Photobuyers, photo editors and individuals use royalty free or rights managed stock pictures for different reasons but some are not sure where to look for quality photographs. This is where an image search engine comes into play.

Stock Image
Boy looks into cannon at Fort Sumter SC USA – Copyright www.parduephotos.com – All Rights Reserved

There are many great images online, but it can be hard to find the ones that you need. You can find some images on general search engines, but if you need these for professional reasons, these are not the best to use.

Many people don’t know this, but you can find photos that you can buy online to use with your commercial ventures, but you will still have to search these stock photo sites to get what you need. There are a few tricks to successfully using image search engines that you can use when you need something specific.

Know the copyright restrictions for stock photos you use

If you are using a photo for personal reasons, you can use a search engine to search. Personal reasons means that you will not be using the photo for anything that would make money or be used to advertise anything. You must be very aware of copyright laws in this case.

To use this type of image search engine, just click on ‘images’ on your favorite search engine. Put in the most relevant search terms you can come up with, and see what comes up. Don’t forget to try some of the others when looking for a general image search engine, as many come up with different results.

Commercial or editorial stock images

When seeking an image search engine for commercial uses, you have to find a good stock photo site. There are many of these, and many are free to sign up. You will have to pay for usage if you find something you like, but you can usually be sure you are going to find exactly what you need when you search each site.

You will again use specific search terms to find what you need, and you will find that you get many results that will work just fine. After that, it will be a matter of preference, and personal or business style when choosing the one you wish to buy.

Use the best keyword phrase in your photo hunt

If you are having problems finding what you need, no matter which image search engine you use, you have to think about the terms you are using in your search.

You may be using something very general like ‘boy’. If you do that, you are going to get too many results of non-specific images. Instead, try ‘boy cannon’ to get pictures of a boy looking into a cannon. Think about each element of the photo you wish to find, and then use those terms in the search engine for images.

Just because the picture you want will not come up at first does not mean it is not out there. You just have to vary your terms to find what you need. To summarize, an image search engine can be your best bet in finding photos you need no matter if for personal use or to use in a major magazine.