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

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…..

And its Earnings

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

Editorial 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

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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