William Lund asked:


When my brother John started his photography business about 35 years ago…there was no such thing as an answering machine! Nor did individuals have fax machines…He remembers being very excited about getting a fax machine…because now an Art Director could send him a layout without using a bike messenger or Fed Ex!. Now, here he is shooting without film, digitally enhancing his images on a computer and delivering them via the internet.

For twenty years he shot assignments. A huge part of the business was marketing him self to ad agencies and design firms. Thanks in large part to his foray into digital manipulation of his images; he was very successful at his marketing. He was selling stock photos through “Tony Stone”, later to become Getty Images, and through “The Stock Market” along with my line of greeting cards being sold through Portal Publications. He was shooting assignments, but he was very picky and only took assignments that really interested him.

If you were an advertising agency you went to Tony Stone, The Stock Market, or a tiny handful of stock photography houses. There was no internet and thus no way for small businesses to easily purchase stock photos for their advertising needs.

After the dot com bubble burst he found him self without assignments for a couple of months…but it didn’t matter because he was making plenty of money with stock photography. One gig ended and another took over. Of course, today that industry is in turmoil…first royalty-free stock photos impacted the business…and now micro-stock. I even see pay per click ads that cost the advertiser money…advertising free stock photos! I guess he doesn’t have much to worry about that now because the prices can’t go any lower than that free!

I remember when it took a week and buckets of money to get a good print from a photo lab! Now, if I want to print a funny animal picture I just hit command-p on my keyboard and get almost free prints that are of far better quality than anything I used to get from the lab! I can make fine art prints that are even more archival than what the labs could offer right in my own office…and these prints are in my hands in just a matter of minutes.

A few years ago my brother bought a house…a beautiful house on a hillside overlooking a valley. He was surrounded by horses, deer, wild turkeys, and even bobcats and coyotes! He planned living in that house till the end of his days. A close friend cautioned him though, that he should not count on living there forever. “One day you will sell that house” he said. My brother laughed. As I write this He is planning on selling the house in the spring.

John’s greeting card business was growing like crazy. Each quarter his royalty checks were getting larger and larger. People loved the cards…the company was thriving and he was their number one greeting card artist. Still, a business consultant friend of his suggested that he create a worst-case scenario plan for his business just in case something went wrong. John found it difficult to do because he could not possibly see any worst case scenarios on the horizon. Eventually he forgot about the backup plan for his stock photo business.

Fast forward five years…the greeting card company no longer exists. It was purchased by a venture capital firm that made some bad decisions and the business for all practical purposes died. He is now with a different greeting card company and they are slowly rebuilding the business. One thing is different this time…he no longer assumes that the greeting card business will be around forever.

Two new 35mm digital cameras have just been announced…one by Nikon and one by Canon, that both shoot, in addition to extremely high quality digital stills, HDTV motion. Videos are becoming increasing popular…as evidenced by Youtube and other internet sites for sharing video clips. There is an emerging market for stock video clips.

The stock photography business is changing rapidly. More and more small business’s are turning to the internet and purchasing their stock photos online and even getting free stock photos! Digital cameras are not only prolific, but producing better images and in some cases they produce images of higher quality than you could shoot with a film camera.

I believe the future of stock photography is online. Photographers need to adapt to changing times and learn to market their work on the internet.

Who was it who said the only constant is change? That is so true…but he does have a method for coping with all this change. His secret is a good attitude and continuously reminding him self of the need to stay open and flexible.

Victor Mars asked:


Stock Image includes stock photography and stock footage, means images that can be licensed for specific uses. their uses are very popular with designers, graphic artists, art directors, advertising agencies, and marketing professionals, in magazine advertisements, websites, and marketing brochures. Instead of hiring a professional photographer to create an image. A collection of stock photography may also be called a photo archive, picture library, image bank or photo bank.

Since 1920’s, images could be filed at an agency that negotiates licensing fees on the photographer’s behalf in exchange for a percentage. With the advent of the digital photography, and so many people armed with cameras of high enough quality to shoot great photos, it is a good idea to make these photos available to each other, at a low price, while paying the photographers a commission for each photo sold. Today, the Internet wave pushes this business increasingly blossoming online, especially with the newer micro-stock models.

In this industry, a important feature is so-called “Royalty-free”. “Free” in this context means “free of royalties (paying each time you use an image)”. It does not mean the image is free to use without purchasing a license or that the image is in the public domain. Details:

1. Pay a one-time fee to use the image multiple times for multiple purposes (with limits).

2. No time limit on when the buyer can use an image.

3. No one can have exclusive rights of a Royalty-free image (the photographer can sell the image as many times as he or she wants).

