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Category Archives: Stock Photography Agencies
How to Choose a Stock Agency
First article in a series on how to choose, submit to, and work with stock photography agencies.
I’m assuming that most readers of this blog are familiar with the basics of how stock agencies work. You take photos, you send them to the agency, they sell them, and you split the sales proceeds. That’s the basic model. That said, that said, the stock photography world is a universe unto itself. Various articles in this series will deal with some of the bigger differences you should be aware of, as well as more detailed thoughts on how to pick and work with any given agency.
For now, let’s say you’ve decided to sell through a stock agency…how do you decide which one to sell through? I’d say the answer depends on where you are in your photographic journey.
Part One: If you are just starting out
If you are completely new to stock photography and / or if you do not have at least 500+ high quality images in a singe niche area, then I would recommend that you take two steps.
Stock Photography: Just Say No?
It seems Ken Rockwell has an itch he has to scratch about Stock Photography
Call me a naysayer, but this doesn’t seem like a way to make money. I’ve always made money by differentiating myself. Stock is the antithesis of differentiation. Say “NO!” all you want to royalty-free websites like istockphoto.com and the royalty-free discs of several years ago, but so long as enough photographers say YES! to submitting to these folks that will set the market price. This is exactly why I’m too chicken to mess with stock: enough others submit their work for nothing, so no one is going to pay me any more.
When I worked for a marketing agency there were quite a few occasions where stock photography was used but that tended towards those projects where the budget was low, deadlines were tight and the picture requirement was very generic. Other than the top stock libraries like Getty that have some real top photographers on their books, I think the stock photography that Ken is so against is the domain of the “$10 template” website hack, they are not his market anyway.
It is tempting to think I could make a passive income from stock photos but I can’t see me getting up the enthusiasm to take photographs JUST to submit to a library. If someone was to come along and ask to purchase rights to use a picture that would be a completely different proposition.
Having said that, there is a lot of people making money and having fun. Don’t knock it till you have tried it, I just might give it a go.
Technorati Tags: stock, photography, news
Flickr as Stock Photography Library update
Recall I wondered what was stopping Flickr adding stock photo features? It seems people better equipped to debate the issue have already been thinking about it …
Will Flickr Enter The Commercial Stock Photography Business?
Flickr/Yahoo recently announced in the category Product/General Management two new interesting vacancies for a Product Manager A and a Product Manager B, which raises the question if Flickr will enter the commercial stock photo market in the not too distant future, with selected and rights cleared images of its huge image library.
I hadn’t thought about things like model releases, and all that legal stuff, but I am sure if companies are making a profit selling stock photography with far less technical savvy, legal support or investment as Flickr then the boys from Flickr/Yahoo! could crack it.
Technorati Tags: flickr, stock, photography, news
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Zooomr as Stock Agency Details
More details of Zooomrs Micro Stock plans have been revealed by Thomas Hawk
That looks like a great deal, and in fact has made me search in vain for my Zooomr login details
One question I have, that will obviously become crystal clear, is if they will find paying customers …
Tags: micro, stock, photography, news, zooomr, thomas hawk