How to Buy Photos Online

Buying photos online – the how-to guide

Why Buy Images Online? 05/25/10 Copyright Polylooks UK 2010 www.polylooks.co.uk Online content demands compelling images High-quality, eye-catching images are essential in today’s business world. People make their minds up very quickly so businesses need to illustrate their on- and offline content with compelling imagery to capture their audience’s attention. This is where microstock agencies such as Polylooks come in. We reduce the cost of high-quality, professional-grade photography through sourcing thousands of photos and illustrations from photographers and artists that comply to high standards of entry, helping you find the right images for your company’s materials. But before you start using images attained from the Internet, you need to know your copyrights and wrongs… Microstock sites contain photos, artwork and compositions, such as this one from Polylooks.co.uk

Buying photos online: What you can and can’t do 05/25/10 Copyright Polylooks UK 2010 www.polylooks.co.uk Copyrights and Copywrongs You can’t simply use images that you like online. Some celebrities, for example, will have image rights deals and the rights of many photos will belong to either an individual photographer or photographic agency. There’s a great deal of ignorance around this subject. In Polylooks’ survey of UK marketing professionals in December 2009, we found that 37 per cent were using photos illegally obtained from the Web. Furthermore, only 21 per cent could correctly identify what was meant by the term ‘royalty free’, while only 16.5 per cent knew what ‘rights managed’ means. These are common terms in microstocking. Let’s clarify what they mean: Royalty free This does not mean the image is ‘free’. Users must purchase the image once and then are able to use it in perpetuity with certain restrictions. Rights Managed The image vendor sells the right to use their image in certain defined ways, depending on the licence, which may stipulate where image can and cannot be used

Selecting images online 05/25/10 Copyright Polylooks UK 2010 www.polylooks.co.uk The art of selecting an image online that’s right for your company depends on a number of factors: Look and feel, what’s consistent with your brand, colour and emotion. Typically, microstock images are made up of portraits, group shots, compositions, illustrations and graphics, and landscape shots. Graphic/illustration Composition Portrait Group shot Landscape

Getting the right image 05/25/10 Copyright Polylooks UK 2010 www.polylooks.co.uk On microstock sites you can use word searches to find a wide choice of images. Below is an example of the Polylooks search dashboard, which enables users to narrow down their search by selecting colour coding, emotion they want to convey, region, type of image and even stipulate their favourite photographer.

Image Licence Types 05/25/10 Copyright Polylooks UK 2010 www.polylooks.co.uk
Licence to Thrill
Microstock agencies usually operate a credit system, whereby stock image purchasers buy ‘credits’ for a certain amount each. The price (in credits) of images depends on the file size and type of licence the customer wants. On Polylooks , for example, credits cost £1 each and images can cost between one to 50 credits, depending on resolution and usage. Polylooks offers the following licences:
With the standard licence, the customer has the right to use the licensed images for commercial purposes (e.g. advertising and marketing) and editorial purposes (e.g. magazines) irrespective of the circulation and without time restraints or geographical limitations. The images may be edited and used for montages
With the merchandise licence, images may be used for the production of merchandise (mouse pads, t-shirts, etc.) irrespective of quantity and without time constraints or geographic limitations

About Polylooks 05/25/10 Copyright Polylooks UK 2010 www.polylooks.co.uk About Polylooks Polylooks is the online photo agency owned by Deutsche Telekom , providing royalty free images for use in print and online media. Microstock buyers in the main are PR and ad agencies, publishers, bloggers, corporate communications departments and individuals. Polylooks’ customers benefit from a transparent licensing model and competitive pricing structures, and can also purchase licences to use images on merchandise. The platform allows both amateur and professional photographers and illustrators to showcase their images and sell them based on a fair fee structure. Polylooks has more than 500,000 images available to download. For more visit www.polylooks.co.uk Read the Polylooks blog Join our Facebook group Email: press@polylooks.com

How to Buy Photos Online

by Polylooks UK on May 25, 2010

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How to Buy Photos Online — Presentation Transcript