Images of Playing Cards

June 22, 2005 11:12 AM

For a design job, I need images of standard playing cards: both the faces and the backs. These will be for commercial sites (not personal use), so I need images that I can use legally (I can't credit the photographer). I prefer free, but will pay if I must. Vector is fine if it looks real. So is raster. On stock sites, I keep finding cards, but they are always shot from odd angles or are partially obscured.

I know, I know ... shoot them myself. But speed is of the essence, here. Thanks!

posted by grumblebee to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

Seriously, you have answered your own question. What could be easier than getting a deck of cards, throwing them on the kitchen table and taking some digital shots? It could have been done by the time you posted this. Hell, if you pay me I'll do it on my lunch break.

I'm also assuming these shots are for gambling sites. Don't those guys have enough money to shell out some photography?
posted by quadog at 11:19 AM on June 22, 2005

Response by poster: quadog, I need to get some work done in the next few hours, and I don't have a digital camera where I'm working. Nor do I have controllable lighting. I need QUALITY.

Yes, they can afford it, but there's a ton of red tape involved. Like I said in my post, I'm trying to clear this job off my table as-quickly-as possible. What with all the software-based card games, I assume there are stock images somewhere. But I can't find them.
posted by grumblebee at 11:41 AM on June 22, 2005

I don't know which stock sites you've already looked at, butMorgueFile has some good stock playing card photos. You could also try Stock.XCHNG.
posted by geeky at 11:42 AM on June 22, 2005

I'll do it now, if you want - I have playing cards and a scanner. Email me.
posted by nylon at 11:46 AM on June 22, 2005

SVG playing cards under the LGPL license

Not beautiful, but might do the trick.
posted by skryche at 12:40 PM on June 22, 2005

I'd be careful about doing your own photography/scanning; playing card designs are absolutely copyrighted. (Think of the face cards and joker in particular.)
posted by trevyn at 1:17 PM on June 22, 2005

Wouldn't there be some cards out there that have gotten out of copyright?
posted by Iax at 2:19 PM on June 22, 2005

My favorite stock photo site is istockphoto. The images are royalty free and insanely cheap ($1-$3 per photo). I did a search for "playing cards" and got 178 hits. As with any stock photo / clipart site, there are some use restrictions (you can't take the picture and trademark it as your own logo, for example), but the terms are pretty generous.
posted by roundrock at 3:00 PM on June 22, 2005

Response by poster: roundtrack, istockphoto (which is, I agree, a great resource) was the first place I looked. But all the photos I found there were of cards at odd angles or they were partially obscured. I need whole cards that are "looking" straight at the camera.

I have one of the HUGE photoobject CDs. I'm amazed they're not on there. I may just shoot them at home tomorrow. But I really thought they would be easy to find online.
posted by grumblebee at 3:56 PM on June 22, 2005

Maybe you could run out to your local bookstore and grab this.
posted by Chrischris at 7:09 AM on June 23, 2005