Change View Options:
Articles from September 2010
A better question might be, “What’s NOT up with stock photography?”
Answer? Royalties, number of paid productions, royalty free and rights
managed revenues and photographer satisfaction.
PhotoAlto has announced that it has just completed a year long project
in which the company re-designed and rebuilt is website incorporating
only the latest search and web technology. Visitors will immediately
note streamlined stylistic and design changes, and will be presented
with an enhanced choice of search features, quicker browsing speeds, a
simplified thumbnail display, and an all around increased ease of use
and intuitiveness to the website.
Photographers marketing their images through online web sites should be
alert to common art scams that seem to be growing in frequency. This is
particularly true for those trying to sell physical works of art (fine
art prints).
Many professional photographers are disturbed by the changes taking place in their careers. Photographers who dream of earning their living taking pictures will, at the very least, find that goal much harder to achieve than it was for their predecessors. Amateurs have taken over an increasing share of the business. And their share will continue to grow. The shift from professional control of the market to significant amateur involvement is irreversible and will accelerate. That doesn’t mean that no one will be able to earn a living as a still photographer. But many fewer will do it successfully than was the case in the past. There is no way to predict the amount of the market amateurs will finally control, but it will be significant.
iSyndica, the automation service that allows photo and video producers
to batch-upload content to multiple stock-selling and photo-sharing Web
sites, has announced that it will be closing its doors as of October 10,
2010. Effective immediately, contributors will no longer be able to
place orders for credits or storage, or change their subscriptions.
As we move forward in the digital publication age, a group of
celebrity photo agencies has untied into the Editorial Photo Agency
Guild, which is leading the way in attempting to establish some pricing
principles for the use of photos in iPad applications. The need for a
unified approach in bargaining became apparent when People magazine announced its plans to launch an iPad application and provide it free to print subscribers.
In theory, there should be major growth in demand for video in the near
future. However, people have been making that prediction for more than a
decade, and it still doesn’t seem to be happening. In fact,
videographers who were among leading sellers of video clips a decade ago
are now reporting that their sales are down 50% from what they were
just three or four years ago. It is unclear whether this decline only applies to a select few or if revenues are down across the board. At the same time, it is apparent that video as an industry is growing, offering still photographers an opportunity to transition or at least diversify.
Corbis has released
The Human Touch,
a creative trends report that highlights a new balance between the
convenience of technology and personal interaction. The trend builds on
the techno-backlash observed by researchers for several years.
The average annual income or a large group of photographers is pretty
meaningless. It depends greatly on how many images a photographer has in
a collection, generally how productive he is, the kind of imagery he
shoots, whether his work is represented by a single agency or many
agencies, which agencies in particular, and probably a number of other
factors.
In theory there should be a major growth in demand in the near future
for video. However, people have been making that prediction for more
than a decade and the demand still doesn’t seem to be taking off. In
fact, videographers who were among the leading sellers of video clips a
decade ago are now reporting that their sales are down 50% from what
they were just three or four years ago.
The 24th annual Graphic Design USA stock survey shows increasing use of microstock by professional graphic designers.
This week, Getty Images launched its annual multimedia “Mishmash”
challenge that asks creatives to produce short videos using Getty
content. The company said last year’s competition received an
overwhelmingly positive response.
iStockphoto COO Kelly Thompson says the company cannot keep growing
profit at the old royalty rates, so they have to reduce what they are
paying suppliers. The problem is not that the company does not have
substantial profits. Rather, it is Getty Images’ arbitrary standard
for what the gross profit margin in the stock photo industry should be
that causes the problem.
Many who got into the photography business by shooting stock are
finding that relying on stock income alone is insufficient and
increasingly unpredictable. In looking for other ways to earn money
using their photographic skills, some are exploring the wedding
business.
I asked iStockphoto COO Kelly Thompson why the company choose to base
“redeemed credits,” the number that serves as the basis for the new
contributor royalties package, on the number of credits downloaded
rather than the monetary value of the credits.
Many who got into the photography business by shooting stock are
finding that relying on stock income alone is insufficient and
increasingly unpredictable. In looking for other ways to earn money
using their photographic skills, some are exploring the wedding
business.
If you are not familiar with, or have not used Google Alerts to monitor
your art niche, this article can be a very important new tool for you to
use on a regular basis. Google Alerts will help you monitor very
specific sections and segments in your area of expertise or it can be a
great research tool for areas and subjects that you would like to be
involved with in the future.
Getty Images recently bestowed $120,000 onto nine lucky winners of
the company’s coveted editorial photography grants. In a separate
announcement, the company revealed a new editorial imagery
representation agreement with McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Beginning in 2011, iStockphoto will implement major changes to how it
calculates photographer royalties. In addition, the company will soon
launch a small higher-priced Agency Collection containing images from
some of the major traditional royalty-free brands and invited iStock
contributors. Contributor reactions are predictably negative, but how will it shake out form a macro perspective?
iStockphoto has announced a major restructuring in how photographer
royalties will be calculated in 2011 and beyond. In addition, within the
next few weeks they will create a small, higher priced Agency
Collection with images from shooters from some of the major traditional
RF brands and selected iStock contributors who will be invited to submit
images to the Agency Collection.
There are two primary factors that should be considered when quoting a
price for textbook use: image size (1/4, 1/2 or full page) and size of
the print run. This article provides a historical perspective on pricing images for textbook uses and offers an update for the current economic climate.
Getty Images’ contributors can now promote work sold through gettyimages.com using the new online Artist Digital Toolbox—and receive a commission.
One of the questions of the Stock Artists Alliance spring survey asked:
“What other issues would you like to see SAA address in the year?” The
answers, particularly with regard to the general attitude toward
microstock, were very revealing.
The results of the Stock Artists Alliance February survey paint a
familiar picture of the past 18 months: declining revenues and continued
division over microstock.
If you have decided on a career as a freelance photographer, your
vocation will be marketing and your avocation, or sideline, will be
photography.
Though Ellen Boughn got there just a few months sooner, photographer and veteran iStockphoto inspector Rob Sylvan has authored
Taking Stock: Make Money in Microstock Creating Photos That Sell, available from Peachpit.
The World Association of Newspapers and Newspaper Publisher has released its annual
World Press Trends report covering 223 countries.
The popular Strictly Business conference series from the American Society of Media Photographers returns in January 2011.
Visual Connections—the freshly rebranded Picturehouse Marketing US—is hosting the 2010 Image Expo at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York on October 13.
Photographers should be alert for textbook publisher requests for new
image licenses to extend print runs on books that have already been
printed without obtaining such licenses. In many cases, image owners may
be entitled to high retroactive usage fees for copies already printed
and distributed, as well as a fee for the new books the publisher
intends to produce.