Adobe Stock: Adobe Links Photoshop to its Own Stock-Art Site 

January 22, 2017 By

adobe-stock-logoAdobe has supplied creative professionals and non-professionals with tools such as Photoshop. To make things even easier, it is now supplying pictures and illustrations through a new service – Adobe Stock. Launched last Tuesday, Adobe Stock is based on Fotolia. Adobe acquired the online stock-art marketplace in January for $800 million. Now, they are both working together to compete with ShutterStock, Dreamstime, iStockPhoto and many other stock-art sites in connecting buyers and creators of images, videos and illustrations.

The stock-art market is crowded, but Adobe hopes to get ahead by integrating Adobe Stock into Photoshop and other products it offers. How is this possible? Adobe offers a Creative Cloud subscription program which provides users with a deep pool of photos, illustrations and videos easily connected to their most-favored photo-editing software. For every sale, Adobe keeps 67% of the revenue with a single photo costing $10 to license. Furthermore, it can sell its software to those who contribute their works to Adobe Stock.

Why Will Adobe Stock be a Success?
If you are wondering whether the stock-art site will come out victorious above other photo agencies, clearly, it will. Here are some of the reasons why it is probable.

  • Many use Adobe tools as their main photo-editing software. Scott Morris, senior marketing director of Creative Cloud for Adobe, estimates that 85% of customers buying stock images are users of Adobe tools and 90% of available content online were created through these tools. The company hopes Adobe Stock will enhance the existing relationship between their customers and their flagship design tools.
  • Adobe wants customers to pay continuously for its services. In the past years, Adobe tried to persuade its customers to pay for a new version of its software. But with the Creative Cloud subscription plan, it offers continuous updates on the rights to use electronic publishing services and Adobe fonts, access to Adobe Behance social network, and sync and share files in online storage. Now, Adobe also offers a price break for Fotolia images for Creative Cloud clients who add on annual subscription.

What can Adobe get from its own stock photo website?
Adobe has now over 4 million subscribers, contrasting the vocal opposition of many people when it announced that only Creative Cloud versions would be updated with new features. With that many of subscribers, the real question is “what can’t Adobe get from Adobe Stock”.
The stock photo market is projected to grow at 7% in 2019. With both Adobe Stock and Fotolia, Adobe has a big challenge ahead as buyers prefer big marketplaces with abundant inventory for sale and sellers prefer big marketplaces with lots of buyers. Fotolia, being fourth in the industry, claims only a slice of the market with 3 to 5 percent. That’s not a loss though because there is always room for consolidation. In a word, it becomes Adobe’s new source of revenue.

The Adobe Stock accompanies a lot of upgrades to be announced on Tuesday. These upgrades involve Creative Cloud products, including InDesign, Premier Pro, Muse, Photoshop, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Illustrator and many more.

What will happen to Fotolia?
Now that Adobe has acquired Fotolia, you may wonder what will happen to it. Well, Fotolia will stay as a standalone website. Adobe recognizes the importance of Fotolia in Continental Europe and it does not want to disrupt that. While Fotolia has its competitors, it also has a great shot at growth. All thanks to the new Adobe Stock sales channel and the over 40 million photos and illustrations of the website.

How much do Adobe Stock services cost?
Adobe Stock services are available for individual photo purchases and subscription plans. Individual photos cost $10 each while monthly subscription costs $50 for 10 images. However, the price is discounted for those who are already paying for a Creative Cloud subscription. If you have more heavy-duty needs, you can opt for a bigger plan, which includes 750 images per month for $200. The best part about Adobe Stock is that unused downloads are rolled over to the next month. Also, Adobe does not require exclusive rights to the images sold by contributors to Adobe Stock and Fotolia. It also returns 33% of the revenues to them.

How can you access Adobe Stock?
For now, you can pick photos you like and need from stock.adobe.com site. Later on, Adobe will synchronize the photos with the library function of its Creative Cloud application. Low-resolution watermarked comp images will be used in the portfolio and the full-resolution final images will be available upon purchase of the image rights.

However, Adobe has already planned a tighter integration. It planned to integrate the images directly within the apps so customers do not need to browse from the Adobe Stock website. Contributors will also benefit as Adobe provides them with the opportunity to submit their photos to the marketplace directly from the apps as well. In a word, they will submit on Behance and the images will also be available on Adobe Stock.


The stock-art market is interesting now more than ever. There is a growing appetite for stock photos. In 2014, there were 496 million purchased images. It is projected to reach up to 630 million in 2019. As digital tools rewrite its rules, the number of participant has also grown. Digital photography and Internet sales have revolutionized the industry, making it possible for both amateurs and professionals to contribute and sell their work.  

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5 Important Tips on Using Cheap Stock Photos in White Papers

February 23, 2016 By

5 Important Tips on Using Cheap Stock Photos in White PapersDo you want to spice up your white paper? If you do, you need to know where to find high quality cheap stock photos and how to use them. There are a number of stock photo agencies in the market. You have literally a lot to choose from to find photos for creative project. Most of the content in these sites are royalty-free, which means you can use them in any project. Moreover, they are available at very low prices.

