Where to get images?

[areeve]

Having had my umpteenth client receive the Getty Images letter for images that we purchased/acquired from another party I was reflecting on one of the suggestions here and that's that 'we should just take all of our own images and not try to acquire them from online sources'. We've begun to use fotolia extensively, but now keep track of exactly where the image came from on their site. In any event, it's pretty clear that there are some... ok, many... images that I'm not going to be able to take a photo of for myself. If I need a picture of Stonehenge then I'm not going to be booking a flight just for a photo. That said it would seem that making us feel like we can't acquire images from other sources is EXACTLY what Getty Images would like. Wouldn't it be great for them if the $1 images from fotolia ceased to exist as a competive alternative?

I used to think these threat letters were just a cash grab and while I'm sure that's a big factor I now think there's also the goal of making people feel insecure unless they use officially licensed Getty Images images. I also think their third goal is to push the little guy out of business, but that may just be collateral damage.

- Alan

[Oscar Michelen]

There are other stock photo companies that you should look at when you need that exact image and have to buy it.  Just review the license and make sure you are permitted to use it on a commercial website and also check for how long you are permitted to use it.  Then keep a copy of the license on file should any issues come up. Many government websites have photos that are in the public domain and free to download as well.

Certainly Getty gains by this program as they have the largest warehouse of digital images and other companies in the business are owned by them like istockphoto and Jupiter images.  istock is probably the biggest beneficiary of this because they are the cheapest of the Getty-owned sites to my knowledge.