Image Source Review

Published 25/03/2013 by Jenni

As Joe and I work on so many websites and projects together, we’re always on the lookout for high-quality stock imagery – sites like Pinterest, apps like Instagram, and Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm all massively promote the use of amazing and creative photos, and the web has just seen an explosion of images in recent times. It’s definitely filtered down to websites, and we’ve found that clients are becoming increasingly picky when it comes to their online photos.

We quickly learned that you can’t cut corners when it comes to website imagery of any kind; there’s just no substititute for proper professional photos taken with high-end equipment and the best lighting, composition and post-processing. This is especially true as we tend to work with small businesses who want to use their website imagery for print purposes spanning everything from promotional booklets to magazine advertisements. They need high-quality, high-resolution photography that can easily be adapted to suit all their needs. At the end of the day, it’s essential for us (and them) to have a photo resource on hand that ticks every box.

This is where ImageSource.com comes in.

image-source

One of the most common problems we found with other royalty free image websites was that they seem to make life as difficult as possible for the average buyer. The information you need is hidden away or non-existent, there’s no easy way to search for different filetypes, the photo previews are tiny, the prices are hidden, usage rights aren’t shown….I could go on and on about how frustrating it is. Refreshingly, we found that Image Source told us absolutely everything we needed to know about an image straight on the website.

Simply navigate to a particular image, and all the details are listed underneath (prices are to the right hand side). A novelty!

image-source2

The biggest advantage for us is that because they sell RF images that are fully released in low volumes, you don’t end up seeing their photos everywhere – they remain pretty exclusive. This is ideal if you’re working with clients or publications that want to stand out. They have a huge range of people-based images, and they’re all very natural looking – an essential, if, like us, you don’t have a whole fleet of models and a photography studio on hand. All images are fully model and property released for better security and to give you more control. You can even find stock video footage to complement your royalty free photos for the complete package – what’s not to like?

Another important benefit is that Image Source doesn’t just focus on one particular market. They specialise in Asian, European and American content, so if you have customers that have a wider global audience or focus on a particular area (for example, if you’re working on a website for an Italian restaurant, they have some stunning pictures of Italy), then you can find exactly what you need.

ImageSource.com is our go-to place for royalty free photos now, and you should definitely pay them a visit if your priority is high-quality professionally directed and edited photos. Check ‘em out and let us know what you think!

Koalas

Published 14/03/2013 by Jenni

Koalas. They’re cute, furry, and incredibly lovable. What’s not to like?

I don’t know about you, but I actually didn’t really know much about koalas before I researched them in more depth. Marsupials not bears, native to Australia – that was about the extent of my knowledge! But after doing a little digging, I found out there’s actually a lot more to koalas than first meets the eye. For a start, they spend pretty much all their time resting or asleep (amazing). Possibly the best fact I found out was that koala fingerprints are incredibly similar to human fingerprints; in fact, sometimes you can’t even tell the difference using a microscope.

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t even realise koalas HAD fingerprints :( Is that weird? Since the wombat is the nearest living relative to a koala, you’d think they’d be more similar in that respect…no?

According to Wikipedia, koalas also have very unusually compressed/structured brains. In fact, proportionally speaking, they have the ‘smallest’ brain of any species on earth. I definitely would not have guessed that, but I can imagine it coming in useful in a pub quiz at some point.

As a big fan of all furry animals (rodents aside), I’m kind of sad that koalas have now been officially listed as ‘vulnerable’ by the Australian government. Of course, I can’t see them becoming fully extinct anytime soon, but it’s depressing that we’re not too far off the time where they won’t exist naturally in the wild. There are lots of good zoos out there, but it’s always horrible to see unhappy/bored animals, even if the zoo is doing the best job it can. However, there are plenty of sanctuaries with koalas in Australia, so it’s not all bad news. Hopefully the government will continue to keep an eye out for a species that’s so unique and special – the biggest problem seems to be declining fertility, so perhaps there are biologists looking into how we can help koalas and other animals in the same position.

Let’s keep the koala alive!

For more koala facts, check out http://www.aabbdd.co.uk. I’ll see you there!

And to kick off the discussion:

What do you think about koalas?
Does it annoy you when you hear the phrase ‘koala bears’?
Have you ever seen one in real life?

Let us know in the comments!