Do educational publishers place much value on the pictures they use
in their
books? Based on
what they are willing to pay for such images, the role pictures play in
the educational process has declined significantly over the
last 10 to 15 years. The fees paid for images used in textbooks have
not kept up with changing usage demands. There may be little
photographers can do to alter this trend, but they need to be aware of
and understand the problem as they plan future production for this
market.
iStockphoto has introduced its new round of price increases for 2011.
For those in the macro world (RM and traditional RF) who like to argue
that it is impossible to make money selling images on a microstock site
it may be time to take another look at what iStock is doing.
Readers new to this site want to know what they should read to get an
understanding of the stock photo industry. Sometimes regular readers
miss important stories due to the demands of their busy schedules.
Consequently, we’ve put together this list of 52 stories published in
the last eighteen months that outline what has been happening in the
stock photo industry, where things stand at the beginning of 2011, and
how the industry is changing. We hope you’ll find this list helpful.
The 2011 CEPIC Congress will take place in Istanbul, Turkey from 18 to
22 May. This annual event, held in a different European country each
year, draws stock photography professionals from all over the world. The
2010 Congress in Dublin, Ireland welcomed 700 attendees from 352
companies, 37 countries and five continents. The Halic Congress Center,
on the banks of the Golden Horn in Istanbul will be the venue for this
Congress.
Masterfile,is hosting a ‘Master Finder Contest’ designed to promote the
company’s subscription plans while touting the benefits of their
revolutionary Endless Media search platform.
Beginning stock photographers often ask those with experience for numbers they can use to construct a "business plan." They start by asking what kind of annual return-per-image they can expect to earn from a collection of a given size. This story outlines some of the steps photographers need to take when considering stock photography as a business.
For many photographers seeking to earn some, or all, of their living
producing stock images, one of the most important decisions in 2011 will
be whether to retire from the stock photo business or get into
microstock. Many photographers who are licensing their images at
rights-managed or traditional royalty free prices have seen their
revenue decline significantly in the last couple of years. They are also
skeptical that it is possible to earn any significant money licensing
images at microstock prices. As a result quite a few are choosing to get
out of the stock photography business.
Getty Images, Inc., has unveiled its new Photos.com site, developed for
value-conscious small business owners, marketers, graphic designers, web
designers and other creative professionals. Photos.com currently offers
2.5 million royalty free images and illustrations.
Getty Images editors say that they are still seeing plenty of great
content come through from a wide range of sources, in particular Flickr
and iStockphoto. They say there is no shortage of photographers
submitting new imagery and that they are editing tighter than ever for
their house collections and in particular their RM brands.
Corbis Motion has expanded its collection of video clips to more than 500,000 with a recent addition of more than 200,000 clips. Approximately two thirds of Corbis Motion clips are available in high definition (HD) and the collection includes a large selection of royalty-free (RF) clips that provide customers added value and flexibility.
As it becomes more difficult to earn a living producing stock images some photographers are looking for other ways to use their photographic skills. Taylor Davidson specializes in business and event photography in the New York City area. In March 2010 he launched
Narratively, an agency that specializes in providing assignment photographers to cover events.
It time for rights-managed sellers to adopt many aspects of the microstock pricing strategy.
The immediate reaction of many RM sellers will be, “I’ll never sell my images as royalty-free.” That’s not what I’m proposing. Photographers will continue to manage the rights to their images. They will continue to be able to license exclusive and restricted uses to their images. But from the customer’s point of view the basic pricing model will look and feel just like the microstock model that they have come to prefer.
If iStock is really interested in improving the quality of its
collection and bringing the work of the best and most experienced
photographers into its top end collections it needs to drop the
requirement that exclusive photographers not have images that are
licensed as RF with any other agency. All the company really needs is
that the specific images they represent, and any similars, not be in any
other collection. They don’t need to define “exclusive” this tightly.
It is interesting that even Getty Images only requires “image
exclusive”, but iStock want to have more control over the lives of its
photographers.
An exhibit of the work of several young photographers who are
participating in the Young Photographer Alliance mentoring program is
opening at the Calumet Gallery, 22 West 22nd St, New York City from
January 14-28. The gallery will be open from 8:30 to 5:30 Monday thru
Friday and 9:00 to 5:30 on Saturdays, closed Sundays.
2011 may be the year when the stock photo industry returns to the idea
of exclusive representation -- specifically, being exclusive with a
microstock agency. For many year the widely held belief has
been that the way to maximize returns was to get your images represented
by many distributors. Now, iStockphoto’s has developed an exclusive strategy that may bring
about a change in this way of thinking. While there are several
downsides for image producers to the iStock strategy, the upsides may
more that compensate for the difficulties.
Many believe the concept of business ethics has become an oxymoron. Do a Google search and you’ll find reams and reams of explanations of what ethical business practices are, or should be. Every major corporation has a place on its web site that outlines the company’s ethical principles. Some companies test all employees annually to insure that they clearly understand the company’s ethical policies and procedures.
Often these principles seem to boil down to two over riding rules: (1) Maximize Shareholder and Manager Wealth and (2) Do What Is Legal.
John Fowler points out that his strategy for running a stock photography business isn't working, acknowledges that he needs to make changes and asks for ideas as to what those changes should be. I added some of my experiences and perspective and encourage readers to suggest positive ways forward.
A reader just forwarded to me a list of 50 sites with free photos. One
of the interesting things about some of these sites is that some of the photographers didn’t intend for their images
to be made available for free. By using PicScout’s ImageExchange I was able to determine
that a number of the best images on some of these sites seem to have
been grabbed from paid sites, particularly Dreamstime.
For almost two years I have been following the sales of 197 of iStockphoto’s top sellers.
The tendency has been to think of these people as photographers, but in
fact 98 of them, or almost 50%, list their job description as something
other than photographer.
Ron Chapple, one of the first traditional adopters of the micro-priced model into his larger stock business, says that chances of making a sale have decreased by 90% in recent years.
The Association of Stock Image Licensors and Thriving Archives have launched
the ACSIL Global Survey of Stock Footage Companies 2,
a comprehensive review of the stock footage business. The survey will
assess overall business conditions within the stock footage industry and
provide strategic, action-oriented information and insights to industry
leaders. Participants who complete the online survey will be eligible
to receive a complimentary summary report of the results and a 50%
discount on the purchase of the final report.
Crediting the success of feature films like “Avatar” for the growing
popularity of three-dimensional imagery, specialist provider StockFood
has launched a service that converts the stills in its delectable
collection into 3D format. The company says the trend is set to sweep
advertising and publishing industries.