About stock photography

Using stock photography.

Instead of assigning your own photographers, stock photography is a set of ready-to-use images for subscribers who purchased the rights to use them. With digital stock photography, you get to see the final image even before you are granted the rights to use them and these images can be licensed immediately. The cost for stock photography, especially royalty-free images are much lower compared to assignment photography. Stock photography saves you model, photographer, location, props, art direction and editing costs.

Our images are royalty free.

Royalty-Free Digital Stock Photography is a concept where user of the images does not have to pay any royalty for repeated use of the images. The buyer does not own the copyright of the images but have purchased the rights to use the images legally without additional fees or interruption from the retailer. These images cannot be sold or transferred but it offers a wide range of benefits; mainly lower pricing and convenience.

Differences between Royalty-Free and Rights-Managed.

Rights-managed offers individual images to be rented through the negotiation of a specific price for a specific use. It offers clients exclusive rights plus the ability to restrict similar use of the image by others. The royalty-free concept allows customers an unlimited usage, where they do not need to pay royalties after the initial purchase. This greatly reduces the costs and allows greater freedom with the images purchased. Of course, by supplying all our images in digital format, our customers get to enjoy the advantage of being able to go straight to the color separator or print rather than having to scan them at an additional cost. Most importantly, it is more flexible than the traditional photo library.

How often new content is added.

New and better contents are added daily to our collections. Our objective is to ensure that our clients continue to renew their subscription and therefore we strive to provide new and good content regularly. All images are reviewed extensively by our creative team to ensure that you get your money's worth.

Using stock photos for a client.

Yes, it is allowed. All images are provided with a standard royalty-free license or extended royalty-free license. Please visit our licensing section to learn more about the various licenses.

About our royalty free images

Why images sold at a lower rate compared to other companies.

These images are contributed by photographers around the world with skills varying from amateur to professional. Submitted images go through a filtering process before they are released for sale. There is no compromise on quality. Provided images fit each user's budget. These photos are more affordable than what most image supplier offer, since the large number of images sold outweighs the low number of expensive imagery.

Model and property released on photographs.

All images have releases (s) from the image copyright owners or contributors, if applicable.

Photos are "royalty-free" does not mean you can just download/copy and use them.

You need to pay the licensing fees to use the images. Royalty-free requires a one time payment license fees for its use. Our images may be copied solely for illustrative purposes such as for client presentations or drafts. They cannot be used for any finished project, whether personal or professional. Any unauthorized download will be regarded as copyright infringement and Epictura will pursue legal action against unauthorized users.

Most images at are compressed JPEGs.

JPEGs and the download size is smaller than the full uncompressed size. So if you buy a 24Mb images you will downlaod a much smaller file size which you need to open in any image editing software to view the desired 24Mb image at full resolution.

Digital files higher than 300dpi resolution.

The DPI in any image does not affect the actual image resolution. To obtain a bigger or smaller DPI, you may simply change the DPI with any image editing software and re-save the image. In order to maintain the quality of the image, just make sure that you do not interpolate/resize the print size when changing the DPI.

How long can I use the image.

There is no usage limit for royalty-free images. You can use it for as many times and as long as you want.

About available credits.

You can view your remaining credits at the top of each page after you login to your account.

About credits and stock images cost

Credit system.

Credits are basically tokens redeemable for images. Our credit packages start at 20.00 and they can be purchased online. For every image that you download, a set number of credits will be deducted from your account, according to the image resolution. You may download as many images as you like, each download costs one to three Download Credits.

Download credits expiration.

Credits will expire 1 year from the date they're bought.

Purchasing single images.

Our credit system allows you to pre-purchase a package of credits online and redeem them for images. Each image costs between 1 and 10 credits and will be deducted from your account for every download depending on the file type and image resolution.

How many images can be purchased in a day/per transaction.

There is no limit to the number of images you may purchase in a day or per transaction providing you have sufficient credits.

What should I do if I face difficulties in downloading images.

For instance, an incomplete download due to connection or technical issues. In case of a connection error you may download the same image file size again for 7 days without losing any credits. We cannot refund on credit that has been deducted?

