” Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value ” ……. Albert Einstein
Every business whether small or giant company has a unique side of it, which gives it, the true identity. And for you to maintain your status among your customers; you need a regular and meaningful interaction/connection with them.
While there are many possible ways to achieve this, the most exponential one is through anything that involves images.
Though it’s great to have unique and real-time images for better interaction; it doesn’t hurt to go beyond and get a royalty ready-for-use photos; that add value to your website and print designs.
www.123rf.com does that!
123rf is a community-based site, with thousands of graphic designers, photographers bringing together their designs as a showcase. Not only does this credit their creativity; they also get a chance to sell their designs to the public as well.
It is a site where you can find millions of illustrations, vectors, graphics, video footage, stock audio and high quality images
Types of Licenses offered by 123rf
For you to use someone else’s creation, you need a license; and to some extent attribution – as a means of provoking copyright infringement and also appreciating the original owner of the material in use.
Licenses offered by 123rf are worry-free. You can use materials purchased from their website without expecting someone to sue you for copyright issues. Which actually makes it cool!
- Standard Royalty-Free License
This is a license that allows the user to re-use the image or designs without a need for paying for the times the materials have been used.
Meaning, if you have for instance, a website, and wanted to use the same image for your header backgrounds, this license is for you.
Also, the license is lifetime. You don’t have to renew after some years to continue using the products downloaded. I think it’s worth the dollar spent. Right? - Extended License
This type of license is much recommended for graphic and web designers. It is also comes at a higher than the standard one.
It gives you the mandate to use the purchased materials as part of your commercial projects. If you wanted to design a greeting card for your client, or a business card for instance; you can use the templates from 123rf and make further customization on them; and resale the final design.
The only fallback or rather a challenge with this license is that, every image needs its own license. No two images share same license.
Why I recommend 123rf.com
Quick Question : Have you ever wanted something, only to find it hidden in the midst of filthy dirt, junk and unprofessional stuff? Honestly, at some point it destroys the desire to keep searching for it. And sadly, you give up.
Unlikely the case above, 123rf strictly sticks to the professional side of the curtain. Meaning, no amateur or shoddy work is presented on the site. Every material is right on vital essentials like: color balance, image quality, textures, etc
The search function on the website is one of the best and powerful. The user has an easier time to find the desired images by popularity, orientation, keyword and even relevance. You can also search a close match of an image by using another, via an image link or by dragging the image on the search box.
Free Image Editor. This is a cool feature for creating some amazing images for your projects. It has a user-friendly environ. Also tons of templates that are already preset for you. Have a look here: https://www.123rf.com/features/editor/
Free Images for Download. Yes you got it right. There is an included gallery with free stock images for download. So, if you are looking for an image that might work for your needs, you can explore among the 30,000+ free listed images from this link : https://www.123rf.com/freeimages.php
The other reason, which is the major one is the price. 123rf is popular due to low prices for visual materials.
With 123rf, the users have various payment options.
⦁ Credit Packs’ Option
Credits are simply licensing systems used by 123rf for contents from the site.
(Don’t confuse a credit to be the same amount of dollars. For example: with $180 you can get 200 credits.)
When the user chooses to purchase credit packs, they can later redeem them to download images,logos, footage and any other materials from the site.
The amount of credit deducted depends on some factors such as the type of file, resolution or the material’s license.
Credits have an expiry of one year after purchase. Meaning, throughout the year, as long as your credits are enough to be redeemed for any materials on the site, you are set.
The minimum credits’ threshold allowed to redeem/purchase an image is 1. With 1 credit you can get a small image with at least 267×400 pixels; the higher the resolution like XXL, expect to spend more credits.
Any unused credits will expire after one year of purchase. So, make sure you use at least all your credits before expiry timeline.
⦁ Subscription Plan
With the package; you can download a certain number of images daily, as long as the plan is active. This is an option that gives you the best value for your money. You are able to choose from the current 3 plans; for 30-days, 90-days or a year.
123rf also has a mobile app. Browsing images and compelling content is made even more easier. You can also choose the images and save them on your account for a later download on your desktop account’ version.
The contributors; such as photographers are able to upload more content via the app and monitor how their earlier content keeps trending.
In summary, 123rf.com is an awesome website for everyone. It’s user-friendly; has regular updates with new materials, low prices, and even editing photos. Makes life easier!
