Stock photography

The Bettmann Archive in New York is an example of an early traditional stock agency,[1] with the company delivering photos upon 24-hour request to magazines such as Look and Life.

[17] A different early pioneer with the stock industry was photographer Tony Stone, whose portfolio of mountain scenes proved popular with chocolate advertisers.

As the archive expanded through World War II, it became clear that its vast collection of photographs and negatives were becoming an important historical documentary resource.

In contrast to the Rights Managed system, royalty free allowed the purchaser of a CD ROM to use the images as many times as they liked without paying further fees.

[7] There was a great amount of consolidation among stock photo agencies[8][9] between 1990 and the mid-2000s, with Corbis notably acquiring the massive Bettmann Archive in 1995.

[28] In 2012 Shutterstock became the first microstock agency to complete an initial public offering,[29] with the company's shares reaching a $2.5 billion market value by late 2013.

[30] According to The New York Times, as of 2005 "most" book cover designers prefer stock photography agencies over photographers in efforts to save costs.

[32][33] Other search engines may seek to quantify the best photos by looking for elements as diverse as "bright lights", "evidence of emotional connections between people", and the tilt of faces.

[34] Traditional stock photo agencies have large catalogues that may include press archives and works by notable photographers such as Bert Hardy, Bill Brandt, Weegee and Ernst Haas.

[35] More recent trends in microstock photography include "lifestyle" photographs of people "at work and play",[4] food, sports, and fashion.

[4] Other stock photo themes may include stereotypes, expressing common emotions and gesticulations, pets,[citation needed] and images related to travel and tourism.

[citation needed] In the early 1990s, the stock industry focused on "conceptual images", which could encapsulate themes such as "global communication, success, and teamwork".

[7] After the consolidation of many stock photo agencies in the 1990s and early 2000s, new companies began focusing on "niche collections" including "medical, science, minorities, gay and lesbian lifestyles, aviation, maps, panoramas, historical, sports, and celebrity homes".

[1] Opined Megan Garber of The Atlantic in 2012, "one of the more wacky/wondrous elements of stock photos is the manner in which, as a genre, they've developed a unifying editorial sensibility.

"[5] In relation to photography and graphics, public domain (PD) means the image is free to use without purchasing a license, and can be used for commercial or personal purposes.

[38] In photography and the illustration industry, royalty-free (RF) refers to a copyright license where the user has the right to use the picture without many restrictions based on one-time payment to the licensor.