4. A Royalty-free image usually has a limit to how many times the buyer can reproduce it. For example, a license might allow the buyer to print 10,000 brochures with the purchased image. The amount of copies made is called the print run. Above that print run the buyer is required to pay a fee per brochure. Those magazines with a large print run cannot use a basic Royalty-free license and therefore they either purchase images with an extended license or have in-house photographers.

There are two kinds of licenses, Basic and Extended.

With a Basic License, licensee may print or use the image for their personal use in any size provided that there is no subsequent sale or transfer to other persons. The images that users download under the Basic License may be used to make fine art prints, on web sites, in magazines, newspaper, products, software, newsletters, advertisements, flyers, packaging, marketing material, school assignments, presentations, and within films or videos, books or booklets, in either printed or electronic media, as long as the item in which the image appears does not contradict some restrictions. Note that the maximum number of copies for printed materials is limited, for example 10,000 copies. The images that users download with the Basic License also may be used as “editorial use” to illustrate truthful articles or broadcasts appearing in magazines, newspapers or any other editorial context, in either printed or electronic media.

But only With a Basic License, users may not use the images in products in which these images are dominant feature if the product is to be subsequently sold or distributed. Examples include posters, postcards, greeting cards, mugs, T-shirts, canvas, hats, mouse pads, magnets, art prints, paintings, or calendars, and screensavers, web templates, software, web page builders, gallery, or any system where the image file can be unincorporated from the software or system or be shared among, transferred to, or otherwise distributed to a number of users. It is also forbidden to make the image available on a website for download (as wallpapers for example). The use of images for these purposes under the Basic License is not permitted. In these cases, users should buy Extended Licenses.

The following licenses offer extended types of usage for Basic Licenses. These are additional licenses to the rights included within the Basic Licenses. Note that the other restrictions still apply.

1. Increase Max Copies: Extends our Basic Licenses to a maximum amount of printed copies, let us say up to 1,000,000 copies, etc.

2. Electronic Items for Resale: this license includes the right to use the images for web templates that are sold to more customers, screensavers, e-cards, PowerPoint presentations or as wallpapers on cell phones.

3. Physical Items for Resale: includes the right to use the photos for T-shirts, postcards, greeting cards, mugs, mouse pads, posters, calendars, framed artwork that is to be sold to other customers.

Note, buying the high-resolution image (purchasing the license) does not transfer the copyright.

Another important feature of web-based stock photography collections is that the images have been embedded with meta-data, therefore making the images searchable by using keywords. This feature helps users finding photos or footages very quickly over the Internet and make the cost lower and lower. Finally, more and more people can enjoy high quality digital images and videos, and the world becomes more and more beautiful.

Neil J Bradford asked:


United Independent Photographers from around the world unite to form an affordable Royalty Free and Rights Managed Stock Photography Library.

At last, a stock photos library offering the highest quality stock photography royalty free stock photos, rights managed stock photos at one flat rate, low price and the actual artist receiving all the payment… No agency commission!

Beginning with a royalty free stock photography photo library called www.Flower-Photos.co.uk back in 2002, you may guess correctly that it was focussed (no pun intended, honest!) on flowers, plants and tree with some really high quality close-ups that made me feel as though I was entering another world.

As the art director, graphic designer and website designer of a garden centre, garden center to our American cousins, which was the flag ship of our group and our group belonging to the UK’s largest chain of independent garden centres, I was in the perfect location to photograph flowers, plants, shrubs and trees at the drop of a hat.

The website really took off, paying for its self, the film and processing including scans from Fuji Labs UK and then began making a profit. Not a huge profit but enough to plough back in and expand the library.

I was contacted from a number of horticultural photographers over the first few years but declined their portfolios as I simply didn’t have the time to manage a team of photographers and their work.

Over the years however, I couldn’t ignore some of the quality of work being submitted and it wasn’t just flower photography, it was every theme imagineable.

In 2004, with many of my own photographs, all the photos from www.Flower-Photos.co.uk and the sister site www.My-Flower-images.com I launched an all subject royalty free and rights managed stock photography website and image library called: www.Photo-Image-Stock.com or www.BuyRoyaltyFreeStockPhotography.com with 6 other photographers from around the world contributing a wide spectrum of themes from food photos and cuisine to motorbikes to landscapes and seascapes… it grew and grew and now in June 2005, there are 20,000 photos up on the site and that’s only a small percentage of what I still have waiting to be sent up with more being submitted every week!

