ROLLS HERE sorry, I know this is the mod contact post but I was also experiencing this problem not long ago and I can share some of the things I've kind of discovered while collecting images for my decks.
First, don't be scared of using google/yahoo images because I actually found some really great stuff in there. Not to mention it can lead you to some sources for a lot of images. They also have like those settings that let you sort by size (well, Yahoo does), which a lot of the images in my Kara deck are actually found on wallpaper sites; they're the one that aren't like edited to hell and back.
Those image searches also have like really crappy images too: ones that are really pixelated or small. If you don't have it already, Image Search Options is an app that can be added to Chrome and Firefox (possibly others) that let's you right click an image and use it on google image search, which will pull up all versions of that image it has cataloged on the web. So you can take a 240 x456 image, do this, and find one that's 800 x 1234 or something (those aren't correct aspect ratios, but you get the gist I hope).
And yeah tumblr is really, really helpful with it's tagging system and Fyeahs, but can also be filled with edits and craziness and tags can be hellish to sift through. But, if you find an edited image that'd possibly be too edited to use in a deck, you can also do the above and see if it can come up with the original. This can be a long shot since it processes images by shapes and colours (which edited images distort colour), but I actually got a couple images out of this! Oh, and maybe this goes without saying, but images like this are what I mean by usable where as edits like this you won't get anything out of it.
Also, just searching IDOL/BAND NAME fansite can bring you to sites with workable galleries or if they have LQ galleries, you can just use the google search trick again.
This is a good image tumblr, not just because it obviously offers HQ images but also because going to picture links directly takes you to a site called minus that has a gallery of similar pictures. IE going to this picture and clicking on the text beneath it takes you to this link which tah dah, has more like images in a gallery type format which are also HQ. Also, just searching for "hq kpop pictures" or something can take you to numerous galleries with tags that go to idols and bands.
That specific site, minus, is actually nice but hell if I know how to fully navigate it. Going to the kpophqpictures minus, it looks like the images cut off at two months ago but they have loads more galleries that you can get to from their tumblr. Also taking the following link (http://kpophqpictures.minus.com/explore/) and after the last / adding the name of your group or idol can bring you to other galleries by other users.
Also, for certain idols, regardless of what you do it's just hell finding pictures, mostly because they just aren't so popular. I know that looking for pictures of Nicole from KARA I found idk how many galleries, sites, pictures, etc of Hara and for every 20 Hara links/galleries there was maybe one Nicole one. If your band or idol isn't like mondo popular (at least in terms of their group mates), it's quite possible that you're just going to have a hard time finding stuff for them. My Nicole donation was pretty shotty in terms of HQ consistent pictures.
Another thing is (and this might need a STOP DON'T from an admin) that some photoshoots are just really tiny? I know a lot of photoshoots I liked only have 7 pictures, some might have had 12. So if you can find a tiny photoshoot that you know has no other sources of idk photoshoot material, those might be good to involve. This only works with single members though.
And thooose are basically all the tips I personally have for you! Hope that helped!
OH and P.S. Minitokyo has some scans for idol groups; I know at least it has a decent Kara section I found useful, though I think it's more for idol groups that actually made it to Japan.
no subject
First, don't be scared of using google/yahoo images because I actually found some really great stuff in there. Not to mention it can lead you to some sources for a lot of images. They also have like those settings that let you sort by size (well, Yahoo does), which a lot of the images in my Kara deck are actually found on wallpaper sites; they're the one that aren't like edited to hell and back.
Those image searches also have like really crappy images too: ones that are really pixelated or small. If you don't have it already, Image Search Options is an app that can be added to Chrome and Firefox (possibly others) that let's you right click an image and use it on google image search, which will pull up all versions of that image it has cataloged on the web. So you can take a 240 x456 image, do this, and find one that's 800 x 1234 or something (those aren't correct aspect ratios, but you get the gist I hope).
And yeah tumblr is really, really helpful with it's tagging system and Fyeahs, but can also be filled with edits and craziness and tags can be hellish to sift through. But, if you find an edited image that'd possibly be too edited to use in a deck, you can also do the above and see if it can come up with the original. This can be a long shot since it processes images by shapes and colours (which edited images distort colour), but I actually got a couple images out of this! Oh, and maybe this goes without saying, but images like this are what I mean by usable where as edits like this you won't get anything out of it.
Also, just searching IDOL/BAND NAME fansite can bring you to sites with workable galleries or if they have LQ galleries, you can just use the google search trick again.
This is a good image tumblr, not just because it obviously offers HQ images but also because going to picture links directly takes you to a site called minus that has a gallery of similar pictures. IE going to this picture and clicking on the text beneath it takes you to this link which tah dah, has more like images in a gallery type format which are also HQ. Also, just searching for "hq kpop pictures" or something can take you to numerous galleries with tags that go to idols and bands.
That specific site, minus, is actually nice but hell if I know how to fully navigate it. Going to the kpophqpictures minus, it looks like the images cut off at two months ago but they have loads more galleries that you can get to from their tumblr. Also taking the following link (http://kpophqpictures.minus.com/explore/) and after the last / adding the name of your group or idol can bring you to other galleries by other users.
Also, for certain idols, regardless of what you do it's just hell finding pictures, mostly because they just aren't so popular. I know that looking for pictures of Nicole from KARA I found idk how many galleries, sites, pictures, etc of Hara and for every 20 Hara links/galleries there was maybe one Nicole one. If your band or idol isn't like mondo popular (at least in terms of their group mates), it's quite possible that you're just going to have a hard time finding stuff for them. My Nicole donation was pretty shotty in terms of HQ consistent pictures.
Another thing is (and this might need a STOP DON'T from an admin) that some photoshoots are just really tiny? I know a lot of photoshoots I liked only have 7 pictures, some might have had 12. So if you can find a tiny photoshoot that you know has no other sources of idk photoshoot material, those might be good to involve. This only works with single members though.
And thooose are basically all the tips I personally have for you! Hope that helped!
OH and P.S. Minitokyo has some scans for idol groups; I know at least it has a decent Kara section I found useful, though I think it's more for idol groups that actually made it to Japan.