If this is your first time to use cheap stock photos in your white papers, here are a few tips to help you get started:

  1. Use them for covers. The most natural place to use cheap photos is the cover of your white paper. You can choose and purchase the ones that your readers can relate to and those that harmonize with your client’s logo. By doing so, you are assuring your readers that your document is intended for them.
  2. Use an effective search approach. How do you find the right photo for your white paper? It’s easy. You just need a wise search strategy. Many stock photo agencies have well-indexed libraries. With the right keyword, you will be able to find the right photo.
  3. Search with generic keywords. Technical terms are not commonly indexed in stock photo libraries. That’s why when you enter keywords “eCommerce platform”, they will break up your keyword into “eCommerce” and “platform”. Your results will be displayed into hundreds of unrelated images. Instead, use generic terms such as “business computer”. You will generate hundreds of hits related to your keywords.
  4. Add emotion. Try adding emotion to your search. For instance, when your search for business people sitting in front of their computers, you choose the ones with happy people clustered around their screens. You do not want unhappy people in your images, do you? Showing people in various states of emotions increases readership.
  5. Add items to narrow your search. It can be boring and time-consuming to browse through hundreds of display results. To narrow down your search, add another keyword. For instance, you can add “desk”. That will reduce your results to a few hundreds. You can add other keywords to narrow down your searches even more and save you a lot of time cruising through thumbnails.

Cheap stock photos have a number of uses. White papers is one of them. Stock photos can spice up your white papers, increasing readership. You only need to find the right stock photo agency for your budget and your creative needs. Then, follow the above tips to make sure that you are doing it right. Save time and money while assuring your projects’ effectiveness with stock photos.    

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Adobe Stock in 2016

December 10, 2015 By

adobe-stock-logoIn the creative professional and technology worlds, Adobe is obviously a very big name.  But that doesn’t mean that when they announced the launch of Adobe Stock earlier this year, their pilot Adobe Stock photos project would be a success.  Adobe actually tried launching a stock photography service in the past with no success, but this time around things were different.  Adobe very quickly and very persuasively found a niche for themselves in the stock photo world in 2015, and 2016 will likely see the tech giant continuing to build on their strengths from this past year.

adobe-stock-in-2016

Adobe Stock images have become so popular so quickly because Adobe built upon their previous market presence as a creative technology pioneer to very quickly build market presence.  In laymen’s terms, Adobe did so well last year because they already had a lot of people to sell images to.  All they had to do was turn their existing user base into a niche market for stock photography, and success was almost guaranteed.  Luckily for Adobe, they were able to accomplish that task quite well.

In the upcoming year, Adobe will likely continue to capitalize on their niche power in the creative arena.  They will likely think of new ways to sell Adobe Stock photos to creative professionals, and stress the app integration with photoshop and other Adobe creative products.  This is going to be Adobe’s biggest focus, or at least it should be if they want another successful year.  But they will definitely expand in other ways as well, and push themselves beyond their previous strengths.

2016-adobe-stock

For example, Adobe Stock extended license agreements ares going to become available in 2016 most likely, making it easier for designers to use images downloaded from Adobe Stock.  Adobe stock photos license agreement changes aren’t all that’s in store though: the company has been generous in giveaways so far, and more Adobe Stock Free gifts and downloads will likely be free this upcoming year.  Adobe Stock Free Photos have been a great plus from the company last year, and they are likely to continue their generosity.

Overall, Adobe Stock will likely spend 2016 building on their successes from 2015.  They can and will try new things, but most of Adobe’s energy will go into  their niche presence while making some minor service tweaks.  As long as they have as strong of a year in 2016 as they did in 2015, Adobe Stock  will probably be around for years to come.

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Get Your Free Photos with Your Fotolia Promo Code

March 17, 2015 By

Logo FotoliaWe all like promo codes, right? They allow us to get the things we want at a price cheaper than we expected. To put the icing on the cake, let’s talk about a promo code from Fotolia. Do you have your promo code from Fotolia yet?

If you haven’t, then I have good news for you. We here at Stock Photo Secrets (check the fotolia promo here) have been in constant contact with some of the best stock photo agencies around. This is Fotolia. Fotolia has created a unique landing page for our readers that allow people like you to receive three free credits plus a 20 percent discount on your first purchase in exchange for signing up for an account.

What does that mean for you? It means that you get stuff for free! There is a marketer, there are two types of free. The first type of free mean something is so cheap that nobody wants it. The other type of free is what we like. This kind of free means someone is giving away something that costs money and giving it away for a limited time. That’s exactly what Fotolia is doing. Three credits is the equivalent of three free images. What are you waiting for?

fotolia-promo-code

The 20 percent discount works a little differently. As soon as you make your next credit pack purchase – or in your case, your first one – you will receive a 20 percent discount off the total of your purchase. For some of you that can mean a savings of $20. For others, this can mean a savings of a couple of hundred dollars. Either way, you get free images straight from Fotolia. To add to Fotolia’s credibility, get this – Fotolia is owned by Adobe.

What if you already have an account with Fotolia? Is there anything for you? Don’t worry – Fotolia didn’t forget about you guys either. Because you’re already a member of Fotolia, you don’t qualify for the three credit offer. However, you still qualify for the 20 percent discount off your next credit pack purchase.

All you need to do is log in to our landing page that Fotolia created for us and the discount is yours for the taking. This is Adobe’s and Fotolia’s way of saying thank you for being a member of their stock photo website. There wouldn’t be much of a website without the members – that’s you.

Filed Under: Stock Photo Agencies Tagged With: , , , ,