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I've been an IT pro for awhile and I am recently getting more and more into web development. I'm especially interested in HTML 5, CSS 3, JavaScript, jQuery, and responsive design concepts. One thing I always seem to have problems with is images. I'm hoping some pros here can help out someone just starting.

Where do you find images to use for your client's sites / or your own sites? Besides taking your own pictures, is there a "go to" site that devs use that has good variety, high quality, and is preferably free?

Once you acquire some images, do you go through a routine of re-sizing them or otherwise fixing them up for use on your site? Gimp is pretty good for re-scaling, but sometimes the image quality degrades. It's probably best to get good images with the right size to begin with. Is there some CSS magic that devs typical use to get their images the size they want?

Like I said, I've been using Gimp to do simple things like create cool text, re-size images, and create basic banners. Is this a pretty good tool to use for this, or am I missing out on something better (and easier to use).

I've read a lot of articles online, but I trust people's input on this site.

spex5
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    What you're looking for is called "stock images" and if you search online for "free stock photography" you'll find what you're looking for. If you have very specific images you need (e.g. products the website is selling) then it's up to your client to provide those assets. – Dai Feb 27 '15 at 00:43
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    And as for worksflows – there are some blog posts from agencies and such out there, about what kind of tool chains and procedures they use, I’d suggest a little research in that regard. – CBroe Feb 27 '15 at 00:46
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    As far as GIMP is concerned, I so wanted to believe it could do what photoshop does and for years I tried, but it's just not up to task. If all you need to do is crop and resize, it should do fine (familiarize yourself with image types. Lossless images like PNG can be made to be small for web. Large, complex images and user uploads should be jpg). If however you need any creative made for a site, go with Photoshop. It's worth it. – Joseph Marikle Feb 27 '15 at 00:47
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    In a professional environment, you are usually provided with images from a designer and can go back to them if they are the wrong size! If you really need to do it yourself - photoshop is great but there is a big learning curve. – Leo Farmer Feb 27 '15 at 00:49

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If you need images for production, that you yourself can't make, you can check out shutterstock, for example. If your clients need photos or graphics, they will have to pay for them, one way or the other ;)

Here are some good primers for dealing with images on the web: Adaptive images - http://adaptive-images.com or Responsive Images - http://scottjehl.github.io/picturefill/ Retina Quality Images on the Web – http://imulus.github.io/retinajs/

With Bitmap images (Photos for example) always get the largest you can get and scale down to the sizes you need. With Vector - SVG for example - you can scale without losing quality, but when you scale vectors you will likely have to rework the drawing, because the proportions will not fit.

GIMP is open source and if you can not spend any money it will do the job. Like is said: scale down from large photos. No the other way around. You will lose Sharpness and Quality fast when enlarging images.

I don't know of good Photoshop alternatives on Windows. But I could give many great and cheap alternative for Photoshop, should you be using a Mac.

Captain Quirk
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