following cons, the stock site is still a great option to purchase stock photos.

Cons

  • No subscriptions for videos. For photos, you can subscribe to a plan that meets your needs and budget. But, this is not applicable with videos. You need to buy clips a la carte.
  • Complicated buying process with credit system. You need to select a pack first and pay for it before you can use them to pay for photos and videos in a la carte.
  • Extended licenses are costly. Buying a separate license for every extended rights can be very expensive for high-visibility projects.

All stock media agencies have their own pros and cons. iStock have considerable benefits to overtake its very little disadvantages. If you are looking for affordable pricing, simple licensing and high quality photos, this is the option for you.

 

 

Downloading and Using Female Celebrity Images

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downloadThe case of female celebrity images being used without permission is not new. There have been victims of copyright in the past, and you certainly do not want to be one of them in the future. Downloading and using celebrity photos in the Internet must not be taken lightly. You cannot simple get them from Google and use them in any way you please, especially those with great commercial value. You have to get the right license and permission to use them.

Did you know that you can be sued for using the name or likeness of another? In most states, you can be sued for using female celebrity images without permission for an exploitative purpose. That’s what a lawyer has been pushing through with Google for the alleged nude photos of female celebrities. Also, you can get in trouble when you use their photos or names for commercial purposes, such as advertising and other promotional activities.

The Chang Case

Are you familiar with the case of Alison Chang? Her parents filed a lawsuit in 2007 against Virgin Mobile Australia for the company’s use of Alison’s image in a commercial setting. The said image was taken from Flickr’s Creative Common with Attribution license. From a copyright perspective, it gave the mobile company permission to use the image as long as it gives attribution to the photographer who took the photo.

Virgin Mobile used the image to promote its free text messaging and other mobile services without asking permission from Alison and her parents to use her image. The parents sued the company for misappropriation of her likeness and violation of her right of publicity. Although the case was subsequently dismissed, it should serve as a warning for those who plans to use female celebrity images to worry about copyright law, misappropriation, and right of publicity.

In conclusion, you should never use someone’s name or photo in promoting or advertising a website or blog without their permission. The same applies with creating merchandise you plan to sell to the public. If you want to write an article or blog about a female celebrity, you can browse through stock photo websites. They have photographs covered from social events, with license for editorial use. It is a good practice to obtain consent, especially if your purposes are promotional or commercial.

The Chang case and other copyright violations should serve as a lesson for you to purchase and download your female celebrity images from the right sources. If you want to avoid getting sued in the future, only use images with the right license and obtain consent from the right people. Keep in mind that the right to publicity is not to be taken lightly. It can bring you serious reputational and financial damages.

How To Turn Adobe Stock Photos Into Success

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adobe-stock-logo (1)Adobe Stock Photos is the newest player in the market trying to make a name for itself. At least, that’s what we see on the surface. By taking a look underneath the hood, we see a much bigger story.

Back in December 2014, Adobe paid $800 million in cash to Fotolia for their entire library. In other words, Adobe bought Fotolia. It took them six months to integrate Adobe Stock Photos into their Creative Cloud, but once they did, they made a splash in a tremendous way, rippling waves across the industry.

Adobe offers a lot of value – not just in their stock photo offering, but their entire Creative Cloud ensemble.

Take a Look at What You Get

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When you sign up for a new creative cloud account, Adobe offers 10 free downloads. That means that you can go into their library, pick out 10 photos of your choice, and download them. Each image comes with a royalty-free license that you can use for just about any creative or commercial project you have going on at the moment.

Adobe chose carefully when they chose to purchase Fotolia. They knew that they had an audience full of creative professionals. They knew their choice was either going to make them or break them. Well, time has passed and it’s clear now that they’ve made an excellent choice.

How to Save Time Editing Your Photos

When Adobe created their Creative Cloud, they sent ripples through the industry. Instead of offering their most famous software title, Photoshop, for the usual price of about $1000, they decided to integrate it as a software-as-a-service. When that happened, Adobe was able to offer Photoshop for $20 a month – the price you will see it at today. The only thing that was missing was streamlined stock photo integration.

That’s where Adobe Stock came in. Previously, you had to either take your own photos or download an image from another stock agency and then import it into Photoshop to edit. With Adobe Stock, you don’t have to do that. Instead, you can browse the entire Adobe Stock library and download your choices directly into Photoshop without ever leaving the program. The whole process saves a lot of time.

Where the Real Discount Is

adobe stock prices

The real discount is found when you sign up for Adobe Stock Photos. When you do, you’ll notice that you can get 10 downloads per month for $49.99. However, when you pair that with Photoshop, you get a $20 discount – instantly. That makes the 10 photos $29.99 per month. Do you see what they did there? A $20 discount when you sign up for a $20 service fundamentally means that you get Photoshop free. Looking at it this way, Adobe put Photoshop directly within your grasp. It is affordable, streamlined and is the fastest way to turn Adobe Stock Photos into success.

Get your Shutterstock Coupon Code to Enjoy High Quality Royalty-free Images

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Shutterstock_ logoDo you require high quality royalty-free images in a regular basis? Do you need a one-time download for a project? Whatever your creative needs are, you will surely find Shutterstock as a sufficient creative file source. The website has over 60 million images, videos, vectors and music clips in its library, providing you with a wide range of options. Once you find the files you need for your project, you can download them instantly.

Shutterstock’s royalty-free images are available in simple and straightforward pricing. You can browse through the website’s entire collection easily with its user-friendly interface. It also features lightboxes, which let you organize your selections efficiently. The images are available in two kinds of licenses: Standard and Enhanced. Both licenses are available in monthly or annually pricing and plans.

Team Subscriptions versus Shutterstock Premier

Do you work in groups? Are you running a business with up to 10 persons? Good news! Shutterstock also offers subscription plans for small teams and enterprises. Team subscription is perfect for a group of ten users. It allows you to access and share one subscription simultaneously. With 1,050 images per month, you can download up to 35 images per day. You will surely have enough images for your creative projects.

Shutterstock Premier, on the other hand, is tailored to the needs of your business. It allows unlimited users to access its library of images, footage and offset. It is your business’ one-stop-shop for high-quality creative files. It allows you to unite your company for creativity to flourish. With simple pricing, broad usage and clear permissions, it includes everything your company needs to spark inspiration.

Get Free Content Every Week!

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Are you still not sure if Shutterstock is the image source for you? Let us help you decide! Aside from the amazing royalty-free images available for download at affordable prices, Shutterstock also offers its members free content every week. All you have to do is sign up to the website and agree to the website’s terms, privacy policy and licensing terms. You get to enjoy one free image and one free vector every week.

Is that all? No. Shutterstock offers coupon codes and discounts to give you more savings. That is not all. Many websites also offer Shutterstock coupon code. For instance, stockphotosecrets.com offers Shutterstock coupons that you can use to download the images you need. Unlike other websites that claim to offer these coupon codes, stockphotosecrets.com is affiliated with Shutterstock.

It is important that you find the right image source to fit your creative needs. It is also important that you find a trusted website to get your Shutterstock coupons from. Fortunately, you have found these two just by reading this article. With Shutterstock’s large library of stock images, you will surely find what you are looking for. And, with stockphotosecrets.com, you can be sure that you are getting an active Shutterstock coupon code.