When you are looking to buy and use royalty-free stock photography, you must be sure to read and understand the licensing terms. There are various variations in the licenses and each stock agency has its own set of rules and regulations that you should read before purchasing. These terms should be clearly stated before buying a photo, and the use of a photo may not be allowed without permission from the original photographer.
While royalty-free images are the norm, some are not. For example, some may contain private property, people, or artwork. In such cases, you may need to obtain a property or model release from the photographer before using the photo. But, otherwise, these photos can be used for non-commercial projects. If you’re planning to use these images for a commercial project, be sure to sign a release.
Another option you can rely on is to either edit your own images or hire a portrait image editing service provider who can fulfill your requirements.
Here are some tips and sources for buying royalty-free stock photography
Depositphotos
Depositphotos is one of the largest stock content platforms features 230+ million royalty-free visual and audio files, including 70,000 free-to-download photos and videos, among which you can find free files. The platform has been on the market since 2009.
All files on Depositphotos are sold under a royalty-free license, which means you pay for a clip once, and use it numerous times for different purposes. To start downloading files, you can purchase subscriptions or on-demand plans.
In addition to a royalty-free license, Depositphotos offers an Extended license that allows you to sell your products using visuals downloaded from the platform. To quickly find needed images at depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html you can browse trendy collections and thematic categories carefully put together by Depositphotos content curators. Moreover, the advanced search filters, including search by image, location, color, or number of people allow you to find specific HD pictures in the library in a few clicks.
Unsplash
If you are looking for high-quality pictures for your website or social media posts, Unsplash is a great place to start. The website is updated with royalty-free stock photos ten times a day. CC0 licenses ensure that you can use the images for any purpose without worrying about your creative vision. These images are generally of high quality and the database is sorted nicely. You can browse through the hundreds of thousands of pictures to find the right one for your project.
Unsplash’s service allows photographers to upload photos that are curated by an editorial team. It’s become one of the largest suppliers of photography on the web and often appears on articles. The site’s move to no longer use Creative Commons Zero licensing for its photos has been controversial. Creative Commons Zero licenses allow the use of photos, but Unsplash’s license does not. You cannot use Unsplash photos on Wikipedia.
iStock
Many sites claim to offer royalty-free images, but the reality is that most of them have restrictions on commercial use and print runs. Even if a site advertises “exclusive” royalty-free images, those images are only available to the stock agency. Moreover, the license may only grant you rights for commercial use, not unlimited usage. As a result, it is important to check the terms and conditions carefully to avoid any legal trouble.
Getty Images
The licensing model for creative stock photography is changing, and Getty Images is going royalty-free. This is the more convenient licensing method for customers, but it’s also bad news for photographers. Here’s how it works:
For a one-time fee of $50, you can download extra small images. These are best for websites, but their resolution is just 0.2 MP, which is not high enough for most modern images. While Getty Images doesn’t offer subscriptions or bulk downloads, they do offer five or ten-image downloads, which reduces the price per image by 15 percent. If you’re using a lot of these images in your projects, you’ll likely want to purchase the Extended license.
When buying royalty-free images from Getty Images, you need to read the license terms carefully. Some content is not allowed to be used in commercial contexts. Some types of content are not allowed to be used commercially – such as editorial content. Editorial content is intended for descriptive use, such as news reporting, discussion of current events, and human interest topics. You also need to follow the restrictions placed on digital templates from Getty Images.
Reshot
When looking for royalty-free stock photos, Reshot is a good place to start. The website is constantly adding new pictures and icons, and you can use them in any way you see fit, whether you’re looking for a portrait of a famous figure or a shot of an enchanting sunset. All of the photos on Reshot are published under the Creative Commons Zero license, which means you can modify and reuse them without attribution. You can also find unique icons, illustrations, and images in various orientations. Despite its atypical approach to royalty-free stock photography, Reshot’s photography collection is not as comprehensive as that of other sites.
Reshot claims to have the largest collection of free stock photos, but it doesn’t stop there. The site also offers PSD mockups and vectors, as well as public domain content. As a bonus, if you sign up for the paid option, you’ll be donating to a worthy cause. The community behind Reshot has a mission. It gives emerging photographers a platform to showcase their work and share it with the world. As a result, their curated collections are vast and beautiful, and you can use them freely.
Shopify
If you’re a busy eCommerce shop owner, you can save money on high-quality stock images by using Burst by Shopify. This resource offers thousands of royalty-free photos that are perfect for commercial use. However, if you’re unsure about using Burst, you can check out its pros and cons. Find out how it works, and whether it’s worth it to use it for your business.
If you’re starting a Shopify store, you might not have a great idea where to find high-quality images to use. To make your shop look more professional, use compelling images. Images help break up the walls of text that can bog down a store page. And if you’re working on a budget, consider using royalty-free stock photography to decorate your pages. It’s an easy, cost-effective way to improve the visual appeal of your site.
Conclusion
The primary benefit of a royalty-free license is the freedom to use it however you choose. There is no expiry date, so you can reuse it as many times as you want. The only limitation is that you cannot use the same content for commercial purposes or in publicly available materials. And while you may use the images for free, any platform can also license the same content to other customers. For this reason, it is important to ensure that your content is royalty-free.
