Cheap stock Photos-How to get those cheap Stock Photos you have ever wanted

It's unbelievable how expensive stock photos are these days. There are sites around the internet now where people are paying as much as $15 for a single photo - or even more! Are you aware that you can find thousands of quality, high-resolution, royalty free stock photos all for only $1 each? Why would you pay more?
Why Is Stock Photography So Expensive?

Remember back in the 90's when everyone used cheesy clip art? It was incredibly tacky, but it was free - so everybody used it. Stock photography was available, but used more by professionals, designers and people who saw value in spending money for images.
However, as people began to realize their clip art was less than appealing, stock photography started becoming mainstream.

More and more websites selling stock photos began springing up - some poor or average quality, but some very good. As the popularity of stock photography grew more and more - to the point where now, even the average person will purchase stock photography rather than using clip art - so did the prices. The sites falling into the "very good" category realized their value, and also realized that people would pay more for nicer stock images. As a result, prices have risen and risen over the past several years. Today, you can find stock photos for sale anywhere from a few dollars to $15+ per photo.

That's Just Crazy.

Paying that much for a digital picture is just crazy. And there's no excuse for quality royalty-free stock photos to ever cost more then a couple bucks. Luckily, there is still reasonably priced stock available on the internet - you just have to know where to look.
Collection of beautiful pictures:

Delicious Meal

Cocktail things

Friendship

Beauty

Adele's Life

Don't you want  to eat that?

Looks promising

Bad Guy

Royal Slippers

How To Get Unique and Affordable Stock Images

Stock images seem to be everywhere these days. Have you seen free stock images advertised or super low cost, but when you look at them they are so canned or staged that they make you shudder?
I have, I was looking for images for a web site that I wanted to stand out, the "free" ones either looked as if they were staged or ones you see everywhere.
I wanted something that would make the website I was designing look amazing but also unique, something that wasn't going to show up on a competitors website.

Yet everywhere I looked for those type of images they were too expensive for my budget, where could I find unique and affordable stock images?
Luckily, I am a professional photographer and so was able to take my own images, but for those of you who aren't photographers or don't have the time, where do you go.

To the internet...it can be a great resource if used properly, or a great time waster if not.
Look in your search engine for "unique images" or something very specific, such as "rusted old Bedford truck in Western Australia."

By being very specific you get rid of a lot of the generic images that everyone comes across.
If you have a particular job you are working on look for "stock Photographers" instead of stock images.
Also don't be afraid to contact the stock photographer directly and tell them you are looking for affordable images of...and see if they can help.

Never be afraid to ask!

Most photographers won't bite and if you do an email template you can just send it off & see what response you get. Most Stock photographers also have many images that are not on the web but are in their offline collection, so you tap a completely new market and the photographer is looking for the images for you thus saving you time & money!

When you find photographers that are affordable and unique keep a list of them for future reference and share them with you contacts.

Use social networking sites, especially Twitter. Ask other web designers if they have found unique images or good stock photographers and then check them out.
This will save you both time and money as well as giving you high quality, professional, unique and affordable stock images.
Good luck & happy hunting!

Fantastic photos example:

Digital Photography Secrets

A little knowledge and willingness to learn can turn you into a pro digital photographer in no time. Here are some useful tips for digital photography to get you started taking amazing shots.
To avoid shots that end up with a cool, clammy effect, ensure that you warm up your tones. When shooting a sunny landscape or an outdoor portrait, try changing your white balance setting to cloudy from the default auto. This will increase the yellows and reds in your image, thereby providing you with a warm, rich picture.

If you're looking to add some punch to your landscape and general outdoor photography, find a polarizing filter. The polarizing filter helps you to reduce glare and unwanted reflections so as to provide you with a richer shot with more saturated colors, especially when shooting the sky. For the best effect, position yourself such that the sun is either over your left or right shoulder. Avoid being at a 90 degree angle with the light source as this is when the polarizing effect becomes strongest.

