Brits bitten by travel bug?

One of the many travel-related images on Polylooks

Images of travel dominated the public’s online search for photos and illustrations during 2009 on the Polylooks.co.uk site, our research has found. Visitors to Polylooks were most likely to use “holiday”, “Europe”, “travel” and “vacation” as search words when looking to buy photos and illustrations on the site. Together, the number of word searches for “holiday” and “vacation” – more or less the same thing – amounted to more than four times the number of searches for “mountain”, the sixth most searched-for image on Polylooks.

Polylooks’ users in the main come from the creative industries – marketers, advertisers and publishers – hinting that “feel good” images were in demand during 2009, an otherwise bleak year for the UK economy, according to Polylooks’ Product Manager, Norbert Weber.

“The request for travel-related images is always high and customers want ‘fresh’ images. This could also be an indicator that confidence was returning to the travel industry during the year,” Weber said.

Other travel-related words featuring among the hundred most popular word searches entered by users on Polylooks during 2009 included “coast” (11^th), “waves” (16^th), “harbour” (26^th) and “palm trees” (83^rd). According to Google’s Insight tool, the four most popular destinations for online image searches in the UK over Google during 2009 were London, New York, Dubai and Blackpool.

Polylooks has close to half a million photos and illustrations in its library so the platform offers plenty of choice for image buyers to select from and you can also use our special filters to pick the right mood and colour scheme for your images.



Spring into Life: How to Photograph Spring

Springtime has always inspired creative people from Shakespeare, Blake and Wordsworth to Dickinson and Frost. The sights and smells of spring can convey incredibly positive vibes – the bleak monotone silhouettes of winter have passed and new buds come to life with the lengthening days.

Abundant blossoms and emerging flowers do not just attract insects, but photographers too. For photographers, spring provides a great opportunity to get creative and make the most of a wide natural pallet of colours and interesting light.

The Early Worm

Timing in spring is everything. The morning mists, frosts and dews can make some fantastically atmospheric shots. If you’re not a morning person then going out at dusk with a good exposure setting can also help create some fascinating sunsets and moonrises. A tripod is a must in this case.

While we’re talking about light, for the best effects how about back-lighting the flower you’re hoping to shoot with sunlight? That can give it a real ‘heavenly’ effect.

A Closer Look

Spring is full of small things, capturing these in isolation can make a really interesting portrait. Think about closing in on ‘delicate’ things, such as a dew drop or flower synonymous with the season. What about creating an ensemble to focus on, such as a bunch of daffodils against a plain white background for that true microstock effect?

The Bigger Picture

If you’re looking at making a bigger portrait, think about using nature to the max. Ploughed fields and rows of crops can make great shots. What about isolating a tractor or farmhouse? Think about a big, blue sky and contrasting it with the rich colour of the land; green leaves and woodland, or brown and red earth. Also, don’t leave your long lens behind to capture the abundance of wildlife on show.

If you’re a photographer, you’ll love the opportunities presented by spring and, from a microstock perspective, the great news is that people are looking to buy images of the nascent season for use in blogs, articles and promotional material.

If you’re looking to buy ready-made images of spring then Polylooks has more than 15,000 images related to spring in its extensive portfolio.