Beginning Blogging Series: Free and Low Cost Imagery

Andrew Martin Creative Director

A great way to enhance the look and feel of your blog or website is through the use of quality graphics and photography. Equally, an otherwise visually appealing web page can be totally ruined via poor quality imagery. While many beginning bloggers don't look past their office application suite to obtain art, there are several far superior sources, which are either free or very affordable.

Firstly, most of the Microsoft Office Clip Art Colletion is awful. Most of the art is in an early 1990s style, even in the Office 2007 release. Additionally, this series of clip art has been used ad nauseam. If I see the graphic with the shadowy stick figure guy getting an idea one more time, I think I am going to have to resort to violence. While some of the photography is reasonably good, there are far, far better options for illustrations, even without spending a dime.

	stock.xchng provides free stock photographs and some illustrations. The quality is medium to good, and is a great starting point for enhancing the look of your blog or website.
	Fotolia sells photos and vector illustrations for very low prices, ranging from $1 to $10 each. The quality is high, and the selection is pretty large.
	iStockphoto is the cream of the crop value stock image site. The photos ($1+) are top-notch; the vectors, however, are somewhat expensive ($10) for the amateur blogger.