Are you looking for stock photos? We have found two sources that we use and share with our clients. Check out:
Dreamstine – https://www.dreamstime.com/
Pixabay – https://pixabay.com/
Remember to keep track of your user name and password for the stock photo accounts when you start your account.
Also whatever photos you download, create a folder on your computer and put the photos in that folder. With this approach you will know the source of your photos. If you purchased photos from that stock photography organization, then save the receipt in that same folder.
It is very important to honor the copyright of photographers and stock photo organizations. In addition keep a paper trail of the source of the photo. At some point, a photographer or a representative from a stock photo organization may contact you and request proof that you purchased a photo, as opposed to just downloaded it from the web (which people should not do because it is a potential violation of copyright).
A few more tips …
- Always read the Terms published on the stock photography website before you download so you understand the copyright and usage agreement associated with the photos you are using.
- Always download a larger size photo than you actually need for the project and always keep that original large version in case you need the photo in another size.
- When you are ready to use the photo in a web or print projects, rename the photo with descriptive name and include information such as the size and scale.
- For example we use a lot of images with the aspect ratio of 1 to 1 (basically that means the photo is a square). So for photos that are cropped to be a square, we might name the photo: senior_family_1.0.jpg. The “1.0” tells us at a glance that the photo is a square. By cropping the photo to a square with our photo enhancement software, we have artistically cropped the photo.
- We may even go one step further and include the size in the file name. For example if the photo is cropped to be a square, but is 400 pixels wide, then the name would be: senior_family_1.0_400w.jpg.
- If we have photos that are exceptionally wide and narrow such as those used in large website banners, then we label those with the word “slider”. Slider is a common word in WordPress. A sample photo name could be: slider_senior_group_2000w.jpg. This tells us that the photo is of a senior group, it is larger and wide format photo, and is 2000 pixels wide.
We mention all of this because we happen to believe that it is more efficient for WordPress websites, if you crop and scale photos before uploading them to the WordPress media center.