We all love images: it's why we're here. We love photographs that stop us in our tracks, make us forget whatever we were just doing, and force us to just sit and stare. We love getting lost in the world of a video, losing ourselves in a sound, marveling at an illustration. Some of us even love a good Flash drop-down menu. (Really.) We all know the feeling, even if we don't know the name for it. That'd be Punctum: to be punctured, wounded even, by an aesthetic moment. It's a sharp metaphor (courtesy of Roland Barthes). It's the perfect word for the feeling we crave when we turn to art.

Around these parts, Punctum is something else: our very own holiday. Join us on August 19th for our 3rd annual celebration of all things arresting and puncturing here at iStockphoto. It's your chance to vote for your favorites from each of our file-families.

Our latest Tip of the Month features some pointers on performing better searches with iStock. To accompany it, we've prepared a video tip, featuring the one and only Keywords. He'll have you making multiple-phrase searches in no time.

See the video here.

The rumors are true. You asked for a collection of exceptional imagery and now we’re ready to show it off. Introducing the Vetta Collection.


It’s not enough to want success. You have to take risks, develop ruthless standards and never, ever settle. Images in the Vetta Collection, Italian for peak, seized their own artistic destiny and created a whole new calibre of art.

Vetta images are hand-picked by a team of high-performance iStockphoto editors for their exquisite art direction and intelligently executed concepts.

We’re proud to unveil this collection available only at iStockphoto. Vetta exists because of the passion and tenacity of our Exclusive artists. Vetta launched today with 35,000 images and vector illustrations meeting the collection’s strict acceptance criteria. Give us a few hours to top up the collection with all the files. Prices will range from 20-70 credits for images (small to XXXL) and 30 credits for Exclusive elaborate vectors.

Experience Vetta’s creative prowess for yourself. or discover Vetta’s magic in any regular search: Vetta images will have a gold camera icon.

Update: We've added a new Q & A post, addressing some of the questions we've been hearing most often the last week. You can read it here.

The Beach by Macy Wong (member macy75 from the Netherlands) is iStockphoto's 5 millionth approved file. Let's all hear a round of applause for her, and for the whole community, clients and contributors alike. And while we're at it, let's give a special salute to all of our illustrators (given that 5 million is a vector and all). They've created what we like to refer to as the very best illustration collection anywhere.

We've come a long way together in a short time: we've grown into spheres we never would have imagined a few years ago. These are special times. So lets keep on celebrating together, shall we? Thanks again to each and every iStock member for making this possible. The movement is on...

The rumors are true. You asked for a collection of exceptional imagery and now we’re ready to show it off. Introducing the Vetta Collection.


It’s not enough to want success. You have to take risks, develop ruthless standards and never, ever settle. Images in the Vetta Collection, Italian for peak, seized their own artistic destiny and created a whole new calibre of art.

Vetta images are hand-picked by a team of high-performance iStockphoto editors for their exquisite art direction and intelligently executed concepts.

We’re proud to unveil this collection available only at iStockphoto. Vetta exists because of the passion and tenacity of our Exclusive artists. Vetta launched today with 35,000 images and vector illustrations meeting the collection’s strict acceptance criteria. Give us a few hours to top up the collection with all the files. Prices will range from 20-70 credits for images (small to XXXL) and 30 credits for Exclusive elaborate vectors.

Experience Vetta’s creative prowess for yourself. or discover Vetta’s magic in any regular search: Vetta images will have a gold camera icon.

To improve iStockphoto’s performance we’re getting a few hardware upgrades. H*ck yes!

The site will be down from Thursday, June 18 from 7 p.m. to midnight MST.

Yes, iStockphoto's 5 Millionth Approved File will soon be joining the collection ranks. More than ever at this stage of our progression, everything is about quality, everything is about passion and vision ... and not just about sheer numbers. The overall strength and abilities of our contributors is what's really climbing. That said, those sheer numbers are rising too, and as far as milestones go, this is a big one, no doubt. Place your bets... as that file is most likely sitting right now in one of the Q's.