The last post I put up about resources for creative people was focused mostly on Video and SFX. This time around I wanted to put shout out for all the websites that have been helpful to me with working on photos and images. Some of these sites have been invaluable to my video editing as well as for photo manipulation and content creation. So if you are involved in any facet of visual work some of these resources should be helpful for you. If you already know about all of them I’m sorry to rehash, but hopefully I can shed some light on resources that have made the difference to me:
DeviantArt- These guys get the first shout out because they are amazing! Whenever I need anything photoshop related this is my first stop. They have stock photos, brushes, actions, textures and so much more. Everything I have taken from the site has been free, although most of the artists ask that you at least credit them. You have to check carefully for the terms of use, but sometimes you don’t even have to give credit if you don’t want to! One of my favorite things about this site is the quality of everything. Many of the users are actual artists who are very good at what they do.
Flickr- This
one was very surprising to me, and I actually have to thank Video Copilot for turning me on to this. Flickr is not only a place where people can upload their photos, but you can download tons of photos from them and all that is asked in return is attribution. Again you have to check the licensing information of the given photo, but many photos are uploaded under a creative commons license that gives permission for people to use, remix and adapt the photos to their hearts content. All that is required is that you credit the user. To find photos to use commercially there is an option you have to select. By the search box there is a link for “advanced search” click this and then scroll down to the bottom. There you will see the creative commons logo, next to this are three options. 1. Only search within Creative Commons licensed content. 2. Find content to use commercially and 3. Find content to modify, adapt or build upon. Check ALL 3 boxes, then search for what you want. This has been an amazing asset to me.
Coffeshop Blog- This is the place to go if you are looking for awesome Photoshop actions. Again everything here is free. This is just a lady who has a lot of time, and loves Photoshop. She created actions for a lot of different looks, and they have been hugely beneficial to us as we have started up Black Hat Media. Not a lot more to say here other than CHECK THIS ONE OUT!
GIMP.org- There are a lot of people who don’t mess with photo editing because they can’t afford Photoshop. What many of these people don’t realize is that GIMP is an amazing program that has nearly all the functionality of Photoshop, but it’s totally free! It’s open source software with the mission to make photo manipulation possible no matter what your budget is. The other great thing about GIMP is that many people on DeviantART have made actions for GIMP just like Photoshop actions. If you don’t have Photoshop make sure to check this out. Also if you are afraid of the learning curve I’m sure you can find plenty of tutorials online that will show you how to get started.
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