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FotoLia is one of those service that you didn’t think you needed until you started using it. They have a rich community and an overwhelming amount of stock pictures.They have great quality as well. Fotolia calls itself the social marketplace for stock images. That is putting it mildly. At last count they have over 2,677,363 professionals within the community. Why is that important? Well having a large community allows for creativity and choice.  Professionals can buy and share stock pictures as well as video clips. One could also get  royalty free licenses. This would let you to use an image without restrictions. There are two ways to get pictures a single download model and subscription model. We tried out the subscription model and found it to be rather useful.

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Now if you are the one selling the pictures you have to have  a Paypal or Moneybookers account. I would like to have seen an automatic transfer to my bank account. The site also lets you FTP into the FotoLia network. A great feature when you are on the run or have large amount of content that needs to be moved. Alright now with all these great things there has to be something that is not great. Well there is. The original reviewer of the site found it bland. She said all the pictures looked the same. I am quoting now. “They look like stock pictures.” While I can certainly see that. One can argue the point that is what the site is going for.  After reading her review, I resided to write my own.

The site offers so many options that sometimes you can get lost in the sea of bland. Pic a topic and you will get pictures for somethings that are not related. Other times you find that you have too many great choices to pick from. The site is a stock site and as such you have lots of options just not in my opinion too many original works. Or rather works that look like you won’t find them anywhere else. I would think one would go to Deviantart for that.

Pro: The site is packed with options for sellers as well as buyers of pictures and videos. Great payment scale.

Con: At times the pictures can seem repetitive. Not a lot of one offs. Must use Paypal or Moneybookers

Cost: $$0.75  and up

Aye/Nay: This is a Aye. This is a great site for stock pictures. Bonus for videos and a downloadable program for the desktop.

iTunes Link: Forolia

By Rubens Saintel

Proud father, #Haitian, photographer, consultant, writer & entrepreneur. I love video games, movies, plays, technology (surprise), beta testing apps and all things sci-fi. SaintelDaily.com |AppleWatch101.com | NBA101.com