A Moment in Time
May, 2006
A single moment in time, if it's the right time, can evoke a whole range of our emotions. The old saying of a picture being worth 1000 words may even be an understatement. Photography plays an enormous role in our society, as it allows for our own method of time travel. A photo can say the same thing to many people, or it can say different things to each individual. That power of expression is what makes a photograph, the right photograph, an ideal way to share thoughts with the world.
It is also an incredible way to get people to make associations. Creating a visual memory with emotion attached is a sure way to keep your product or service at the top of the minds of your target audience.
Well that was easy. Now you know exactly how to make an impact with your audience. But wait! Where do you find that perfect photo?
We will look at three possibilities for putting that perfect photo into your marketing program. There are many sites on the web that offer "Royalty Free" photos, some of those same sites and others offer "Rights Managed" photos, or you can always hire a professional photographer to capture your perfect moment.
Let's start with "Royalty Free" photos. Royalty free images are those that can be purchased for a one time fee, and used in multiple projects. This option is the least expensive of the three, as the license to use it is non-exclusive. While there are many thousands of royalty free images available, there is always the possibility that someone else, possibly your competition, is using the same image in their marketing. If you find a photo that is just perfect for your industry, the chances are greater that someone else in your industry has also found that image. For this reason, the greatest strength of royalty free images is their use as "ingredients" for a creative designer to manipulate into an original photo illustration.
"Rights managed" photos are images you can license for a single use. The price is calculated based on that use. That means that if you are sending out a national campaign to three million people all over the country, you will pay more for the image than if you are sending out 5000 postcards to a very targeted audience in your immediate area. In some cases you can also purchase an exclusive license to ensure that others are not using the same image.
These first two categories both involve searching for that perfect image. Sometimes you need to perform the search yourself, or sometimes the agencies have a research department that will search for you. Either way, you are looking through a catalog of existing images to see what will fit your need best. This can be time consuming, and may not reveal the perfect image for your need.
That would be the time to call a professional photographer. The obvious benefits of using your own photographer are that you can have any photo you desire, created exactly as you envision, and you will have a photo that no one else has. The cost of a professional photographer will be more than either of the two previous options, but if your need is specific, it may be worth it, especially if your campaign will produce a greater return with that perfect image.
Royalty free stock photography is probably the most used source for images. This is largely due to the cost, and so there is a wider market for them. In such a wide market, there are many options, and therefore different levels of quality. There are many photo sites where you can get photos for free, sites where photos are a few dollars, and others where you may pay $300-$500 for a single image.
Many of the free sites are community sites where members can upload their own photos to share. One such site, stock.xchng, has over 200,000 photos online. Since this is a community driven site, the quality of the images will be hit or miss, and often only one size of an image is available. Another similar site, iStockphoto.com, uses a system where images cost $1-$40, depending on file size. The images are contributed by many photographers of varying skill level, but there is the advantage of having a variety of file sizes.
The professional image galleries, such as Getty Images, or Corbis, only have professional photos. The licensing costs are much greater, from about $80 to $500 per image. At these sites you will typically find many more images, in many more categories, all of which are of high quality and available in a range of file sizes. Both of these sites have royalty free and rights managed photos, as well as video and illustration files.
Lastly, there are professional sites that work on a subscription model, where time limited access to all images is available. Photos.com is such a site where and annual membership fee allows unlimited downloads of any of the images in their collection.
The options available are numerous when you need to find that perfect image for your web site or brochure, but the process is time consuming, and can lead to a difficult situation if you are not familiar with what others in your industry are doing. If you need that special image, contact us. We may just be able to create your perfect image in an original photo illustration, at a cost you can live with.
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