A picture is worth a thousand words and the Internet is increasingly visual in nature. And while you might feel that having completely original photos and illustrations is always the ideal, this is utterly unrealistic for the overwhelming majority of users on the web. You simply don’t have the time, resources or budget. You’re certainly not going to fly halfway around the globe for a single snapshot, especially if professional photographers can capture a far better image than you can anyway.
Providing a simple and straightforward approach to premium photos, illustrations and vector images is GLStock. If you’ve ever been overwhelmed or confused by other stock image repositories, you may finally be able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Every Size You Need
You need images for any number of possible reasons. As a blogger, you’ve likely recognized that a big body of plain text can be both overwhelming and completely boring for visitors to your site. Just the right image can add some much needed visual appeal. Maybe you need an image for a print campaign, like with a brochure or for print advertisements. The images at GLStock can fulfill all these needs.
Many users get confused and frustrated by other stock photography websites because the sellers price their images based on the size that you wish to download. What if you started out downloading a smaller version for web and then you need to use the same image for print later on? It feels foolish to buy the same image twice!
GLStock completely does away with that so you can “get the image you want, in every size you need, for one low price.” While the individual specifics will vary from image to image, you’ll find that most come in three sizes, ranging from about 700 x 466 pixels (at 72 dpi) on the small end, up to about 5,000 x 3,000 pixels (at 300 dpi) at the larger end. Regardless of the size you actually need, the price remains the same.
License Information
Another major point of confusion for a lot of people, especially if you’re not actively involved in the professional creative community, has to do with how images are licensed. It can be difficult wading through all the technical jargon and legal speak, only to realize that you can’t use an image for the purpose you intend. GLStock makes that easy too.
All of the photos, illustrations and vector images on the site are offered in two licenses. The standard license is what most people are going to use most of the time and it should cover you under most circumstances. You can use images with the standard license for everything from business cards to websites to animations, so long as you keep them in video productions of less than $10,000 and limit your physical print run to no more than 250,000 copies. While you can use these images on social media as well, you do need to include a copyright notice giving credit to the seller and website.
With the extended license, you retain unlimited digital use and are upgraded to unlimited use in both video and print/physical. The rest of the major restrictions remain the same, like you can’t redistribute or resell the image, you can’t use it as part of a logo, and you can’t feature a recognizable person in such a way as to suggest they endorse a business or product. That’s much clearer than most of the other licenses you see out there!
Searching the Catalog
The process for finding the premium image you need is as straightforward as using a standard search engine. Simply type in the keyword of interest and click the magnifying glass “search” button. Optionally, there is a pull-down menu so you can limit results to just photos or just vectors. There are literally millions of high-quality images on the site with thousands added daily, so you’re sure to find something great.
When you click on any individual image, you are then shown how many credits it takes to buy a standard of extended license. There’s also a second tab with image information, which will show the format and resolution, as well as a basic description and list of keywords. Below that is a series of similar images. It’s all very, very straightforward and completely uncluttered.
Standard license range from 1 to 30 credits per image, whereas extended licenses always sell for 75 credits.
Credit packages start as low as $25 for 25 credits ($1/credit) and go up to $800 for 1,000 credits ($0.80/credit). Naturally, the more credits you buy at a time, the greater your overall savings. Given the range in pricing, this means that the cost of a standard license for a single image will also range from 80 cents up to $30. Simply pay for what you need.
Signing up for an account gives you instant access. The welcome email you receive contains a promo code to receive a 10% bonus on your first deposit, in addition to any other bonuses already offered.
It Doesn’t Get Any Easier
After creating and logging into your account, you gain access to the straightforward dashboard. The three main sections here are your lightboxes, your recently viewed images, and your download history.
Below that, you’ll find your recent searches and a few featured GL collections. You can clear out your recent searches at any time. If you ever purchased any image with the standard license, you can upgrade to an extended license at any time. Simply navigate to your transactions through the dashboard, find the previously purchased image, and click the “upgrade” button.
The lightbox effectively functions as your own curated collection of images you are considering. You can create as many of these as you’d like. Once in the lightbox, hover over an image to bring up the option to zoom in or to compare up to three images at the same time.
Get the Images You Want
They didn’t have to re-invent the wheel here. They just wanted to make a wheel that’s more efficient, more cost-effective, and easier to understand. To that end, GLStock has done a tremendous job of providing a straightforward and accessible marketplace for royalty-free photos and illustrations. Who said navigating the world of stock imagery had to be confusing and expensive?