Stock images – love them or hate them, they are very often a must for any designer – whether for graphic design, web design or print design. The reason is simple – they can save a lot of time and money that would have otherwise been spent on hiring a photographer. Of course, hiring a photographer has its own advantages such as the fact that photos are unique and tailor-made for your specific needs.
However, if a client would like something quick, cost-effective and is not too fussy, stock photography can be a very useful resource in the designer’s arsenal. Moreover, the stock photography market today is a very aggressive one and this has contributed to raising the standard of the leading contenders. In fact, stock photos are nowadays subject to rigorous editing procedures and not everything gets accepted.
About Depositphotos
Today we will be speaking about one of the newer entrants in the stock photography market – Depositphotos. We are saying new because the company has only been around since 2009. Despite of this, as at today, the company has more than 16 million royalty-free stock photos, vector images and videos in its database.
One of the secrets to Depositphotos’ success is in its marketing strategy. The team behind the company has been very quick to respond to demands within the market. For example, one of the critiques we had heard was a certain sense of anonymity as to who is behind the company. A quick look at the website today shows support being offered in 15 languages, social media presence and also trust signatures from Norton, BBB and TRUSTe. All of this, apart from, of course, a great collection of high quality stock photos, vectors and videos.
What Depositphotos has to offer
1. High quality photos, vectors and videos: As we have said, the site currently has more than 16 million royalty-free stock photos with about 70,000 images added weekly by 246,000 photographers. The photo qualities range from 72 to 300dpi so they are good for the web and print, respectively.
2. Affordable and flexible plans: Depositphotos offer 3 different plans:
- Daily subscription plans – download a fixed number of photos and vector images every day up to the daily limit. Prices start from $69 for 5 images per day for 1 month ($0.46 per image)
- Monthly subscription plan – download photos and vector images of any size at any time up to a monthly limit. Prices start from $49 a month for 5 images per month ($9.80 per image)
- Pay as you go credits – download photos, vector image and videos of any size, at any time for up to 1 year. Prices start from $32 for 30 credits
3. Easy search interface: All of Depositphotos’ images, vectors and videos are categorised in one of the site’s 37 categories. However, since most users will search for photos by specific keywords, the site has a very intuitive search interface that yields very relative search results. In addition to this, it allows you to filter images by several parameters such as image orientation, colour, size and more.
4. Free Subscription: If you would not like to commit yourself to a subscription with Depositphotos, then you can subscribe for a free trial day period, whereby you would be able to download 5 images per day for 7 days. That is 35 free images without any obligation to subscribe.
5. Incentives for Contributors: Depositphotos currently pays between 44% and 52% royalties for each file that is sold via its pay-as-you go plan. Exclusive contributors get between 50% and 60% royalties. For its subscription plans, it pays between $0.30 and $0.35 for each image sold. If you are an exclusive contributor, then the price per image sold is between $0.31 and $0.40, always depending on the number of downloads.
Conclusion
Although Depositphotos is a relatively new company, it has much to offer and is worth considering. So far, it has not been involved in any major scandal which is, of course a good thing. There have been some complaints in the past but it seems that the company has addressed them well and there do not seem to be any recent issues.
The large and ever-growing repository of photos, vectors and videos is also a good indication that the company is doing well and investing in its growth. In addition to this, the fact that you can try their service without committing to buy is a clear message that the company is confident in its service. Overall, it seems that Depositphotos is here to stay and is definitely one of the contenders for the lucrative stock photography market.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are as provided by the company’s PR agency. Regardless, I only publish reviews of products or services that I believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Want to learn more?
Are you interested in the intersection between UX and UI Design? The online courses on UI Design Patterns for Successful Software and Design Thinking: The Beginner’s Guide can teach you skills you need. If you take a course, you will earn an industry-recognized course certificate to advance your career. On the other hand, if you want to brush up on the basics of UX and Usability, try the online course on User Experience (or another design topic). Good luck on your learning journey!
