Q&A: What size images do you buy at istockphoto.com?

Trading a couple messages with someone who found me in an online forum, I thought the Q&A might be useful for some…

“Just looked at istockphoto and wondered what the best size for best quality photos you would recommend? Small, medium or large? They are quite a bit more expensive than bigstockphoto.com which I usually use. Thanks for your help on this.” -Colin

Colin,

I always buy large images because for me I’ve had too many times when I wanted to go back and make a medium-sized image bigger, only to find the resolution inadequate.  So I ended up spending more money to solve the problem.

I know there are plenty of cheaper sources (more expensive ones, too!), and plenty that have free stuff.

One thing that intrigues me is using images under Creative Commons licensing (see Flickr.com), but I still find MY problem is time. Free and cheap costs me too much time (which is money) relative to

1) using the same source and being familiar with it and

2) that source (istockphoto.com) having a good search engine.

Finally, I’m a professional speaker/trainer. It’s what I do full time. So I figure that paying for images is just part of the cost of doing biz, but I realize that’s not where everyone’s at.

Best!

-R

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