I like to include pictures to illustrate and enliven presentations and training workbooks but am finding it more and more difficult to source suitable ones. As everyone seems to use MS Clipart Online the pictures suffer from being typecast! I'd be very grateful for your links to sites you use or advice on software to buy. Photographs of "real" people seem to be appreciated more than cartoons.
Thanks for your help.
Sue.
Sue Griffiths
5 Responses
Pictures
Sue
I agree that real pictures tend to be better than cartoons. I have found that Google’s images are always worth a try (just go into ww.google.co.uk and then select the images tab at the top of the text entry box).
Graham
Copyright
You need to be careful if you just download material from google on an image search. Much of this material belongs to a copyright holder who I suspect would be none too pleased if you use it commercially without paying them a royalty.
I would do a search for “royalty free images” if you want photos that you are free to use.
If you would like to use better clipart try searching for “animated gifs” there are some very good pieces out there that don’t resemble the truly basic efforts offered by MS Clipart. Again watch the royalty issues.
Or you could develop your own images using a digital camera and some photo editing software – such as JASC’s PaintShop Pro or Adobe Photoshop (depending on your budget). You can also create decent images in these packages using other images as a starting point and editing them as you like.
There are hundreds of ways to spice up your presentations with images if that’s what you want to do.
Great images
I would strongly recommend the Canadian website iStockPhoto on http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php for royalty-free photos.
You simply purchase the amount of credit that you want, the cheapest package being $10 for 10 photos – that’s $1 per photo! and then search for a picture to suit your needs by theme.
The quality of the photos is superb and all are especially good for use on websites etc..
I use this source on a regular basis and have always found a great selection to choose from. You can also adapt the pictures by zooming in to a variety of degrees, this can also produce the most amazing effects.
One word of caution though.
Give yourself plenty of time to search properly. Once you start you can get really hooked, and spend hours and hours looking at images.
Have fun.
Another good web source
Hi Sue,
I agree that “real” people are what you need! Another good site is stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/) – it’s free to register and almost all images are royalty-free, with new additions every day.
Good luck,
Rachel
Picturesy
Hi Sue,
I agree using the same photos does become boring, something I have recently starting doing is taking my digital camera with me to work, when I spot a situation that I feel I could use i.e.in a team meeting everyone around the table etc.. I take a shot, download it and use it in my PP slides, handouts etc.. I of course ask permission first, the results have been great not only do they look better but the delegates often recognise the people in the pictures and we have some fun remembering their names, departments etc.. and I’ve also found people tend to use the handouts/brochures instead of using them to prop up their wonky coffee table!!!
Happy Training