An introduction to stock photography

August 25 2009 | information | 0 comments.

An overview

What is stock photography?

The creative media industry makes use of stock photography to deliver creative assignments for many types of media and stock photography can be licensed by the likes of publishers, advertising houses, graphic and web site designers for use in their client projects. This ultimately reduces costs as it saves the need to hire photographic studios and photographers for individual projects.

The creative broker or agency

The Internet lends itself perfectly to the review and delivery of stock images, which are ultimately held in online databases by brokers or creative agencies, for review and download. In the case of istockcreative.com a community of members, professional and amateur, can upload their images for sale on a web based system and get paid when the image is downloaded for use in a creative project.

Exclusivity and image rights

Stock photography sites, including istockcreative.com, will pay an increased rate to members who provide content exclusively to their site, as opposed to offering an image through numerous sources. In any case the content must be the property of the contributor and meet all of the necessary criteria and permissions for licensing.

Royalty Free license

Sites such as istockcreative.com offer royalty free license for images, which means the download is licensed to be used unlimited times for a single, non-recurring, fee. The item is not however free to use in an unlimited context, generally having specific limitations to use but not beyond that a creative agency would generally require. Most stock photography sites will offer an extended license for occasions where the image is to be used beyond the scope of the standard license.

Rights Managed license

Rights managed license is more specific to an image, allowing greater exclusivity for the creative agency and end client but at an increased premium. Rights Managed licenses tend to be project and time specific to protect both parties. Generally royalty free agencies, such as istockcreative.com, do not offer a rights managed license as standard with an image, however where applicable this may be achievable.

Author: i3m

I head up i3m, a creative digital software studio in the United Kingdom specialising in usable, visually stunning, data driven applications, primarily for the Internet. To promote learning and development we set up i3mphotostock.com, a global member driven community offering learning and development for creative individuals, as well as a platform to buy and sell their works.

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