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Stock Photography Shack Guide

Images From Stock Photography For Projects

By Louis Myrandle

Stock photography is a unique way to use photographs from sources other than a photographer’s own supply. A new photographer or even the everyday person may wonder exactly what is stock photography? This type of photography consists of images and photographs that can be licensed for specific use in projects.

In other words, in layman’s terms, this is a type of photo sharing with strings attached. Before a person can use stock photography, one must completely understand exactly what they are getting into, especially the legal aspects.

Stock photography has been around for a long time. According to wikipedia.org, H. Armstrong Roberts started the first agency for this type of photography in 1920, and the company is still going strong today under the name RobertStock. For years, photography stock was composed of "outtakes ("seconds") from commercial magazine assignments."

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But, in 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 being used, the legal terms and aspects must be completely understood in order to avoid being sued.

Royalty-Free Photos

One type of stock photography is royalty-free. This does not mean that the photograph can be used for free. What royalty-free means is that in 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 within 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 will depend exactly on the contract that is decided upon.

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, than royalty-free images are not the way to go. The best bet for uniqueness is to have a photographer on staff.

Right Managed Photography Stock

Another type of stock photography is called rights-managed. With rights-managed photography stock, the image is paid for each time it is used. For this, a time limit exists on how long the image can be used usually for one year.

But, the image will be exclusive to the particular publication during the negotiated time frame. Again, depending on what has been set up in the contract, rights-managed stock photography may not be for all publications.

Online Photography Sharing

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 their 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 will depend on what can be negotiated within a contract, and the legalities can get sticky.

Before using stock photography, make sure that research is done in order to avoid any lawsuits that will ultimately take away from any profit of the images used.

About the Author:
Louis Myrandle has written a number of articles on digital photography including Background Photos, Upload Your Picture, Freelance Opportunities, Satellite Photos, Digital Camera Photo, Wedding Photography Tips, Wedding Photography In, Wedding Photography Package, Wedding Photojournalism.
Keep a lookout as more articles from this author on this website in the near future.

More Photography Facts....

The average cost of wedding photography is around $3000 and the amount climbs from there. Many couples want a variety of choices when it comes to capturing their special day on paper or video. The photography field is expanding at an exponential rate thanks to better digital cameras that are easier to use than cameras in the past.

It is not just portraits of blushing brides or smiling babies either. Photojournalism and stock photographs are in high demand as well.

If given the choice, most people would prefer to have an occupation that they love. If you think back to childhood, you can remember the all important question "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Unfortunately many individuals find themselves in careers that are less than desirable and far from what they always wanted to do. If you always wanted to try photography when you were younger, take heart and know that it is not an impossibility.

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