# Tell me about stock photography (costs) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-stock-photography-costs/559635 "2010-11-05T23:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Novalyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@Novalyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novalyne)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-stock-photography-costs/559635/1 "2010-11-05T23:04:39Z")
I’m a teacher, and a co-worker and I have created a classroom activity that is photo-rich. Apparently it’s generating a lot of interest in the district, and many people have suggested that we consider copyrighting it and developing it for sale. Right now, we’re just using a variety of images pulled from the web. If I use it just in my classroom, it falls under fair use. But if we decide to market it, we’d have to use photos that are not copyrighted. I’m trying to decide if it’s even worth it to pursue, because I assume there will be an upfront cost to purchase photos. Does anyone have any experience with using stock photography for commercial ventures? Right now it’s about 300 pictures - some generic stuff, like animals and landforms; some science stuff, like tools, and lots of “everyday stuff” such as pictures of paper clips, cereal, etc. It it going to break the bank to purchase all these pictures, or can it be done relatively cheaply? Any good stock photography sites? Or any other ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-stock-photography-costs/559635/2 "2010-11-05T23:20:59Z")
> **[Stock Images, Royalty-Free Pictures, Illustrations & Videos - iStock](https://www.istockphoto.com/)** > > Explore millions of exclusive photographs, videos and illustrations that are researched and shot by a diverse global community to be inclusive and inspirational. A “credit” is roughly equivalent to $1. Depending on the resolution you need, images will cost between $5-$20 each. Some sites are cheaper than that, some are more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-stock-photography-costs/559635/3 "2010-11-06T06:30:05Z")
These are my favorite stock photo sites: > **[Stock Photos & Images, Vectors, Video & Audio - Dreamstime](https://www.dreamstime.com/)** > > 218 Million stock photos, unlimited prints, lifetime, worldwide rights: ✓ Free photos for commercial use. ✓ Model-released, ✓ Safe to use ✓ Free trial. World\`s largest stock photo community. Join for free. > **[Crestock.com | Royalty-Free Stock Photos & Vector Illustrations](http://www.crestock.com/)** > > Crestock offers high quality royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vector images at low prices. Buy Pay & Go images from just $1 or save even more with an image subscription or a package of credits. > **[STOCKXPERT - Royalty free stock photography community](https://www.stockxpert.com/)** > > Looking for high quality stock photos? Want to sell your work? Go no further: Stockxpert is the place to buy and sell stock images! > **[Stock Images, Royalty-Free Pictures, Illustrations & Videos - iStock](https://www.istockphoto.com)** > > Explore millions of exclusive photographs, videos and illustrations that are researched and shot by a diverse global community to be inclusive and inspirational. > **[Free Stock Photos, Vectors, Cliparts, PSD & Icons | FreeImages](https://www.freeimages.com)** > > Free Images & Pictures. Free Photos, Clipart, Vectors, Icons, PSD & Graphic Design resources! ✓ Free & Royalty Free Images \[HD\] No Copyright ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-stock-photography-costs/559635/4 "2010-11-06T12:22:45Z")
Yes, I think you CAN do this for a reasonable cost if you go to the right source. There are basically two kinds of stock photography you can buy: 1. Rights-managed (aka licensed) whereby what you pay per image depends on what you’re using it for, how long, how big your print run is, how big you want to use the image etc etc. Do not use these kinds of images, the costs will be prohibitive. 2. Royalty Free, whereby once you’ve purchased the image, you can use it for whatever and however long you want to, within reason. This is what you want. Next, you should go to a single library to purchase all your images so you can get a better deal for buying in bulk. [www.istockphoto.com](http://www.istockphoto.com) is one, but I would recommend [www.shutterstock.com](http://www.shutterstock.com) as here you can by a one-month long subscription, which allows you to download up to 25 high resolution images per day, giving you up to 750 images in one month, for c$250. This is cheaper than istockphoto, which demands a 3 month minimum subscription. Just to note: if you are printing this, you need to buy High Resolution images (300dpi at the size you want to use them). Often the uninitiated make the mistake of using images which are lower resolution (such as those I imagine you have been using so far), which is fine for onscreen but not for professional print. ---
**Author:** ![Novalyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@Novalyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novalyne)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-stock-photography-costs/559635/5 "2010-11-06T20:50:32Z")
Thank you! SanVito, that was exactly the information I was looking for, but I wasn’t quite sure exactly what to ask about the different types of photos. Now off to check out those websites.