Web 2.0 Tools Write-Up

Stock.Xchng

This website is one of many free stock photography sites on the Internet. Using a search function, people can find and use free-stock photos for projects with citations.  Many companies and schools use stock photography sites for projects so they can add photos and make their projects better. Creating an account is optional but useful, because it lets you download photos at different sizes and allows you to post your own photos.

Tutorials

Multiple other resources are available at Stock.XCHNG that other free stock photography sites don't offer. Stock.XCHNG has other resources,such as blogs, tutorials, and other ways to help utilize the photos you find on the site. The site also offers multiple other options that makes it exceptional. You can search random photos by popularity and most commented stock photos for easy access to photos that you know will be good, for example. Stock.XCHNG has a large variety of photos, which come in decent sizes and with decent quality.

However, the site does have its limitations. The best-quality photos are watermarked and must be purchased with the site's "Credits", which may cost between $.24 to $.99 depending on the quantity you buy at once. Also, some of the photos you're looking for may not be on the site, or you may not be able to find it due to the search function going wrong. Stock.XCHNG can be fairly limiting in this aspect- if you are doing a project similar to other people, you may find one of the pictures you used repeated in another person's project. 

As stated before, this website could easily be used in school to find photos to use on a project that will be posted online with citations. Students can also learn how to use the photos with the site's many blogs and tutorials. This helps you develop your skills in programs such as Photoshop, iPhoto, etc. 

Stock.XCHNG

Stock.xchng - the Leading Free Stock Photography Site. HAAP Media Ltd., 14 Jan.
     2011. Web. 14 Jan. 2011. <http://www.sxc.hu/>.