In order to capture great outdoor portraits, you need to take control of your camera flash such that it goes on only when you want it to. Learning how to control the flash will enable you to sufficiently illuminate your subject and end up with a professional looking shot and great composition. Once you have gotten the hang of using your flash outdoors, you may have some fun experimenting. Try positioning your subject such that the sun illuminates their hair from the back or the side in what is referred to as rim lighting. Avoid standing too far away when using the fill flash while shooting outdoors. This is because most built-in camera flashes only have a maximum range of ten feet.

Macro photography tips make it easy to achieve good macro images with a digital camera. To do this, find the close up or macro mode icon on your camera and turn it on. Next, get as close as possible to the object. Hold the shutter button down halfway to allow your camera to focus. Once the confirmation light gives you the nod, press the shutter down the whole way to take the photograph. Because you have a very shallow depth of field, be sure to focus on the part of the object that's most attractive to you, while allowing the rest of the photo to go soft.

Example photos

Royalty Free Photos-Make More Money using Royalty free Photos

A picture is said to be worth a thousand words and can convey not only a multitude of messages but also a range of emotions.

By using a relevant and high quality image in your marketing articles, you capture not only the minds but also the hearts of your target audience. You get a lot of impact in just a small space. This is a worthwhile goal to achieve in any marketing effort.

Considering that people are generally visual creatures, you are better off showing them what you and your business or product can do for them rather than telling them the same thing. Images can give them a better view of your business; as we all know, first impressions last. You have to make that first impression count. You do that by making use of high quality photographs.

After you have created a favorable impression, you can easily convince people of the benefits that they can get from you. Making a good first impression, however, is just half the battle. You have to make that impression quick, too. If you do not, other marketers who are savvier might be able to get your customers first. Do not forget that you are not the only one hoping to grab a slice of your industry's market. To make a good first impression promptly, pictures are again better than mere words.

A long string of words and blocks of paragraphs are quite boring and not that interesting. A potential customer or client reading through such a boring marketing material might decide that it is not worth her time. She could then stop reading your material without giving you a chance to convey your marketing message properly. This holds even more certainly true in the case of on-line or web marketing where a visitor can easily leave by clicking a link or by doing a new search altogether.

Capturing the interest of potential customers off-line is important, but capturing their interest when on-line is much more important.

Product and service differentiation are also easier and more effective with the aid of quality images. Company and product logos are created precisely because of this reason. In a small space and a short span of time, you can quickly tell your potential customers who you are, what you do and how you are different from the rest. There are many other businesses out there doing the same things that you do. You must be able to stand out from the competition and tell your potential customers that you are the best choice.

However, looking for quality photographs to include in your articles can be a bit difficult. You have to create your ow images or you might end up using another person's image and have copyright issues. Copyright issues are something you or your business does not need. So, what should you do if you do not have the time and skill to create your own photographs? It is simple. Just get stock royalty-free photos.

Royalty-free photos mean that you can buy the right from the copyright holder to use the image anytime, anywhere and any number of times. If an image is not royalty free, you purchase the right to use it just once. If you use a photo that is not royalty free in a different project, you have to pay an additional fee. Royalty-free images are definitely cost-effective.

By properly incorporating high quality pictures in your marketing campaign, you will be more successful. A successful marketing campaign would bring in more customers and increased revenues for your business. Because of that, using stock royalty-free photos are a cheap way to obtain increased revenues.

Get your stock royalty-free photos from iStockphoto.com. They are one of the pioneering sites to offer high quality stock images at very reasonable prices. Even with the multitude of sites offering the same services today, they still continue to be the best. You know that you are in good hands because their client list includes almost all of the Fortune 500 companies in the United States and the top corporate leaders in Canada.

What makes their content so great is the team of more than 160 artists who are working hard to insure the quality of incoming files. This group of highly trained professionals manually researches each file for quality, authenticity, possible copyright infringement, and categorization accuracy. They do most of the work for you so that you can focus on your marketing.

