If you’ve picked up any of the Adobe CS3 applications, you may have noticed that they “come with” Adobe Stock Photos. I put that in quotes because to some extent Adobe treats this feature as a bigger selling point for CS3 than it really is. In fact, Adobe Stock Photos is available through Adobe Bridge (which comes with most CS2 and CS3 applications), much the way that the iTunes Store is available through the Apple iTunes application.

That said, Adobe Stock Photos is a pretty worthwhile feature to check out, as it allows for easy searching, management, and purchasing of royalty-free images. Just launch Bridge to get started.

Click on Adobe Stock Photos in the Favorites tab of Bridge and start searching for the perfect shot.

Lots of advanced search options help you sift your way through the 24 different image collections contained by Adobe Stock Photos. This includes images from popular services like Corbis and Getty and lots more. As a result, searching can be a slow process—be sure to use the Advanced Search feature set to narrow things down first. For example, if you know you only want photos (not illustrations), only want color photos, and don’t like photos from certain collections, check or uncheck the appropriate boxes before hitting Search.

When the images appear, double click to see more details including the all-important price. From here you can also download an unwatermarked comp to try out in your design. That’s right, unwatermarked, so you can see it in your design exactly as it would appear upon purchasing the appropriate license.

Double-click a thumbnail to see pricing and provider information.

When you’re ready to buy, the process is made easy, quite similar to buying a song in iTunes (though a lot more expensive). Speaking of cost, one possible drawback of Adobe Stock Photos is that most of the collections are of the medium to high-budget nature. If you’re on a super tight budget, you may still need to go with some of the many low-cost stock sites out there.

Another drawback is that, unlike when searching on certain individual stock image sites, there’s no rating system or popularity information. I find this type of info incredibly useful—it can help you narrow down photos to the very best, or veer away from ones that have gotten too popular.

But there are many plusses to Adobe’s stock system, particularly the high-quality selection of images, easy browsing within Bridge, and lots of advanced searching options. Here are some tips for using the images you get from Adobe Stock Photos, or any provider:

1) Get the highest resolution you may need. Just because you’re working on a low-res web project now doesn’t mean you won’t be asked to create a matching print brochure later.

2) Don’t expect to find the perfect shot. And even if you do, make some changes to it. Tons of designers have access to these very same photos, so be sure to work creatively on any image you download. Flip, crop, rotate, add to, or subtract from the image. Try some mashups of multiple stock images, or of your own photos or drawings plus a stock image. Check out the Adobe Stock Photos Mashup Gallery for inspiration.

3) Use comps until you’re 100% sure you’re ready to buy. A common mistake is to use a comp for awhile, then buy the stock image, then show the finished product to the client. If he doesn’t like the shot, you may be out some cash. Use comps until you’ve got approval and sign off to make the purchase.

Stock photos are widely used in design projects of all kinds, by amateurs and professionals alike. And while Adobe Stock Photos is certainly not the only place to find them, this easy to use service can save you a lot of time in your search for the perfect shot.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Design, Graphic Design, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.