During the month of April I tried out Fotolia, one of many popular royalty-free stock image services. Like its competitors, Fotolia offers an extensive library of high resolution photos and vector graphics.
Overall, I was very pleased with the selection and quality of images. I used many of these on posts here at Simple Scrapper, particularly the Celebrate Monday and Weekend Reading posts. It was rare that I wasn’t able to find a suitable image for a topic. My one complaint is that there are too many overly-posed marketing-type images vs. more natural yet professional images. Additionally, I found the site’s ease of use to be just fine – downloading files was very easy.
The per-image and block-of-credits pricing I found slightly less expensive than other sites and a power user might find Fotolia’s subscription plans quite a bit more affordable. Here’s why: Fotolia offers a flat number of images per day vs. a fixed quantity of allowed credits per day. This creates a bit more peace of mind, knowing you won’t need to keep a supply of top-up credits to let you download an extra special file.
Everyday Uses for Stock Images
While I have used Fotolia primary for blogging, there are many ways to use stock photos and vector graphics for those who love creative projects:
- Customize and order large canvas prints for your home
- Download vectors for creating stationery or invitations
- Create custom skins for laptops and smart phones
Have you ever used stock images?
Disclosure: I was provided a one month trial of Fotolia to test the service for this review.
Hello! I'm Jennifer Wilson, the owner of Simple Scrapper. I'm passionate about helping people feel less stressed about memory keeping. Are you new to the site? Let me help you get started. →
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Fotolia just let me know.. the first three people to email me (jennifer@simplescrapper.com) will receive a 14 day free trial to Fotolia, allowing 3 image downloads per day.
I would like to have the 14 day trial please. Thanks.
Hi Jennifer,
I was searching the web and saw you posted fotolia 14 day trial and I would like to try it out if you would send me the code please. Thank you in advance.
You have a great website
Thank you for this review! I recently used stock images for slides in a class I taught at a digital scrapbooking retreat, and then re-purposed some of those photos for a couple of blog posts. I’ll have to give Fotolia a try!
I use stock images for work. Many times I will need a series of shots and a lot of times stock images will have this. Thanks for the review I will definately check them out.