search tips

Overview

The screen is divided into two window panes. The area on the left is the search results window. To the right of the vertical divider is the lightbox (which also displays advertisements in default mode).

Above the search results window and the lightbox is the search bar. In the search bar, you can initiate new searches, search within existing results, open advanced search boxes, limit searches to royalty-free or rights-managed and redo past searches.

Above the search bar, there are two navigation tabs to return to search results and lightboxes when the main window is displaying something else.

At the very top, there are site information links for 'about us', 'contact', 'help', 'partners' and 'terms'.

How Do I resize windows?

One of the powerful benefits of StockPhotoFinder.com is the ability to make both the search results window and the lightbox larger or smaller to suit your needs. This is done by clicking on the vertical bar that divides the two halves and dragging that divider to the left or the right. Click and drag the window divider to resize it. You'll notice that the images tile (to shift from line to line as needed) to best fit the window size, enabling you to set up the most convenient workflow on your computer. You'll never again have to waste time scrolling horizontally.

How do I search?

It's simple. Enter words in the search box and click either the "new search" button (to begin a new search) or the "search in results" button to further refine an existing search that you have already made. Or, use one of the easy tools to facilitate other types of searches as shown in this table below. Note the two check boxes for RF and RM which enable you to limit searches to Royalty-Free images, Rights-Managed images or both.

search methods	how to search
new search	To initiate a search for the first time, enter one word, a series of words or a phrase wrapped in double quotes ("phrase here") in the search box and click the "new search" button.
search in results	"search in results" is especially useful because it enables you to keep refining your search until you have the image you want. After each search, replace the word in the search box and click "search in results" to find a limited search from within the records that were previously found. You can repeat the process, to search within the previous search results, as often as you need. In this way, you can quickly reduce a great many images to the best few for your purposes.
recent searches	To the right of the search box is a pulldown menu that displays a continually updated list of the 20 most recent searches that you have done. Select from this list to revisit a previous search result.
similars search	Under each thumbnail image is the similars search icon (a squiggly equals sign). Clicking this icon will initiate a search for images in the database that are similar to this one thumbnail. Clients use this feature to display a prioritized group of thumbnails, sorted by their similarity to the one selected. In this way, clients can quickly find comparable images as soon as they have found one image from millions that is "almost ideal".
advanced +	By clicking the "advanced +" link to the right of the search box, a new level of search is revealed which assists in constructing Boolean logic searches. Each search box is separated by "AND" or "NOT". Enter a word in one or more boxes, reserviing the last box that follows "NOT" for subjects you want to exclude rather than include. Then click the "new search" or "search in results" button to activate the search request.
idea search	Coming soon, the perfect image research tool for conceptual advertising.

Search Tips:

Use a space between words to mean AND. So, entering MIAMI BEACH is the same as entering MIAMI AND BEACH in the search box. If you want to search for a phrase, instead of using the space to mean AND, wrap the search phrase in double quotes. So, "MIAMI BEACH" will find the city name Miami Beach, whereas entering MIAMI BEACH with no quotes will find beaches that also have the keyword Miami. Another alternative is to use the word NOT to exclude images of whatever follows the word NOT. So, BEACH NOT MIAMI will likely find images of every beach except that in Miami.

How does the lightbox work?

To make it as easy as possible for you, note that you do not need to log in to use the lighbox function. StockPhotoFinder saves your lightboxes and user experience based on the computer you are using by using cookies. (This does mean, though, that if you change computers, such as using one at home and one at the office, or if you delete your "cookies", you will loose your current lightboxes and settings.)

Click the lightbox tab to display or remove the lightbox in the right window pane.

Click the square with the plus sign under each thumbnail in the left pane to add that image to the current lightbox which is displayed on the right side.

Click the square with the minus sign under thumbnails on the right side to remove that image from the current lightbox.

(Note that lightboxes at StockPhotoFinder.com function as universal gathering points that can include images from all the stock photo web sites that are searched by this engine. You will also encounter, from time to time, links to the separate, internal lightboxes of the image provider which are specific to the images of that one provider.)

How do I contact the image supplier?

Click the thumbnail image to view the preview page from the website of the rights holder of that image. This preview page will likely contain the necessary guidance to login, make contact and license the use of that image.

Alternatively, click the at sign ("@") which appears beneath each thumbnail image. By clicking the at sign, you will view a special "contact page" or" about us" page from the rights holder or authorized agent that describes the preferred method for you to contact them about licensing the image you seek. Preview pages might also contain local navigation for that particular web site.

It is important to note that clicking the thumbnail image or the at sign delivers you directly to the separate web site of that particular image provider. You can proceed deeper into their web site for search and licensing, or return to using the global tools of stockphotofinder.com that are displayed at the top of the page.