Stock Photography Agencies - Which One To Use?

Stock photography agencies are responsible for licensing the photos of photographers who sell their images online. Through a stock agency, a buyer can gain quick access to the works of many photographers...

The benefits to using stock photography agencies is that photographers can have their photos seen by more buyers without directly dealing with each client. Agencies sort of act as the 'middle-man' in the business.

The stock photography agency keeps a percentage of the transactions while hosting the photos, providing search capabilities and paying the photographer commission based on what photos sell. Agencies differ with their prices, commissions, qualities and subjects but share licensing in common. There are two general types of license: Rights-managed (RM) and Royalty-free (RF).

The term 'rights-managed' means that the seller of the license is giving exclusive permission to the buyer to use the photographs in a certain way including the format, time used and the location of use. Generally the rights-managed photos prices are relatively high and are issued according to how many times the photo is used. A good example is magazine photos - the price of the photo depends on how many magazine prints are to be produced, and the publisher pays a usage fee again for the repetitive use of the photos.

With a 'royalty-free' license, the fees of the photos tend to be less per image, and the images can be used a number of times under multiple purposes without paying more. The fees are based on image size. In this license, the photographer reserves the copyright to his photos, allowing him to distribute and redistribute photos under a different licensing contract, and with different stock photo agencies.

The Top Stock Photography Agencies

Stock photography agencies are further subdivided into micro stock agencies and macro stock agencies. The four top microstock photography agencies include Bigstockphoto, Shutterstock, Dreamstime and iStockphoto. These guys provide low priced royalty free stock photos aimed at personal and small business use. Other than being low priced these agencies also offer a HUGE selection of (often great) photographs to choose from. You'll also find editorial and news-related photos, videos and graphics in their selection too.

At the other end of the scale, macro-stock photography agencies sell their images at a higher rate compared to micro-stock. Perhaps the most famous macro-stock agencies include Getty images, Corbis and Alamy Images. Images from these agencies can be sold over and over again and can be used under different contexts.

While you can earn a lot of money at macrostock agencies, microstock agencies will allow you several hundred downloads. More or less, both types of stock photography agencies can let you generate a similar amount of income. Keep in mind it 'may' be somewhat unethical to use the same images on micro-stock as you use on your macrostock portfolio. :) (The buyers would no doubt see what you're doing).

The bottom line? Build a savvy reputation, take great photos, and impress 'em with great shots!