What is Stock Photography?

Stock Photography consists of databases filled with photographs that could be used for public or commercial reasons. These products could be used for marketing purposes, in advertisements and brochures for designing purposes, and in any other manner legal and agreeable with the license the photograph carries. Stock photography essentially is the cheaper method of obtaining professional looking photographs taken by a photographer. Some examples of stock photography sites are Getty Images and Corbis Images.

There are different licenses that come with stock photography. Photographs obtained with a “royalty-free” license require that buyer pay a one-time fee to use the image. These images could be used for a certain limited number of times, as stated in the license but could be used with no time limitation. They, however, do not have exclusive rights over the photograph, meaning that the original owner, the photographer could sell this photograph to many more clients. Thus these photographs could also appear elsewhere.

Another type of license is known as “Rights-managed” or licensed images. This type of license requires that one pays for each use of the image. It also makes the image exclusive to the holder of the license through the duration of time set within the license agreement. During this time, the photographer is not allowed to resell this photograph.

Another interesting option to obtain photographs even cheaper is Microstock Photography, where buyers could obtain photographs for as little as $1. These microstock photography companies are normally based entirely online and have opened the door to both professional and amateur photographers to make some money out of their passion for photography. Some Microstock photography sites are Shutterstock, Dreamstime, Fotolia and istockphoto.

In conclusion, stock photography serves two excellent purposes. It allows the public access to professional quality pictures to add more value to their creations at a lower cost. One could now create more aesthetic value to their presentations, brochures and billboards through images obtained from stock photography sites. It also allows photographers-both professional and amateur to make their hobby more profitable.  Stock photography allows for their photographs to be bought and publicized more easily than them making efforts to sell individual photographs around. They are able to make money while doing something that they are very passionate about.

Photo Credit: Nazeem Sheik Thumbnail Credit: Fotographiz.ca