We recently were given an in depth look into stock photography by classmates Leslie Parks and Troy Rojewski.

Stock Photography In General
A stock photography company is a company that offers digital images that can be purchased to be used in print and digital pieces. In addition to images, you can get illustrations, flash swfs, music clips, and video clips. Stock photography images are a cheaper alternative to hiring a photographer, illustrator, or flash developer for a project. They are also helpful to use as place holder images in a document, so you get the idea across without the cost.

Classifications of Stock Photos
There are two classifications of stock photography images, Royalty Free and Rights Managed.

ROYALTY FREE - Images don’t require a license to use.
Pros:

• No limit the number of mediums it can be used in.
• Can be edited and manipulated with out limits.

Cons:

• Cannot obtain exclusive rights to these images, meaning the competition has access to these images as well.
• These images sometimes require a limited number of press runs.

RIGHTS MANAGED - Images require a license for use.
Pros:

• The license ensures that no the image cannot be used by someone else in a conflicting manner (competition).
• Usually have larger print runs.

Cons:

• Images are more expensive.

The image above is a Royalty Free image from Gettyimages.com that came up in a search for “shoelaces”. You can see the mark in the upper left corner, this will be removed when the image is purchased.

Below are the different sizes and resolutions that this image is offered in and the cost for each.

Where to get Stock Photography
There are a number of sites that offer stock photography, here are a few:

StockXchange

Library of Congress

Getty Images

Corbis

iStockphoto

Jupiter Images