... as a graphic designer I will often spend hours locating the right image no matter what site and what price. If, while searching, I notice the image I require is on several sites, I will of course choose the cheaper option! But I would have purchased it at the more expensive option if that had been the only choice!
This IMHO is how the typical graphic designer thinks. How bloggers, advertising agencies, etc. think when purchasing is probably different.
Interesting. I have so often read on forums that designers don't have time to look for the 'best' image, they will search through a few pages at one or two agencies to find an image that meets their needs (satisficing). This is said to be why search rank is so important. (a proportion of Alamy buyers search on thousands of images, so some buyers work your way.
I was always horrified when I read the assertion that buyers don't spend much time looking for the best image, as when I was teaching I often spent ages trawling through free clip art, PD DVDs etc looking for the best images for my lessons - for free, in my own time (or at least I wasn't paid any more for having the most appropriate available images in my worksheets and presentations than I would have been with no graphics at all).
It must depend on the price of the job. Someone who is only willing to pay a minimal price for a design job can't expect the designer to spend hours trawling for perfect images. I wonder how often a designer forced by local circumstances to accept lower prices for their work says to the clients "for that price, I'll do the design, but you'll have to source the images yourself. Here's a/some stock agencies"?
It's that old saying of Robin Williams (Mac/design author, not the comedian):
Good
Fast
Cheap
Choose any two.
It must depend on the price of the job. Someone who is only willing to pay a minimal price for a design job can't expect the designer to spend hours trawling for perfect images. I wonder how often a designer forced by local circumstances to accept lower prices for their work says to the clients "for that price, I'll do the design, but you'll have to source the images yourself. Here's a/some stock agencies"?
It's that old saying of Robin Williams (Mac/design author, not the comedian):
Good
Fast
Cheap
Choose any two.
I can't imagine not spending the time to find the right image. It all balances out in the end because sometimes you find something almost immediately.