Cheap Stock Video Footage: The Lego Bricks of Film Makers

August 6, 2016 By Anthony Leave a Comment

Imagine how much time and money one needs to have the skills to become a successful video creator. Do you really want to take that away from your fellow creative? Cheap stock video footage, unlike conducting your own shoot, is much cheaper. It does not require much of your time either. You can just easily purchase and download it from your preferred stock media site. It is the best way for you to complete your video production without breaking the bank and stepping on another’s toes.

Cheap stock video footage represents a growing business opportunity of independent film makers. It is a cheaper and time-efficient alternative of content acquisition. You can use it in your production without shooting the elements yourself. You just have to spend the extra time into putting the pieces together, like Lego bricks. With just a few clicks, you can purchase and download video clips at no more than a couple hundred dollars for the highest resolution.

When it comes to stock content, copyright has always been a main concern. We are not against free videos in the Internet, but they usually do not come with the necessary license and release to save you when the copyright police come chasing your back. In addition, as an artist yourself, you want to get paid fairly for your work, right? The same applies with other creative professionals. They, too, deserve whatever they will get from spending time and money creating awesome footages.

Clients look for different things in the market, and cheap stock video footage presents a general idea that allows you to use them in multiple projects. Whether you are making a commercial about umbrellas or a video presentation of office work, you can just easily blend in a footage of a sunny or rainy day. There are multiple other projects you can use them with, as long as you know how to fit them into your project without looking unnatural. After all, you have adequate time for post-production.

Cheap stock video footage provides perfect balance between artistically good and financially successful projects. It is available in various resolutions from web to 4K, so you can easily find the perfect quality associated with your other videos. Moreover, it is available in various prices, depending on the resolution of the footage and the license that comes with them. Royalty-free comes allows you to use the footage multiple times.

Even if you do not have the skills and resources to produce your own video, you can still complete your project by using cheap stock video footage. You can fit different videos together to tell your story and convey a strong message without spending too much of your time and money.

Is Dollar Photo Club Too Good to Be True?

February 3, 2016 By Anthony Leave a Comment

dollar photo club sample images

Finding high-quality, legal images is a challenge for creative professionals. Given the increasing number of stock photo agencies in the market, it becomes more difficult to find one that suits your creative needs and budget. Some stock sites offer a wide collection, while others entice with lower price range. But, the Dollar Photo Club offers both. For only $1, you can download great images successfully, check out the new alternative of Dollar Photo Club here.

The Dollar Photo Club was launched by another stock photo agency, Fotolia. You can join its growing community by applying for a membership or getting an invite from an existing member. What makes the stock site stand out from its competitors is its value. For every photo, you only have to pay $1. You just have to pay for a monthly service at $10 – giving you 10 credits to download photos.

Is the 10 credit package not enough for your creative needs? You do not have to worry. You can purchase additional Dollar Photo Club photos for only $1 each per credit. This makes the stock photo agency more enticing than its other competitors. Its pricing is pretty much unparalleled; thus, it is turning many creative professional heads. But the most important question is: How is the quality of photos and selection?

The Dollar Photo Club boasts one of the most budget friendly image subscription plans in the market. But, it also prides itself of the quality of its image collection. Most of the images you will see in the DPC library can also be found in other stock photo agencies. The only difference is that you will be paying more for it elsewhere. The images in other stock agencies are usually larger and usually possess higher quality. But if you need the images for blogs, social media posts and websites only, the Dollar Photo Club is the best option for you.

Dollar Photo Club Coupon Code

The Dollar Photo Club already offers images for an all-time low $1 per photo, but that does not keep the stock photo agency from giving its users more savings. It partners with Stock Photo Secrets to provide further discounts. Keep in mind that there are a number of scam sites in the internet. They claim to offer Dollar Photo Club coupons. To make sure you are getting them from a reliable website, get the coupons from affiliate sites such as stockphotosecrets.com.

If you are a small business owner, blogger or designer, you will only need a few images per month. Dollar Photo Club offers the best value for your creative needs and budget. Its credits do not expire – meaning unused credits are rolled over to the next month. This is a very good feature as other stock sites’ credits go to waste. While the collection of photos may be a bit smaller, DPC is definitely worth checking out.

