Royalty Free Images : AI Generated Stock Photos
Since time immemorial, visual designers have been privy to accessing a host of “Stock Images” be it from the likes of Freepik, Shutterstock, Unsplash or Adobe. While the list keeps going on and on with some images being found on multiple platforms due to the photographers’ popularity, one cannot deny the premium cost at which they are traded. For those looking to get access to royalty free images for FREE, they have very limited options in general. But the limiting options is not just something which is specific to Free users, even the premium users are sometimes left in a lurch trying to find the right kind of stock images. And despite having found your perfect stock image, there is always the possibility of someone else using the same image thereby diluting the uniqueness of your brand recall. However all that is set to change due to the advent of Generative AI and the mainstream penetration of AI generated content as Stock Images on even Adobe and Wirestock.
How to get Free Stock Images ?
Finding the right stock image is a huge hassle, add to that the complexity of finding it for free or cheap, you have a full fledged crisis at hand. Especially for the marketers and designers who are stringent on their expenses, getting access to FREE Stock Images might just be the light at the end of a never ending dark tunnel. But going to the traditional stock listing websites will not be of any help here. Turning towards Generative AI can enable people to navigate this steep curve.
Generative AI tools have paved the way for the next renaissance in the digital art spectrum and while many have already jumped on the bandwagon, few realize the potential impact its set to bring about. All you have to now do is think of the image, background, subject, tone, emotion which befits your content and jot it down as the idea for your stock image, kind of like a creative brief.
Prompt: Wildlife photography of a Lion, Sony mirrorless, DSLR
How to Generate AI Images ?
With Generative AI models like DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and many more, one needs to just describe the idea for the image and AI takes care of generating a unique never before seen image matching your idea and description. While creating images using words is the most basic functionalities of AI image generators, users can even provide a reference of their inspiration in the form of an image uploaded to the AI model and ask AI to create a new enhanced improved version of it. You can access all of these models at one place by visiting Qolaba Studio where you can try out these models for free.
One can create an image with use of single words as well but a highly detailed and well-defined the idea for the image gives AI the opportunity to produce even more accurate images. Try something as simple as “Cat” in the prompt box and hit generate or something more detailed in the likes of “Macro Photograph of a Cat peaking out a box with a sad hopeful emotion”. Knowing how to communicate your idea to AI isn’t rocket science as well, just needs one to be well-versed with written english from which the “prompts” for these AI models are derived.
Prompt:- Macro Photograph of a cat peaking out of a box with hopeful emotion
NOTE: Using watermarked stock images as references for image-to-image models might give you an AI generated Image with lines representing the watermarks as well.
Free Images No Copyright?
As of now the images tagged with a Creative Commons license are usually the ones which can be used without worrying about the copyright. But with Generative AI the entire scenario changes because the creator has the rights of using the image anywhere they want. Generative AI always produces a unique image so even if you reuse the same instructions multiple times, you will always get a new image every time ensuring uniqueness of each image. While the laws of the states vary from nation to nation about the use of AI generated content, its safe to assume that as long as you are not entering the AI generated creations in any competition where it has to compete with human creations, you’ll be in the clear.
Prompt: A photo of a resort at night, in the rain, forest setting, soft-focus, Sony mirrorless, DSLR, –ar 16:9 –v 5
Saying goodbyes to creative commons might feel odd but saying hello to your personal customized stock images would surely help lift up your spirits. And its not something unheard of, people have been using AI generated stock images for quite sometime now with the likes of Adobe and Wirestock even coming up with their guidelines for AI Artists to submit their work to be considered for being sold on their platforms.
How to access AI tools for free ?
With the advent of Generative AI, one cannot help but go for subscriptions to popular tools like ChatGPT(DALLE), Midjourney, SDXL etc. where ChatGPT might allow some free image generations but the quality is not at par with that produced for its premium customers. Midjourney on the other hand has made it completely pay-to-play for its users to first get subscription before being able to use it. However there are studios like Qolaba where you can get access to all premium versions of popular GenAI tools like GPT-4, Dall-E, Midjourney, SDXL etc. You can try it out for FREE and even get more free credits to see which model actually serves your purpose.
Prompt: Commercial photography of a Cup cakes, studio light, black background, professional color grading
