Where to find photos for your PowerPoint presentation Part 1
One of the questions that I regularly hear from clients is this, “Where do you find all the photos for your presentations?”
There are a number of photos in the photo library that is built into PowerPoint. But not enough to be useful for anything but the most basic presentations. Clearly what one needs is an extensive resource that one can use to find zillions of photos for any need. Did I say zillions? Well, several hundred thousand should be enough.
The answer is to use stock photos. Stock photography companies contain libraries of photographs that fall under every category under the sun. These can be researched online, quickly, and purchased affordably. Need a photo of a child sipping through a straw? They’ve got it. How about a photo of some typical lab equipment? No problemo. Or, like the quartet of photos shown, a sushi order, a luxury hotel room, plate, and folded towels.
Quartet of stock photos from recent project
You can purchase the rights to use these pictures for your website or other marketing purposes. There are many resources online for stock photo images but one of my favorites is iStockphoto. Their interface is easy navigate, and you can go to their search box and type in very specific info about what you’re looking for. For example, if you if you were marketing a retirement home to active seniors, you can type in “seniors” and “sports” and “exercise”, which will bring up a multitude of shots to select from that relate to this specific subject. And the prices are great. Since all you need is screen resolution (or 72dpi) for PowerPoint design, you can usually get away with the smallest (and most economical) version of the photo for your presentation. Keep in mind that often the more images you have sprinkled throughout, the more engaging your presentation will be.
I’m going to continue this post tomorrow in a subsequent article which will describe a quick technique or Powerpoint design tip that will help keep the photos in your presentation looking like they are part of a unified whole.
