The Right Images - A simple guide to sourcing images for the web

Posted: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 4:25:13 PM EST by Stephen Hamilton

I often get asked by clients and prospects about sourcing the right images for use on their website. This is something I am naturally happy to help with. Depending on the client, I can help in different ways.

Sourcing Images for the Web

Usually, the responsibility of providing images suitable for use on a clients website lies with the client. But often times the client lacks high quality images or photographs, or at least enough of them to complete the job.

At this point I usually head to iStockPhoto.com to look for appropriate images that I can work with from a graphic design perspective.

When I find something suitable, there is then a choice to be made: I can either purchase the image and cover the costs in my expenses, or ideally, the client purchases them directly, and forwards copies to me for use on their website. The reason this second option is ideal is because:

• The client then owns the license, and may be able to use the image in other marketing material (such as a print catalogue)
• This is usually cheaper for the client
• I prefer it as it keeps my administration overheads low

I try to be flexible so I don't insist on doing it this way, but I genuinely believe it is a better result for the client and my business. In case you've never used iStockPhoto, it is a very simple process to create an account, and use either credit card or PayPal to puchase images.

Editing & Cropping Images

Another piece of advice I am often asked about is how to make simple changes (usually cropping or simple manipulation) to images or photographs. Although I often do this myself, some clients are more 'hands-on' and want to know how to do this.

For simple cropping and basic manipulation of photographs I'd recommend FastStone Image Viewer. It handles many file types, does cropping, resizing and a bunch of other things, and is a bucketload cheaper than the expensive software we use in-house (in fact, it's free!). It is also pretty easy to use. If you're looking for something a bit more advanced, but for the same great price, check out the Aviary online suite of tools. From the little I've played with it, it looks great! Of course, neither are as powerful as Photoshop, but both do the basics very well well. 

I hope this has been useful - if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments.

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Tags: photograph,cropping, images, photos, graphics, photograph, cropping, photoshop, istockphoto,