Stock Photography An introduction Steve Heap
What is a Stock Photo? Photograph already available to meet the needs of a designer or editor rather than commissioned as required Available on-line and searchable For sale under various licensing options Available for web use, prints, calendars, greeting cards, magazine and news outlets, advertising, products
A Stock Photo!
And it s uses.
My best seller
And its Earnings Uploaded to 18 stock sites 5 Feb 2011: Difficult to track the sales of a single image across many sites but biggest earning site: Shutterstock: 1034 downloads: $1047 $1 per download is that all it is worth..
Images are Licensed, not Sold A digital download of the image is provided with a license to use the image In effect, permission is granted to use this copyrighted photo for specific uses There is no limit to the number of times a single image can be licensed and no direct cost to its supply to the purchaser of the license Hence pricing is driven by willingness to pay, not cost of supply
Rights Managed License Rights Managed: Image is licensed for a particular purpose and with a price that varies with that use. History of use can be tracked. Country: Worldwide Usage: External promotional campaign (non-advertising) - single design 100,000 print run, 1 year Industry sector: Non Profit - other Start: 31 December 2013 End: 31 December 2014 $149 50% Agency = $74.50
Royalty Free License Royalty Free: Image is licensed in broad categories with unlimited re-use. Illustrational use would be one price Resale or Product use is more expensive Royalty Free Shutterstock Limited to 250,000 copies 800 x 600 on websites Not for resale as a part of a product Licensed in Subscription Plan 25 downloads a day for $199 a month Income to photographer - $0.38
Crazy to sell Royalty Free?? The Competition is FREE
Micro vs Macro Stock Tricky to define exactly! Macro more traditional Rights Managed Stock. How things used to be for professional photographers. Higher prices per defined use. More support to buyers - refunds Micro on-line, Royalty Free, lower prices, higher volumes. Aimed at web use plus lower print runs Quality? High quality images on both types of agency
Microstock killed the industry? Is Micro stock devaluing the worth of photographers? Managing a stock library used to be hard and expensive: Catalog film, run demo prints, courier to the client, manage the licensing, provide final print Now everything is digital. Client can find and download with one click. The base of photographers has exploded with high quality cameras If a high quality image is available for $20, or for Free, who will pay the traditional $1000 that photographers used to get?
Types of Stock Editorial: For news-related stories and textbooks no need for release as it is covered by fair-use copyright law Commercial: Any recognizable person must sign a release, recognizable products must be released, buildings are less clear the design of some modern buildings are copyright eg Sydney Opera House
STERLING, VA - JULY 10: Washington Dulles International Airport at dawn on July 10, 2011. Dulles Airport is at the center of controversy over the location and cost of the planned metro station Editorial
Commercial
Commercial
Releases Releases are legal documents giving the photographer the right to publish a likeness: Model releases the right to use the image of a person recognizable in the photograph Property release the right to use the likeness of a building, art object, or any recognizable product Strictly speaking, the risk (of being sued) is borne by the user of the image not the photographer or agency
Model Release Required
No Model Release
Should you take part? Are you willing to accept 25c for the license of one of your photographs? Are you willing to spend considerable time keywording and describing your images? Are you happy to focus on saleable shots rather than (or as well as) a fine-art photograph?
How much can you earn? 2012 survey of 750 microstock contributors: 71% were part time, 29% full time Average gross earnings $20,544 Median $4,000 Maximum - $523,000! Average portfolio 2,320 Median portfolio 1,000
My efforts
Files on line
Getting better or worse?
The main microstock sites The Microstock Group maintains a monthly poll of its members and ranks sites by earnings Shutterstock istock Fotolia Dreamstime Fotolia DepositPhotos 123RF And 12 others with some reported earnings So, what sells?
My Popular Images - Shutterstock
istock: 71 Downloads $118 in 2 years
Dreamstime: 56 Downloads $136 in 3 years
Mid-Stock sites Alamy accepts all photographers (with appropriate equipment) Sales are under both RF and Rights Managed terms Alamy accepts all technically competent images No rejections for no commercial value
Alamy: 1 Download $120
Alamy: 1 Download $40 for editorial website
New Development - Symbiostock Interconnected network of artist websites using the same basic software Wordpress based theme currently provided free of charge Central search engine, but most focus is on high Google rankings Only outlay is hosting cost - $5 per month Artist keeps 100% of sale cost for digital download
Google Image Search Poolside Beer
My Strategy Evolves Before all images went on all sites (20+) and was potentially for sale from 25c to $100+ Now: General landscape, travel and stocky images go on all sites Unique, complex or highly specific images will go only on my own stock site and on Alamy as Rights Managed Aim: Maximize earnings from those one-off shots
What is involved? Process images in Lightroom for bright, contrasty feel Move to Photoshop to remove logos and distant people and do more complex cloning Back to Lightroom to add short caption and more detailed description, then add 30 50 keywords Save as srgb Jpegs and upload via Stockuploader tool to all sites
White House Behind Bars
Tips and Tricks Keep them bright!
With a good subject take many shots!
Subjects are Everywhere
Should you do it? I don t know! Not for everyone a lot of work with some disappointments along the way Rejection can be hard to swallow Steady stream of income Set vacations and equipment against tax Find fame and fortune
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