
Professional Photographers of America |
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What is Stock
Photography?
Stock photography is photography or imagery that is
used repeatedly for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Often
stock images depict common situations, concepts landmarks, and people.
Stock photography use is very popular with designers, graphic artists,
art directors, advertising agencies, and marketing professionals,
in magazine ads, websites, and marketing brochures. Instead of hiring
a professional photographer to create an image, a buyer licenses
an image and the photographer is paid a commission. Photo researchers
can save valuable time and money by searching for stock photography
through online databases.
Images stored at an agency are licensed on behave of the photographer
or artist and the agency retains a percentage of the sale. Stock
photography is commonly sold as either rights managed or royalty
free. With rights managed, an individual licensing agreement is
negotiated for each use of the image and offers exclusive usage
rights at a higher price. Royalty Free stock photography offers
the buyer unlimited uses under a single license and less expensive
fee. Classical agencies have offered rights managed for many years
but the more popular trend with buyers today is royalty free.
Stock photography is a cost effective method for customers to purchase
high quality images, and is a great way for photographers to earn
money from their collection of imagery.
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