Many people ask why they should buy stock photography when they can get it free. You should not be blinded by the savings you get with free photos. While they do not cut a single cent from your budget, they can be very limiting. Not to mention the damages you will endure when you get caught by the copyright police.
With stock photos, there are a number of benefits that you will certainly enjoy. These includes:
- Vast libraries. There are only a number of free photos available for commercial or editorial use in the Internet. This limits your choices, forcing you to settle on images that may not be relevant to your brand or story. On the other hand, you can buy stock photography with literally hundreds of millions of choices. Getty Images have over 200 million stock content. Adobe has 40 million. Shutterstock has over 80 million. While some of these images are similar, your choices are endless.
- Perpetual usage rights. When you buy stock photography, you can use it in any project for as long as you like. There are restrictions, but only a few. You can use it multiple times in both commercial and editorial purposes. Of course, you must adhere to the terms and conditions imposed by the stock photo agency you buy the images from.
- Legal rights. Unlike free photos, you can use stock images legally. When you buy stock photography, you are protecting yourself from future legal issues. For instance, a stock site or image owner accuses you of intellectual property theft. You can show your receipt of purchase or contract, indicating that you have the right to use the image.
- Great savings. It may not be as great as the savings you get from free photos, but it will pay off in the long run. Free photos have a high risk of copyright violations, which can be very damaging to your reputation and your bank account. So, a few bucks of savings can results to thousands of loss. When you buy stock photography, you can literally enjoy loads of savings without worrying about issues down the road.
- Edits and retouch. Free photos do not allow edits and retouches. When you buy stock photography, you can edit and retouch the images as you please to suit your creative needs, enhance your message and fit the theme or style of your brand.
When it comes to using images to your creative projects, nothing is more appropriate than buying stock photography. You get millions of choices, perpetual usage rights, great savings, and a lot of editing opportunities. These benefits are not available with free photos. That’s why we always recommend signing up to a stock site and downloading your images from them.
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