Stock Photography - An Introduction

Jun 5
15:32

2013

Aashika Kansara

Aashika Kansara

  • Share this article on Facebook
  • Share this article on Twitter
  • Share this article on Linkedin

There are many people who wish to enter the photography market. Also, there are many photographers who wish to enter the market of stock photography. But before entering a market, it is important that one is aware of what the market is all about.

mediaimage

Today,Stock Photography - An Introduction Articles while talking about photography with one of my fellow classmate, I came across Stock Photography.

For a long time we were talking about Stock Photography and stock photographers. But what is Stock Photography all about? Why is it that all the companies go for Stock Photography?

Stock Photography, in a layman’s language, is when photographs are shared with licensing attached.

The term Stock Photography refers to a supply of photographs which are licensed for specific use, most commonly to fulfill the needs of creative and design-assignments, without the need to hire a photographer.

Stock Photography is primarily used in printed advertisements, brochures, magazines, and websites, though there are many other ways it can be used.

Stock Photographs are usually not as expensive as what a company will have to spend in account of having shoots, hiring the best photographer, the models, location, traveling, etc. All they need to do is a few clicks and they get there photos delivered along with the necessary licenses. The key to Stock Photography is not so much the photo itself but the photo's ownership. The simple reason why Stock Photography is more popular than the usual assignment photography is that it is less time consuming, and saves lots of money.

Various big and small companies come up with new campaigns, ads, flyers, billboards, press releases, etc. But for all these they need the best photographers, best location, the correct models for the shoot, and also a huge amount of funds. It is better that the companies buy these photos instead of spending lakhs of rupees on shoots, models and photographers. This saves time of shooting the right picture and makes sure that the campaign starts as soon as possible.

Instead, what these companies do is that they purchase that suit best to their campaign from the internet. But where do they find these photos from? There are various Stock Photography Sites who sell images of various photographers. There are various photographers who just do Stock Photography. They shoot and then sell their images to these Stock Photography websites.

An amateur photographer always is keen on selling his clicks and becoming a part of the industry. The best place for these photographers is Stock Photography.

Stock Photography is usually very expensive and no small company will buy images which are expensive. They go for Micro Stock Photography.

Micro Stock Photography is where you get images at a very low price and small companies can easily afford those photos and use them in their campaigns, ads, etc.

Stock Photography can be advertised with a number of added-benefit licenses. Two of these licenses include Royalty-Free, and Rights-Managed Stock Photography.

A Royalty-Free license, often advertised as RF, means that once bought, the buyer may use the image as much as they like without having to pay additional fees every time the image is used. Purchasing royalty-free photography enables the buyer to use the image multiple times for multiple purposes whilst only paying a one-off fee. There's no limit on how many times the buyer can reproduce a royalty-free image and there is no time limit on when the buyer can use the image. However, when stock images are listed as royalty-free, buyers are unable to claim or buy exclusive rights to the image and the photographer may sell the image as many times as they want.

One thing to consider with Stock Photography regarding royalty-free is that exclusive rights are non-existent. If a publication wants to be unique from the others, then royalty-free images are not the way to go.

Rights-managed licenses, often advertised as RM or "licensed images” provide the buyer with assertion that the image will not be used by anybody else in a conflicting manner. Rights managed images often allow a much larger print run per image than the general Royalty-Free license. A RM agreement may include exclusivity and usually recognizes that this represents added value. However, not all rights-managed images are exclusive, specific terms and conditions can be found in the agreement between the buyer and seller.

During this time frame, no one else will be able to use that particular image for any reason. How long that this will go on will depend on the contract negotiations that are made for the image.

Since there are so many photographs available, the task of users finding the pictures is made easier by Keywording the images. Photographers get their photos key worded so that their clicks are on a higher rating and are sold so that even the photographers can earn some money.

The best service for Keywording is given at KeyIndia Graphics.  KeyIndia Graphics helps the buyer to find the perfect photos with the help of words they enter.

You can check out the services provided by KeyIndia Graphics on http://www.keyindiagraphics.com/.