Adobe acquired the stock media site Fotolia a little over a year ago. Many were anxious of how that would turn out, but soon it became clear. Adobe Stock is a collection of over 40 million images, graphics and videos. It can be accessed virtually with Creative Cloud software applications, such as Photoshop and InDesign. You can search for the perfect Adobe Stock photos by entering keywords related to the content you are trying to find.
From within your favorite CC software, you can search for Adobe Stock photos by typing a keyword. Tap the search button to display your results. For instance, you can type happy family and Adobe Stock will present you with 845,258 results. That is plenty of images to choose from. When you tap the image, the stock site displays a larger version and other similar images. This is a pretty feature. You may not necessarily love the picture you chose, but AS gives related images that you might like better.
If you are using a Creative Cloud software application, you can work with comp images – another feature unique to Adobe Stock. You can use these comp images at the beginning of the design process or until you are ready to commit to making a purchase. When you are viewing Adobe Stock photos, you will notice two buttons in the upper right corner. You can choose to save preview or license asset, where you will be asked to save the image in a Creative Cloud library.
With Adobe Stock, you can create a new library or save your comp images to existing CC libraries. Save preview downloads a low-resolution version of images with watermarks. On the other hand, licensing an asset subtracts credits from your account or brings up a webpage where you can purchase the image or subscribe to a plan. The Save Preview allows you to show get the approval of your client before you continue with the purchase.
Once you are ready to purchase Adobe Stock photos, you can right-click on the image and choose License Image to download the high resolution version. You don’t have to worry about spending another set of hours to work with the new image either. The high-res version will automatically replace the watermarked version, saving you from hours of rework.
The integration of Adobe Stock and Creative Cloud is a powerful feature during the initial phases of the design process. It allows you to download Adobe Stock photos, experiment on them and explore their impact to your creative projects before you purchase them. When things are finalized, you can license the images easily and quickly, and download the high resolution version. It’s really time and money saving. Try it and tell us what you think!