I and the library don’t take a penny or any commission from sales. The payments go directly to the photographer, I get a larger viewership as there’s more to see and hopefully broaden my chances of actually selling some of my own photos!

I was sick of paying $200 for an image from stock photo libraries and then as I went through the online form and entering where the image was to be used and how many issues were to be printed, the price soar to $1,500 or more!

I thought it was about time someone started a library offering really high quality stock photography at a flat low cost price that didn’t get higher the more editions or posters were being printed, where it didn’t matter if the photo was being used on an inside page of a magazine or the front cover, where you could use the image over and over again with no additional charges…. www.Photo-Image-Stock.com provides just that – One flat rate of $77.00 / £40.00 / €58.00 for a single image and discounts for multiple image purchases as below:

2-4 images (10% discount): $69.00 / £36.00 / €52.00 per image

5-9 images (20% discount): $61.00 / £32.00 / €47.00 pi

10-19 images (30% discount): $54.00 / £28.00 / €41.00 pi

20-40 images (40% discount): $46.00 / £24.00 / €35.00 pi

The majority of stock photos are taken using slide / positive film but where digital cameras have been used, only the highest quality digital images have been accepted.

The slide film used is either Fuji Velvia or Sensia at ASA50 or ASA100, then the film is processed at FujiLab UK and scanned to CD at 450dpi and a physical size of 20cm x 13.5cm (8″ x 5.5″)

which is higher than the industry standard requirement of 300dpi but means that these images are crystal clear if used as a front cover of a glossy magazine.

There’s also a second option for web designers or for those with low budgets so low they can’t even afford our low rates, subscibing to our service for a low monthly or annual rate and downloading almost an indefinite number of medium res’ photos high enough res’ to be used on printed material if reduced in physical size but easily high enough res’ to be used for in-house posters or on web pages.

I set out to provide excellent quality stock photography at a very low and affordable price that would enable graphic designers, web site designers, art directors, picture desks and anybody else, to stretch their budgets further and not choke every time they ordered a photograph from an stock photography library…. I hope I have accomplished this in some small way.

Anybody wishing to purchase our images can visit us at the websites above and any keen photographers with quality work wishing to submit their work can also find a submissions page with further information on our website also.

Dan Feildman asked:


tography is simply photos taken “on spec”. This means the photographer takes pictures of various objects, people, or situations, and sells them after the pictures have been taken. They are not on a specific photography assignment, instead they are taking photos of subjects they\’d like to take pictures of.

Stock photography is primarily used in printed advertisements, brochures, magazines, and web sites, though there are many other ways stock photography can be used.

Stock photography is licensed in several different ways. The two most popular are Rights Managed Stock Photography, and Royalty Free Stock Photography.

Rights Managed photography is the use of stock photos that are licensed for a specific, limited time and purpose. If an advertiser for instance, needed a stock photo for one specific ad campaign, they could license a photo for that specific use. And they\’d be limited to using the photo only for that campaign. They\’d also be charged based on the size of the ad campaign they intended to use the stock photo for.

If they wanted to use the same photo again, they\’d have to pay another fee. And that fee might be different, if the campaign use and sizes are different. These recurring fees are called royalties, and with rights managed stock photography they can be quite hefty. Ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars for the limited use of one photograph.

Royalty free stock photography allows you to pay a license fee once, then use the photo multiple times. There are usually limitations on this form of stock photography, however the restrictions are not nearly as narrow as rights managed photography is. A designer or advertiser could license one photo for instance, and use it in hundreds of different ad campaigns, without incurring additional fees. In other words: No royalty fees need to be paid.

Generally royalty free stock photography can be licensed for as little as $50 up to several hundred dollars depending on the licensing source and rights given.

One of the most popular forms of stock photography for small and web based businesses, is royalty free micro stock photography. This is a variation on the royalty free model, but it\’s referred to as “micro stock” because designers and advertisers pay just a dollar or two per image license.

This type of stock photography has become quite popular with web site owners particularly, because it\’s a very inexpensive way to get top quality photos for use on their web sites. Quality stock photos can be licensed for as little as $1 in smaller, web friendly sizes. And prices go up to about $3 or $5 for larger, print quality photo sizes.

Since these photos are royalty free, designers can use them multiple times for that one time low cost. Be sure to check the licensing restrictions though. Royalty free does not automatically mean “public domain” or “copyright free”, and each micro stock photography site has their own particular use restrictions on the photos you license.

Once you have grasped the basics of photography you will be half way there to making an great monthly income supplement, by selling your photos on Stock Photography Sites, so make sure you take a good look at this basic photography course