Hey guys,
I'd love to hear your general thoughts on when to use stock vs. shooting your own images for composites? I try to avoid stock like the plague, but on occasion I do have to bend and grab something that I don't have the ability to shoot myself due to time, location, cost. What about you guys? Do you use stock regularly? Are you making sure that you are following all the rules when you do use it? What are your thoughts?
Do you buy or shoot your own stock for backgrounds, textures, etc.?
For the past few months I've bought my images. And I have also shot my own in the past. There are so many ways to manipulate them that it will take a trained sharp eye to spot it as stock. And it speeds up my workflow and deliver final product on time.
Hi Angelo,please advice where you buy those images,i seem to be having no luck getting old steam train images and also those of military Apache or black hawk helicopters (?)
Shooting my own at 90% of time :)
I'm shooing my own unless the client requires usage of stock images they want.
I do both, sometimes the time it takes to shoot and crop an image doesn't outweigh cost and time of just spending the stock.
I haven't used any stock shots (but them I've only done very simple composites so far - putting a model in front of a different background).
I spent a day wandering around my local shopping centre and industrial estate on a Sunday when nobody was around, just shooting lots of different backdrops and surfaces.
I only use stock images for backgrounds and some effects... never for my main objects... When I have the chance I shoot my own BG.... But when using stock images for BG I never use one alone... I always integrate 4 to 10 different stock images to create a new BG... In my photos I use a lot of smoke or fog to create my ambient... I shoot my models in studio with real smoke, but also integrate some smoke stock images... is a mix... anything to sale the idea... but trying to be unique.
I think that one is not always able to shoot everything yourself. E.g. if you live inthe US, how do you get historic buildings from Europe or exocit beaches? I shoot backgrounds but I am but into people. The problem is also to get the right outfit, e.g. historic garb. Therefore I create my backgrounds and use free stock for people. Since it is often difficult to find stock of backgrounds that fit for composites, I also started to offer my backgrounds to other people.
I come from the Marketing and Advertising industry where the use of stock is standard practice for a lot of things. Like you pointed out, sometimes you don't have access to what you need. My use of stock depends upon what the project is for. If it's for a private commission then yes I use stock that is either pay for/royalty free or Creative Commons At by... I don't have a problem with using stock at all as long as you follow the stock providers rules of use. I think of stock as a paintbrush. All my tools are paintbrushes. camera, stock, makeup, props, backdrops, etc... think about it this way... would you look down on a clothing designer if he made clothing out of fabric he didn't weave himself? It's silly really. There are people who make a living providing stock. It's what it's created for. There is nothing wrong with using it. >However I would like to preface I only use stock IN my composites. I don't use pre made backgrounds or stock models. A lot of times you would be hard pressed to recognize the stock image after I use it. Once it's manipulated into the image it's seamless. This image right here is about 50/50. 4 of the images were mine and 4 where provided by stock photographers who gave me permission to use them. I always record what was used and who it belongs to in case there are ever any questions later. If I'm not sure if I can use the image for commercial use I message the stock photographer and ask them directly. Most of the time they will say yes and thank you for doing your diligence and asking first...
Hi I always shoot my own as I enter various competitions and all of the images must be your out.. However, I am enjoying composite imaging think of creating images not for competition.
I'm hoping to shoot my first major composite in a few weeks and will be picking up 1 stock image for it because we don't have the desert mountains here in Florida.
Whenever I have a preconceived idea, I always try to use a stock image, or if i can. At most of the time, I would try to go with my imagination from certain places to be more original throughout my creative process.