Cheap stock photos and images can be a great resource for digital scrapbookers. While you will find a wide selection of excellent websites that specialize in the sale of digital scrapbooking material, if you are looking for something specific or a little different, stock photos or images could be ideal. Digital scrapbookers who enjoy creating their own kits will also find this a useful source of images.
Finding Good Images
Many websites sell cheap stock photos with some of the larger sites offering hundreds of thousands of stock photos and images. The images are tagged with keywords that describe the image. When you are searching for images to use in digital scrapbooking projects it is important to use these keywords to narrow your search. Use terms such as 'scrapbook', 'backgrounds' or 'textures'. This will limit the number of images returned and help you to pinpoint the type of image you require.
Websites Selling Cheap Stock Photos
These are some of the most established and well known cheap stock photo agencies. These have well presented websites with a range of payment plans, making it easy to buy stock photos.
- Shutterstock – with over 13 million images, there are plenty of options available. Use good key-words and utilize the search options such as 'license type' to streamline your search.
- iStockphoto – this is one of the larger stock photo agencies, selling a wide range of photos and images. The site is easy to navigate and the helpful search tips will help beginners get started.
- Dreamstime – this site has over 100 thousand images. This includes many cheap stock photos as well as a collection of free images. The site is simple to search and there are a good selection of images that are suitable for digital scrapbooking projects.
- Flickr– while Flickr may not be known as a source of stock photography, photographers now have the option of licensing their images for creative or commercial use. Creative Commons licenses are used and images with Creative Commons (CC) licenses are clearly identifiable by the CC icon. This will also explain what license has been applied.
Tips for Finding Cheap Stock Photos for Digital Scrapbooking
Here are some tips to help you find great stock photos for use in digital scrapbooking projects:
- When you have found an image you like, try searching the contributors other photos and see if they have others in this style.
- Google Image Search is an excellent way to search for specific images. Search options include being able to narrow your search by color. This does not limit the search results to stock photos, however, so you may need to use 'stock photo' as part of your search term or be prepared for a bit of browsing.
- Free stock images are also a great resource. However check the license agreement first to ensure that the images can be used as you intend.
Cheap stock photos can be a great resource for digital scrapbookers and the wide range of options available means that there is likely to be the perfect image available for every occasion.
Kate Pullen - Kate Pullen is a freelance writer specializing in arts and crafts , and is an accomplished craftsperson. As well as being a designer / ...
