Anvil Graphics Blog

Time and again we are in the middle of a project and just don’t have quite the right photo. There are several options available to get a great picture to complete your project. 1) You can shoot it yourself. We all own digital cameras, how hard can it be? Unless you are a talented and knowledgeable advanced photographer, this is probably not a very good option. Poor lighting can ruin the best intentions, but so can blurry shots or bad exposure. Often times hobbyists do not provide images with sufficient resolution for high quality printing. 2) Swipe them from a web site. While this is fast and easy, most likely the image is copyrighted or coming from a copyrighted web site. The resolution of a typical web image is about 1/4 of that needed for a printed brochure or catalog. Also, web images tend to be cropped closely to the subject, making them difficult to compose. Web images are compressed and often contain artifacts from the compression, that means they might look okay on your monitor, but in print the quality is terrible. 3) Use stock photography. There are many web sites available today to provide every level of stock photography, some better than others. Many stock houses such as Getty, Corbis or Jupitor have been in the business for many years, but in the past the general public did not know of them. They have experienced staffs which can help find pictures based on a theme, concept, industry or metaphor. These companies used to deal almost exclusively with agencies and provided licensed images, but in the last 5 to 10 years have opened up their collections and began offering royalty-free photos.

A licensed photo is generally expensive. The stock house and photographer license the photo to the advertiser for a specific usage, specific period of time and a maximum number of impressions. The price would vary according to the stated usage, and the advertiser can not use the photo in any other ways. So for $500 you might license a photo for 2 years for an annual report cover and print 300 copies. For $1500 you might get the same photo, but own a lifetime exclusivity, but not additional prints. This arrangement is how photographers make a living, so it is not all bad. The reason advertisers pay for exclusive use is so that the image does not show up later in some other campaign beyond their control.

Royalty-free photos is what most people are familiar with. Royalty-free discs began to hit the market in the mid ’90s for everything from photos and icons to clip art. Royalty free is inexpensive, costing from $1.00 to about $100. The price is usually based on the size of the photo and whether it will be used only online or if it is large enough for print advertising. You do not have any exclusivity. For example, the photo on the right has been used by a spa in Fort Collins, a church in Greeley, and in a national computer magazine in a paid ad. I will bet you have seen this image as well. Royalty-free can not be used in items for resale where the image is a key component, such as playing cards or calendars.

4) Hire a professional photographer. If you were marrying off your only daughter and needed a photographer for the event, would you ask “Uncle Ted the Shutterbug”, or a professional wedding photographer? Duh. Professionals tend to have great general knowledge about photography, but many also find specialties within the field. So some are great shooting architecture or interiors, others people or food, some nature, and still others with macro subjects or sports. The professional can take an average situation or product and make it more dramatic and interesting. If the point of marketing is to improve sales of your product or service, than you want everything on your side. A professional photographer in your corner can make a huge difference. From a graphic designer viewpoint, when the photos are great, the job is already half done.