About registration

No charge for registering as a customer.

Registration is free of charge and there are no other hidden fees.

The need to register.

Only register users can purchase credits and download images. Registered users will also have access to the many facilities available, such as access to account pages, lightboxes, download history.

You have forgotten my password.

On the login page you will find a link to request a new password. The new password will be effective immediately, you will receive it by email.

You need to change change your password.

Ok, you can. Firstly, login to your account with your username and old password. Click on the 'Account' tab and click on the 'Change account password' link.

About changing address and other account details.

No problem, You can edit your account information anytime from your account section. You will need to login to your account first in order to do so.

Image search and lightbox

Searching for pictures.

You can type in relevant keywords in the search bar on the top left corner of the website. Alternatively, you can turn on the search options to search by availability and orientation.

Using lightboxes.

A lightbox is a "personal folder" on our website that you create. You can store and manage images of interest to you. Lightboxes are designed to organize your images. When you find an image on our website that you like, you can save it in a lightbox you've created. You would not need to save the image to your hard drive or jot down the image number. There is no limit on the number of lightboxes you can create and the amount of time we'll store them for you. You can choose to remove images that you no longer need in your lightbox.
Sometimes, images can be withdrawn and are no longer available for purchase or download. Images are withdrawn mostly at the request of the photographer. For such reason, we are unable to provide the image for download. We apologize for any inconveniences caused.

Downloading images

To download an image after purchase.

Click on the image thumbnail you intend to download and you will be prompted to view the image details on the next page. Choose the resolution you need and click 'Download Now'. Click the 'Save' button in the 'File Download' dialog box and choose the location where you want to save the file. Click 'Save' to begin downloading the file.
If you use Internet Explorer you may need to activate download of files from the security preferences of your browser.

How long does it take to download an image.

The download time for each image varies depending on the size of the image you are downloading, your Internet connection speed and your computer operating system.

Where do I find a record of my previous download.

To view previous downloads, click on the "Account" link. Then, click on the 'PREVIOUS DOWNLOADS' link. You can view previously downloaded images with date or image size. All photos can be downloaded again for 7 days but only at the same size. If you choose another size, credits will be deducted for the new size.

Technical help

I have registered but I cannot login to your website, what should I do.

Is the "Caps Lock" or "A" light on your keyboard on? If so, hit the "Caps Lock" key before trying again. Did you forget or misspelled your ID or password? Our username and password login is case sensitive. Please check your cookie settings to ensure it is on a medium privacy level. You'll need to enable your cookies in order to login to our site. Try clearing all your cookies and cache in your browser as well.

Which browser is compatible with this website.

For Windows: Internet Explorer 5.x and newer. Netscape 6.x and newer. For Mac: Safari. Internet Explorer 5.x and newer. Netscape 6.x and newer.

I am unable to access or make purchases on your website, what should I do.

It could be that your computer is behind a corporate firewall or your computer may not be accepting cookies. Please contact your web administrator for more information.

What should I do if I am unable to connect to a secured connection to make purchases.

You could be behind a corporate firewall that is currently blocking the port that is needed to make the secured purchase. Please contact your company web administrator for more information.

License and privacy

How do you protect my privacy and will my personal information be given to third parties.

We respect every user's privacy and we do not disclose, sell, share or divulge your personal information, including email to third parties.

About using images and the restrictions.

Our images are royalty-free and allow commercial use on most media. Please refer to our licenses for more information. The Licenses would be the best guide for you to understand more about permitted usage and restrictions.

What is Extended License and when do I need one.

Extended license covers use for Design Templates for resale (Web and/or Print), Prints for Resale Poster, Greeting Cards, Prints on Merchandise for Resale (mugs, stationery, t-shirts, etc), Design Elements on Software for Resale and any other Derivative Resale Objects. Each extended license is applicable for 1 image.

Do I have to pay every time I use the images.

With the standard royalty-free license, you only need to pay once no matter how many times you use the images.

About credit and copyright mention.

As our image collections are royalty-free, you do not need to credit the photographers for commercial usage. For editorial usage, you may credit: Photographer's Name / Epictura.