They, and other services like them, have a library of millions of images due to their numerous contributors from all over the

world. These contributors are all experienced professionals in the field of photography and design. A royalty-free picture can often be purchased for just a little over a dollar. All you have to do to gain access to this huge library of wonderful images--and open up a world of possibilities--is simply to register at their website. After that, find the images you want and make a simple purchase. Registration is quick and easy. Using stock images will allow you to be limited by your own imagination only.
Check these photos

How To Get Canvas Photo Prints

One of the latest ingenuities in photo printing today is rendering digital images on canvas. This turns the ordinary photos that you've taken into wonderful works of art, more worthy of framing and displaying on walls and desks compared to regular matte or glossy prints. Printing in canvas, though, will cost you a bit more than using the regular materials. But you can still get good quality canvas prints cheap if you take some practical steps in keeping your printing expenses to a minimum and get the best deals from suppliers.

First of all, you need to know that photos printed on traditional materials lose color after a decade or two. Photos on canvas can last about 5 times longer than the usual picture prints. So, in the long run, you'll get your money's worth with canvas.

If you're going to have your photos printed in a shop in a mall or somewhere, you need to bring your digital image file to the store. If you're ordering online, you just need to upload the file on the printing company's website or send it through e-mail. Whichever type of print shop you're going to, you need to make sure that each digital image you want printed is of high resolution. This will save you time and effort in driving to and from the shop or in uploading files repeatedly.

Checking the quality of image files you submit to the printing company will also spare you possible charges for extra services like retouching, resizing, and others. Be sure the photo doesn't have any red eyes and streaks and other specks. You might want to do any touch-up yourself as much as possible, instead of adding the adjustment cost to your total printing expenses. Another option is to go to a company that offers free touch-up services.

Ensuring the resolution and overall quality of each image file will eliminate the chance of you returning the prints and having them redone. This will ensure that you'll have quality prints that you'll use, without a dollar wasted.

To get the most out of printing photos on canvas, you need to check if the company you're ordering from is using ink and canvas that are archival grade. This is one of the major differences of printing on canvas from rendering on traditional photo paper.

Since, you'll most probably be displaying your canvas art, you need to frame it. Framing is generally expensive. But you can have the option of a "gallery wrap," which means the canvas will be stretched and have its ends wrapped around a wooden frame. This is cheaper than the other framing techniques and can even add uniqueness to your wall, which may be adorned with the usual framed décor.

These are some ideas on how you can get cheap canvas photo prints. Before you order or shell out money for your prints, call the supplier and confirm details, especially the ones mentioned above. Ask they have promotional offers, free delivery, and other special services you can get.
Check these photos

10 simple Tricks to make the most Your graphic design Courses

New to graphic design courses? There are some steps you can take to ensure that get the most benefit from your program as possible.

1. Attend class.

The graphic design courses at most business schools only run for a year or two, i.e., a very short amount of time, in which you need to acquire a lot of knowledge. Be sure that you attend your classes regularly so that you don't miss important information.

2. Ask questions.

Sure, you have a knack for graphic design, that's why you signed up for design training in the first place. But you are a beginner and, as such, have much to learn. Show some humility and ask questions when you are confused.

3. Organize your notes.

Don't wait for the night before the exam to prepare your notes! If you are finding this particularly challenging, ask for help. Some business schools offer counseling services for students. A counselor may be able to give you some tips on how to get the most out of the notes in your design training.

4. Eat well.

The cafeterias at many business schools include healthier options, such as salads. Remembering to eat your greens while you are in your graphic design courses may help you perform better.

5. Take an interest in your fellow students.

Who are the other people in your design courses? Students at business schools who take the time to build relationships with others in their program may have an easier time of it once out in the working world.

6. Get involved.

Do the students in your design program have a student website or e-letter? Volunteering to help out can increase your feeling of belonging to the program.

7. Say thank you.

If you appreciate the instruction of the teachers in your design courses, be sure to let them know.

8. Start your portfolio and update it regularly.

Assemble the best examples of your work from your graphic design courses into a professional portfolio. If you do it as you go along, it will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

9. Keep a regular schedule.

Go to bed around the same time each night. Wake up around the same time each morning - at least during the school week. A regular routine will help you be alert and receptive to your graphic design courses.

10. Lastly, have fun.

After all, you are in college. It's important to enjoy your graphic design training.

With a little care, you are sure to ace your design courses

Check out these photos: