It’s almost February, which means that Valentine’s Day is coming. This holiday inspires many photos, vectors, and illustrations, which enrapt the audience with familiar depictions of warmth and harmony. So, if you’re a publisher, advertiser, designer, content manager etc., you may want to use the approaching holiday to your advantage, and choose to work with stock photos that speak to the public. With this in mind, I drew a list of 10 microstock agencies that have the most to offer.
YAY Images
We would have to mention YAY first. Four different subscription plans have been crafted to meet everyone’s needs (Streaming, Digital, Print, and Pro), and pave the way towards nearly 4 million flawless stock images. February is rumored to surprise all users with the release of 1 million celebrity photos. In addition, this is one of the few existing suppliers that don’t charge extra for re-downloads that its subscribers initiate.
YAY Images is a bargain if you’re after any type of virtual images, as no other subscription plan comes close to what Digital and Streaming have in store. For just $49-a-month, Digital offers 1500PX images, perfect for when you’re working on a PowerPoint, e-book, app, or other commercial projects.
Nevertheless, the Streaming plan or ‘Spotify for images’ is priced at only $9.90 per month, and this subscription gives you access to lush images that are to be published online – on websites, blogs, or in newsletters. Only with Streaming, subscribers can alter bought images onsite, using a fantastic in-browser editor. However, this feature is soon going to be possible for all the other users, as well.
And while we’re on the subject of new updates, I need to mention the free hosting of purchased images even after users’ subscriptions expire. In the near future, free hosting is supposed to be extended to images uploaded by the members.
And now, the best news of all: use code VALENTINE_ICANBECREATIVE now, and thus take advantage of a huge 50% discount. Finally, check out the magnificent Streaming images that are showcased at the end of this article.
Stock Photo Secrets Shop
The Stock Photo Secrets Shop is a stock photo agency especially thought for small and medium-sized budgets. They have a library with over 5 million Royalty-free stock images -- photos, vector illustrations and fonts-- that includes a large variety of Valentine’s Day, Couples and Romance related imagery, and they add up to 100,000 new files every month.
Their buying options aim at giving you the best value for your money with affordable and flexible plans. Their star deal is the 99club plan, which gives you 200 images for one year for only $99! They also have plans with a monthly download limit, starting at 25 and up to 500 images per month, that you can hire month-to-month from $35, and annually from $389 a year (this option saves you a lot compared to monthly billing). And for those not wanting a subscription, there are image packs that let you buy on demand, paying upfront and using your downloads when and as needed, starting at 5 images for $39. To round it up, here you can buy high-res stock photos for as little as $0.49 and even $0.16 each!
Best thing is that images come in all available sizes (up to XXL) at no added cost, and they have a very cool visual similarity search tool that will make it super easy to find the exact Valentine’s image you’re looking for.
Stockfresh
Stockfresh has 3 million stock photos, vectors, and graphics to offer, and while this number may not strike you as very worthy of notice, this agency knows how to make its files available in an uncomplicated manner. Therefore, Stockfresh not only set up some hugely accessible credit packs and subscriptions, but it also sports a great user interface that makes it very easy for customers to find and then buy marvelous images. You’ll know exactly what I mean the next time you are haunted by a deadline and want to find creative assets really fast. Reaching out for Stockfresh images helps save time.
If this is your first contact with Stockfresh, let me enlighten you as to how little you can expect to spend: 5 credits can be prepaid with $4.99, while the monthly cost of a subscription plan begins with $99. Seeing as Valentine’s Day is getting closer, make sure you pay this astute supplier a visit and check out its delightful offerings. For your information, approximately 50K impressive stock photos and 18K vectors mirror Valentine’s Day in one way or another, and you will soon find yourself bewitched by their charm.
Bigstock
Bigstock controls around 15 million illustrations, vectors, and photos, and any of them is perfectly fit for creative use. Apart from the entire content being 100% royalty-free, you can expect to run into a wealthy stack of handsome stock images to use in your work in the proximity of Valentine’s Day. To be precise, 121K photos, 54K vectors, and 77K illustrations celebrate this holiday.
Presently, Bigstock’s wonderful 7-day Free Trial is the perfect opportunity for new visitors to get acquainted to this system, and find out what it’s like to accept this agency as their very own steady supply of stock photos. Over the course of this weeklong trial, a daily number of 5 images can be downloaded and re-downloaded every day. Needless to say, canceling is totally possible at any stage.
In order to buy superlative images from Bigstock, you can sign for one of the monthly subscriptions (where the price of one item can go as low as $0.35). Or, acquire credit packages if you’re planning to be a rather casual client to begin with – $35 will get you 10 credits. Even free membership has its advantages: signing up for a free account means you will receive the ‘Free Image of the Week’, every Monday, on the clock.
Aurora Photos
If you’d turn to Aurora Photos, you wouldn’t be the only one: Apple Computers, TIME, National Geographic, and many other world-renowned names are said to have taken some of their images from this place. Since Valentine’s Day is in sight, you might chance a search for fitting stock photos, as there are over 1000 images to think of.
Pixmac
Pixmac revealed around 81K adorable images when I launched a basic search for love-suffused items. However, they are not all to be found in the same place. The entire collection is split, and whereas 7 million files are accessible via credits, the topmost 2.5 million are saved in a Subscription Collection.
Depositphotos
You can’t help but like Depositphotos whenever a special holiday comes around, because it can be asserted that the most positive thing about Depositphotos is its Sales Lightboxes, a lovely feature that enables the acquisition of season-themed images with a 20% discount than their previous, standard price. And right now, there are over 900 beautiful items cooped up in this year’s Valentine’s Day Lightbox. Aside from this, the Depositphotos Adobe Extension makes for the delight of designers who no longer need to leave their Adobe workspace in order to get stock photos.
Inmagine
I’m a big fan of Inmagine, who gathered up 30 million amazing images up to this point. When trying to look for images that allude to Valentine’s Day, the agency is going to summon more than 20K delicious-looking photos. And of course, that large number can be limited by means of the singularly handy search filters.
Alamy
If large volume collections make your day, check out Alamy. This microstock agency handles 45 million stock photos and vectors, out of which 50000 are home to Valentine’s Day themes. Try to get a hold of some vectors, and you’re in for a pleasant surprise: the promo code ‘alamyvectors’ ensures a 30% discount.
Photospin
Another great source of creative files for your projects is Photospin. When you wish to make a purchase here, you can either buy a single file for as little as $2 (without having to get credits beforehand), or go long-term and take up a yearly subscription for $429. Either way, you can only win.
Veer
I have only words of praise for Veer. Creative professionals can drop by this marketplace whenever they need an image – vector, photo, illustration – or scouting for fonts. Joining the Veer community pays well: 10 free credits are awarded to all new members as a token of goodwill. And once you’ve joined, feel free to dive in ‘The Look of Love’ and take spectacular images from that album.
You need to see just how brilliant Valentine’s Day images can be. Check out these beautiful examples borrowed from some of our most beloved stock photo agencies.
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