Discuss at least three different ways to locate high-quality images for a Web site.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

• Original images
Programs such as Adobe Fireworks and Adobe Photoshop give you the ability to create and modify original artwork. These image editing programs have numerous features for manipulating images. For example, you can adjust the color, brightness, or size of an image. You can also set a transparent background for an image. Transparent backgrounds have transparent pixels, rather than pixels of another color, resulting in images that blend easily on a Web page background.

• Original photography
High-quality photographs can greatly enhance a Web site. Fortunately, digital cameras and scanners have made this venture much easier than in the past. Once you scan a photograph or shoot it with a digital camera, you can further enhance it using an image editing software program such as Photoshop or Fireworks. Photographs taken with digital cameras have large file sizes. Be sure to create resized copies using an image editing program before placing them on Web pages. Many digital cameras come with software programs that you can use to resize and enhance images.

• The Internet
There are many Web sites that allow you to copy their graphics, but  look carefully for copyright statements regarding the legal use of images. Stock photos sites, such as iStockphoto, are excellent resources used by many professional designers. To use these sites, you first sign up to become a member, then you either purchase images as you need them, or purchase a subscription, which allows you to pay a set price for the number of files you expect to download each year. There are many collections of images online that are free, but some sites require that you credit them on your Web site with either a simple statement or a link to their Web site. Images that are labeled as public domain are free to use without restrictions.