Stock Images- The Indispensable Tool For Designers And Webmasters
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Albert Mills November 10, 2006
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When the already obtainable photographs are accredited for definite
usage, then they are called Stock photography. These are also known as
‘stock photos’, ‘photo archive’ or ‘image banks’ in USA. Outside the
United States, the term ‘picture library’ is generally used to refer to
these stock photos. Stock photographs generally consist of still
images, illustrations and videos. Stock photographs are useful to a
large section of people that includes book publishers, business
resourceful groups, specialty publishers, interior decoration firms,
magazines, graphic designers, advertising agencies, web designers and
filmmakers. On the Internet there are outstanding collections of stock
photography images from all the leading brand names. Instead of going
for on-location shooting, using stock photography will help the
customers to save adequate amount of time and money. Suppose that
submitting a photo on a certain topic is required immediately and there
is no time at all for shooting the photo in a conventional
time-consuming process. So, stock photos can come to the rescue now.
Researchers can easily come across their well-desired images from the
broad assortment of online images. With the advent of digital delivery
techniques, people can buy, download or e-mail images easily.
In the stock photography industry, the new micro-stock models of images
get filed at the agencies. The photographers are paid a certain amount
of percentage. There are various factors on which the cost of the
images depends on. These are the audience, the frequency and duration
of using these images and the associated countries or regions. The
licensed price varies from $1 to $200. You can find any type of image
that will fit the budget of your project. For big budget projects, you
can afford high-cost images; otherwise just go for the images that come
at a cheaper price rate. Some professional stock photographers submit
their images to more than one agency. The photographers can sell the
same image several times. So, the availability of these images
increases. In case of ‘rights managed’ stock photography, the agencies
go for a separate licensing contract for each use whereas in ‘royalty
free’ stock photography, the purchasers can use the image again and
again with a single license fee. There is no restriction of time. But
there is a limit in the number of usage. In this way, other customers
are debarred from using a certain image for a specific time period.
From stock photography, both low-resolution and high-resolution images
are accessible. You can use the ‘rights managed’ images in 2 mediums
separately. But for each use, you have to pay the agency separately.
The size of the audience is important here. The non-payment licensing
period for most of the stock agencies is 6 months to 1 year. Other
options are on hand too. There are also certain provisions to apply for
‘exclusive’ rights in ‘rights-managed’ images. Thus scope of overusing
the image by the challenger market lessens. The ‘released images’ are
classified into 2 sections. These are ‘model released’ and ‘property
released’ stock images. These images are accessible for authorization
through stock photography agencies. Usage charge is not required in
case of ‘Royalty-Free Images’. So, for unrestricted, worldwide usage,
royalty free license is the best resort.
H. Armstrong Roberts founded the 1st prominent stock photography agency
way back in 1920. The current name of the agency is RobertStock. In the
1980s, the industry of stock photography got a significant facelift.
The Image Bank, Masterfile, Index Stock Imagery, FPG, SuperStock and
Comstock Images were the leading agencies of this period. In the 1990s
and early 2000s, Getty Images, Corbis and JupiterMedia Corporation
emerged as some of the major players in this business. All the
photographs are distributed only through Internet. Both professional
and amateur photographers are employed in this business. In 2004,
fotoLibra started the system of open access model by which everybody
became capable of uploading and marketing the images. Throughout Europe
and North America, there are several stock photography agencies that
supply good quality images to various media publishers and advertising
agencies. The demand for lifestyle images is on the rise nowadays.
If we search through Goggle, we can come across innumerable stock photo
agencies. You can use smaller or larger agencies as per your
requirement. The number of images of your preferred topic varies
considerably according to the agency strength. There are certain
guidelines you can follow while searching for stock photography images.
You should always opt for the advanced search techniques. The position
of these advanced search buttons vary according to the agencies. Let us
suppose that you are going to search for images on ‘chocolates’. You
should insert that very key phrase ‘chocolate’ and click the advanced
search button. Soon, you will be flooded with desired results. In some
agencies, you have to register as per the agency’s terms and
conditions. Not much information is required to register in Index
Stock. But FotoSearch, Getty Images and Corbis want extensive
information. Your image buying process will get facilitated if you set
up an account at the agency’s website. Setting up an account and
registering don’t have much of a difference in the websites of some
companies. Some agencies proffer special services also. You can search
for high quality images such as images without any watermark. In some
stock photography agencies, you can get the assistance of professional
searchers also. These professional searchers have proven to be
immensely beneficial for certain customers. For further queries,
calling the customer care associates of the agencies will definitely be
a wise option. The amicable customer care services of various stock
photography image agencies have got global appreciation.
If you are looking forward to the perfect stock photo for your
marketing project, you can at once search through the online agencies.
Inserting the keywords, image type, image size and color will be
helpful. Searching by orientation like portrait, panoramic and layout
is available in agencies like Index Stock Imagery. The more you be
specific in terms of keywords, the results will be more precise. Let us
suppose that you want photographs on ‘children playing on the beach’.
Here, all the key words ‘children’, ‘play’ and ‘beach’ must be included
in your search. Re-sorting the images from the search results is
possible too. Searching by the name of the artist who has generated the
image is another popular option. To make your search more refined, you
can insert your desired adjectives in the keyword. If you are satisfied
with the images you obtain, you can place them in the ‘light box’ where
other people connected to the project can take a look at them. Using
the ‘light box’ is acceptable in Index Stock. Some prefer e-mailing the
images to the co-workers. The name of the light box appears as the
subject line in the mails of the recipients. In the mail, a clickable
URL exists that refers to the light box. All the stock photography
agencies have almost identical features. After the selection of the
stock images, filling up the online ordering form is mandatory. You
have to spell out the actual forms of usage of the images. After the
completion of the ordering process, you get necessary information from
the agencies on the downloading of images. Next comes the step for
saving and using the images. The whole process of purchasing a license
for online stock photography is trouble-free, speedy and reasonably
priced.
Stock photography, nowadays, is an extensively used application of
digital media. Digital audio, digital video and other digital ‘content’
are the prime categories of digital media. The digital information
processing machines play an important role in this regard. The digital
media is technologically far more advanced than the analog media. From
the conventional stock photography, a branch known as Micro Stock
Photography has emerged. These images are obtainable only from the
Internet. The agencies of micro stock photography buy images from a
broad assortment of photographers that incorporates recreational
photographers also. The cost of royalty free images is quite less. The
range of the price is between $10 and $20. Here, quantity of the images
is the major concern of the photographers. Bruce Livingstone initiated
the microstock photography industry. You can download thousands of
microstock photographs from agencies like ShutterStock, Dreamstime,
BigStockPhoto, Stock Photo and Fotolia. Gradually, the whole Stock
Photography industry is going through a steady growth rate and in the
coming years, it will surely undergo further evolution.
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