Article: Stock Images
What is a stock image?
Stock images are existing photographs that are available for purchase on a royalty-free or rights-managed basis. Stock photography agencies purchase images from professional and amateur photographers. Stock images are used by a large number of companies in many different industries, including advertising, publishing, web design and multimedia.
Using stock images saves companies time and money. The internet and digital technology has changed the nature of stock photography. Online agencies, such as Corbis and Getty Images, have searchable databases and archives and all transactions can be completed online.
Royalty-free versus rights-managed
Stock photography can be royalty-free or rights managed. When an image is royalty-free, fees do not have to be paid every time the image is used. There are no exclusive rights for using the image. Within reason, images can be many times for different purposes in different contexts. The photographer can sell the image as many times as he or she wants to different companies or individuals.
When an image is rights-managed or licensed, fees must be paid each time the image is used. The purchaser has exclusive rights to that particular image for a certain length of time or number of uses. The photographer can sell the image again only once the license with the first purchaser has expired.
If you want exclusive use of a particular image, you must purchase a rights-managed image.
How do stock photography agencies operate?
Stock photography agencies operate by purchasing existing images from professional and amateur photographers for a fee. This fee is negotiated, depending upon whether the image is royalty-free or rights managed.
The stock photography company can then sell the photograph to other companies or individuals. The prices of stock photographs differ according to the size of the audience, how long it will be used and the country or region in which it will be seen. Prices can vary from as little as $1 to as much as $250. Individual sales can reach up to thousands of dollars, if purchaser is gambling on the success of an image.
The internet and stock photography
In the 1990s, stock image agencies took advantage of the internet revolution. Companies such as Getty Images, Corbis, Jupiterimages and iStock photo run digital stock photography agencies online.
Customers can browse searchable, archived directories of photographs. Stock image categories cover almost every conceivable topic, anticipating usage in advertising, news, magazines, website and graphic design and so forth. Some agency offer low resolution images for free download. The entire transaction can take place online.
The Internet has also changed the profession of photography. Professional stock photographers can list their images with several stock agencies. More recently, amateur photographers have started submitting their own work to stock photography companies.
The influx of amateur photographers in the stock photography industry has complicated matters for professional photographers, as amateurs are often willing to sell their images as much lower prices. Despite this complication, the quality and quantity of stock images remains high, ensuring that work is easily seen and purchased by customers.