The History of Adobe’s Newest Offering: Adobe Stock

February 20, 2015 By Anthony Leave a Comment

Before Adobe Stock

adobe stock review

Adobe is famous for their line of digital media manipulation applications. Everyone knows who Adobe is. However, Adobe Stock is new (click here for review). Before Adobe Stock, Adobe was just like any other software company. They wrote software, packaged it and then sold it. That was just the way of things.

The Traditional Business Model

The traditional business model was much like any other before cloud computing. Their software often came in boxes that people would buy a computer stores. It usually came on a CD or a disc of some kind. You would pop it in your computer and run the setup program to install the application. Once the program was installed, you were free to use that version of the software without being charged a recurring fee according to the end-user license agreement.

The traditional business model worked for quite some time. Some software was more expensive than others – Photoshop was one of them. Photoshop could easily cost you an arm or leg – it was considered business software. While companies with deep pockets could easily afford it, home consumers were rather limited. Running in the realm of $1000 or more, Adobe Photoshop became an industry standard as a photo editing software. However, Adobe offered more than just Photoshop. They offered Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, Acrobat and more. Then cloud computing came and turned this business model upside down.

The Transition to a New Business Model

Once the cloud came, many companies switched over from this traditional business model to one more befitting of the cloud. In the case of Adobe, they now offer their Software as a Service – SaaS. In this business model, software companies are able to acquire many more customers because they can offer their software much cheaper. The difference is once you install the software on your computer, you must pay a monthly fee to use it. Not only does this protect against piracy, but it made the software much more affordable. Now, you can get access to the entire Photoshop application for around $20 per month. That’s not all. Adobe switched all of their applications over to the cloud – Adobe’s Creative Cloud.

Adobe’s Newest Offering

Adobe offered the Creative Cloud long before they started offering stock images. Adobe Stock appears to have popped up out of nowhere with over 40 million royalty-free images integrated perfectly into the Creative Cloud. Now, Adobe offers over 40 million files in raw material that you can access from directly within Photoshop – or any of their applications – without leaving the application. You don’t need to import photos anymore – it’s built-in.

The Fotolia Acquisition

Adobe can offer these images because they acquired Fotolia. On Dec. 11, 2014, Adobe released a press release announcing that they would purchase Fotolia for $800 million in cash. Who is Fotolia, and was this a good decision?

Fotolia Stock Photo Agency

Fotolia stock photo agency was a microstock agency based out of New York. By the end of 2008, they had amassed over 800,000 members of whom contributed over 4.2 million unique files and photos to their library. Fast forward six years later, they have well over 1 million members and a much larger photo library.

The Game Changer

When Adobe acquired Fotolia, it was a game-changing move. For six months, Adobe remained quiet as they were integrating Fotolia’s library into the Creative Cloud to create Adobe Stock. Adobe Stock made its debut in June 2015. Since then, the value of Adobe as a company has shot skyward as they were able to include everything Fotolia had to offer. Adobe was smart in their business decisions on how they handled Fotolia. They decided to let Fotolia remain as a separate business entity and function the way they did before. The only difference is when you go to their website now, you’ll see the little Adobe logo in the upper left corner of your screen.

What Fotolia Did for Adobe

Fotolia gave Adobe over 40 million images with which they created Adobe Stock. This includes graphics and illustrations. Graphics and illustrations are contributions by graphic designers and digital artists. Illustrations are digital drawings that are either created with a computer or drawn and then scanned. Graphics can be either illustrations, computer-generated images or photos. Either way, the whole the library was created with the help of contributing artists – both photographers and graphic designers.

Adobe’s New Stock Library

Adobe’s new library is unique among stock photo agencies. You see, most of Adobe’s customers fall into the realm of creative professionals. Many marketers may know Photoshop, but not quite like graphic designers. In fact, marketing agencies often hire graphic designers to help them with their advertising campaigns. Who better to know the ins and outs of Photoshop with a passion than a graphic designer?

