In the latest post of our occasional series,our Creative Suite expert trainer and designer  Gary shares his tips on sourcing visual content.

Over to you Gary.... Whenever we create visual communications material it invariably includes images or graphics of one form or another. It adds visual stimulus, as well as signposting what the audience can expect before they commit to the detail. The pursuit of finding a reliable source for images and graphics however can be both time consuming and costly. Over the last 20 years the methods by which designers and content creators source images have changed beyond recognition. In this post I will share with you my experiences, and help make the process of finding image content more cost effective and efficient.

History The use of photographs began in the 1880's as newspapers were for the first time able to reproduce photographs with the aid of employed photographers and letterpress. But this trend soon shifted to a freelance workforce, which saw the emergence of the first stock provider, H. Armstrong Roberts, www.robertstock.com, in the 1920's. For decades "outtakes" or seconds from commercial projects were offered as stock images as a dedicated service offering. It wasn't until the 1980's that the way in which photographers planned and shot images changed, and began shooting specifically for stock providers. Anticipating the needs of the end user such as advertisers and agencies by leaving empty space in their images for headers and strap lines that would be inserted later. However the cost of purchasing licences  for photographs was out of the reach of many organisations, and as a result the possibilities for creating compelling content were limited. During this period the major players in the stock industry were Getty,  and Corbis With the development of the internet by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, came  new and exciting possibilities for acquiring stock images. But it wasn't until almost ten years later that the industry began to see a radical shift in accessibility and cost, as smaller stock providers used the web as their sole means for distribution. Websites such as iStockphoto,   and Fotolia, encouraged both amateur and professional photographers to contribute their digital photographs, for which these independent artists were paid a commission every time their images were downloaded. As this trend evolved it later became known as Microstock, offering high quality images from as little as $1 . Microstock empowered content creators to browse literally millions of images from photographers around the world.

Today "Stock" these days not only includes possibilities for digital photographs, but vector graphics, HD QuickTime video and audio. Consumers can sign up for a monthly or annual subscription service, allowing them to download a defined quota or even unlimited amount of downloads, depending upon the package. Alternatively stock you can purchase credits that can be used to purchase content on a ad-hoc basis, which usually have a "shelf life" of at least 12 months. Many of the leading stock providers still command a large share of the market. These include istockphoto.com, Fotolia, Shutterstock, Corbis and Getty Images. In recent years many of the leading Microstock providers have started to offer exclusive, or premier quality ranges. These are usually high calibre independent contributors and studios. They are priced accordingly. For example iStockphoto.com offers its "premium" range, called "Vetta" which can cost in excess of £150.00 each.

Cutting Costs You don't have to spend a vast amount of money to acquire images, far from it. In fact there are numerous places on the net that you can find not just Royalty Free stock, but totally free stock. In fact many of the leading stock providers mentioned above offer free images on a daily or monthly basis. istockphoto.com has a dedicated archive page where you can download free photos, vector art, video and audio. The list changes each month, and is worth re-visiting as it sometimes includes products from the "Vetta" range. Fotolia offer a fresh batch of free images nearly every day from experience. The quality does vary somewhat, but you can still download very good quality images. Shutterstock also provides a smaller range of Royalty free images.

Free stock Beyond the large stock providers you will find some incredible resources offering good quality images that can also be used for commercial output. Re-public domain,  provide 20 categories of completely free images. Arspublik have a library of both photos and vintage illustrations on topics that range from medical, advertisements and people. If you want to search a broader range of content on the web try Creative Commons beta search engine, http://search.creativecommons.org. Ensure however that you check the usage rights for any image before you download and incorporate it into any body of work. Flickr is recognised the world over as a leading image and video hosting community. As such there are millions of images that are also licensed under Creative Commons. For further information on Creative Commons rights and usage visit creativecommons.org. If in the event you find content on the web that you want to incorporate into your publications or artwork, and it is protected under copyright, try contacting the owner, and in many cases you may only need to credit them, and avoid paying royalties, or risk breaking copyright law.

Public Domain BestPhotos, claim to provide millions of public domain images that you can download for free. Public domain images are completely free, copyright-free, and royalty-free. Public domain photos have fewer limitations than most stock photos, stock images, and stock photography. Because there is no copyright on these photos and images, you can use most of them for commercial purpose with few limitations. But that there may still be limitations based on publicity or privacy or trademark laws.

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