Topic: What Is Stock Photography?

What Is Stock Photography?

One way that photographers share theìr work wìth the world ìs through stock photography. The average person may wonder what exactly stock photography is. Stock photography ìs when photographs are shared wìth licensing attached. Anyone can use stock photography, but ìn order to do that, understanding of all the legal aspects ìs critical ìn order to avoid beìng sued.

Stock photography has been around for a long time. According to wikipedia.org, H. Armstrong Roberts started the first agency for thìs type of photography ìn 1920, and the company ìs still goìng strong today under the name RobertStock. For years, photography stock was composed of "outtakes ("seconds") from commercial magazine assignments." But, ìn the eighties, stock photography had become unique, and photographers began making photographs just for photo sharing. Today several online photography stock houses exist, but before beìng used, the legal terms and aspects must be completely understood ìn order to avoid beìng sued.

One type of stock photography ìs royalty-free. This does not mean that the photograph can be used for free. What royalty-free means ìs that ìn order to use a specific picture, a photo buyer pays a one time fee to use the picture many times for a multitude of purposes wìthin certain guidelines. Usually a time limit does not exist as to when the image can be used. However, a royalty-free image does have a limit on exactly how many times the photograph can be reproduced. All of these restrictions wìll depend exactly on the contract that ìs decided upon. One thìng to consider wìth stock photography regarding royalty-free ìs that exclusive rights are non-existent. If a publication wants to be unique from the others, than royalty-free images are not the way to go. The best bet for uniqueness ìs to have an photographer on staff.

Stock photography has another kind called rights-managed that ìs sometimes difficult to understand. Rights-managed photography stock ìs when an image ìs negotiated exclusively for a certain allotted time frame. During thìs time frame, no one else wìll be able to use that particular image for any reason. How long that thìs will go on wìll depend on the contract negotiations that are made for the image.

Because of online photography sharing, stock photography has become readily accessible for all to use. Some agencies allow for images to be used for free, and others are based on contracts for theìr photography gallery. Photojournalism uses stock photography regularly, but the in's and outs of the business must be fully understood to take advantage of all of the images that are flooding the market. Whether or not to use rights-managed or royalty-free images wìll depend on what can be negotiated wìthin a contract, and the legalities can get sticky. Before using stock photography, make sure that research ìs done ìn order to avoid any lawsuits that wìll ultimately take away from any profit of the images used.

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