Adobe’s library may have over 40 million images now, but they are growing. Every stock photo agency knows that fresh photos are the life-support of the photo agency. 40 million may sound like a lot, but unless they continually add to the library, customers are going to get bored quickly.

Fotolia Is Here to Stay

What are Adobe’s plans for Fotolia? Adobe plans to keep Fotolia running the way it is. Adobe recognizes that people can be resistant to change. Rather than absorbing Fotolia into Adobe and forcing Fotolia’s users to create Adobe accounts, Adobe made the smart decision and decided to leave Fotolia alone. Fotolia will remain its own business entity and operate the way it did before. Adobe knows that they would take a massive hit from the Fotolia membership if they forced them to switch over to Adobe. Many companies don’t see things the way it at Adobe does – in many instances, they would have absorbed the new business into the larger, more established company. Sure, it may make things easier, but why make a membership base of over 1 million people unhappy by forcing something on them that they didn’t ask for? Either way, Adobe is going to profit off Fotolia’s website as the new owners.

What Is Adobe Stock?

adobe stock

As stated before, Adobe Stock is Adobe’s newest addition to their Creative Cloud lineup. However, unlike every other application that Adobe offers, Adobe Stock is not an application – it is a service to supplement their applications.

Adobe Stock Is Not an Application

Adobe is famous for the applications they have written. They are wildly popular among professionals, students and consumers alike. In fact, Photoshop is an industry standard when it comes to photo editing software. Sure, there are other pieces of software – both paid and free – that will allow you to edit photos. However, nothing comes close to holding a candle to Photoshop. People don’t say, “Look, that photo is edited!” Instead, they say, “Look, that image is Photoshopped!” Photoshop has long since become a standard household and business name.

For the Creative Professional

Adobe doesn’t offer stock photos quite the way other microstock agencies offer photos. If you browse their library, you’ll discover that Adobe’s library is much more artistically inclined. That’s because Adobe’s customer base is made up primarily of creative professionals – not marketers. Adobe doesn’t leave marketers in the dark, though.

Explore Adobe Stock

As you browse the Web page for Adobe Stock, you’ll find out that at Adobe offers categories like Landscapes. If you want to get even more creative, one of the categories is called Drinks. As a creative professional, you may enjoy stock photos and images in a category called The Environment. As a marketer, you may enjoy browsing categories like Social Issues. Although the majority of Adobe’s customers are made up of creative professionals, Adobe recognizes that there’s more to it than that.

How Can I Get Started with Adobe Stock?

To get started with Adobe Stock, you need to create an account with them. This shouldn’t come as any surprise – just about everybody wants you to create an account with them nowadays. However, there are three ways you can have a membership with Adobe. You can either be an Adobe Stock subscriber, and Adobe application subscriber, or you can be a subscriber of Adobe Stock and one or more of their applications.

Create an Account

This is the first step. You’ll be pleased to know that when Adobe moved to the cloud, their applications and access the software became much more affordable for you. The catch is that now, they charge a monthly fee rather than a huge, astronomical sum up front. Would you rather pay over $1000 right now, or a mere $20 per month for Photoshop? If you were to combine Photoshop with Adobe Stock, you’ll be paying around $50 per month. That’s still a small drop in the bucket compared to what it used to be.

Choose Your Subscription

When you combine one of Adobe’s award-winning applications with an Adobe Stock subscription, Adobe offers a steep discount – up to 40 percent – on their Adobe Stock subscription. Their images aren’t the cheapest in the business, but they do have the most creative. They also integrate seamlessly within the application themselves. That means you do not need to leave the application to browse their library, license the image, and start editing it from directly within the application. You don’t need to close the application or open a browser. There’s no going to a microstock site, saving a photo to your computer at and then importing it into your application.

Adobe completely streamlined the process of choosing a stock photo. People no longer need to think of stock photo agencies as a separate entity from Adobe. Everything is built-in to the Creative Cloud. Every time an update is available for one of their applications, you receive that same update for free – yet another benefit of becoming a Creative Cloud member.