Contributing To Stock Photography

So you are a photographer with several gigabytes of images on your hard drive and do not know what to do with those? You have invested lakhs of rupees building your equipment system and spent several hundred hours in carefully building up that image portfolio. But you are not sure what to do with those images because the typical photography market is swarming with established photographers and you always start at a disadvantage. Have you explored stock photography as an option? If not, it is time to consider it now.

- Sujith Gopinath

Believe me, stock photography is not really a walk in the park. If you think that you can upload all your images via an automated interface and expect money in your bank account from the next month, you are going to be disappointed. It is indeed a very competitive segment similar to all other avenues in photography. However, the advantage here is that the system does not distinguish between an established photographer and an amateur. So let us explore the concept, rules, processes, tricks and pitfalls in stock photography.

What is stock photography?

Stock photography agencies are licensors to photographers’ works. Most stock agencies deal in photographs, artworks and video footage. Once you are accepted as a contributor, the stock agency assumes the right to sell your selected work – images, artworks or footages – to interested end-users. Once an image is sold, the agency pays you a certain amount as royalty.

Image Licensing

Any artistic work, including photographs, video clips, illustrations and audio recordings, is protected by copyright laws. Hence using these without express permission is illegal. Any person who intends to use an artist’s intellectual property, needs to purchase a license. A license gives the holder permission to use the media within certain guidelines, and at a set price. Licensing does not transfer the copyright to the purchaser. The copyright remains with the creator of the original artwork.

Types of Image Licenses

Stock agencies sell images mainly with two types of licenses – Royalty-Free (RF) and Rights-Managed (RM).

Royalty-Free