Most photographers considering marketing their images as microstock want
to know what they can expect in the way of return-per-image (RPI) from
their accepted images. The question is impossible to answer because so
many variables are involved. However, by extrapolating from the data we
have gathered over more than 2 years on 195 of the top selling
iStockphoto photographers we get an interesting picture of the range of
possibilities.
Corbis Images (
www.corbisimages.com) and The Associated Press (
www.ap.org) have launched their Media offering that provides customers with more than 10 million images covering a range of breaking news, sports and entertainment, archival and creative images.
Our semi-annual analysis of iStockphoto sales has once again produced interesting results. As of January 2, 1012
istockcharts was tracking the sales of 38,163 of the more than 100,000 iStock contributors. More than 90% of the images in the iStock collection belong to this group of contributor. Combined these contributors have had a minimum of 114,875,519+ downloads since each started working with iStock. During 2011 alone a minimum of 18,615,558+ images (and probably about 21.5 million) were licensed for use.
For those looking for statistical and trend information related to stock photo industry this story provides links to a series of articles produced over the past year that examine various aspect of the subject.
The Authors Coalition of America, LLC, has identified a number of
American authors who may be due royalty payments from non-U.S. sources. These royalties have been received to compensate authors for the foreign reprographic use of U.S. copyrighted materials.
The National Press Photographers Association has made several
significant announcements about its annual
Best Of Photojournalism contest, including a reorganization of the
competition as visual journalism moves into a new era. Along with a new
and easier way to enter, there's also some category revisions plus some
new categories, and winners will be picked using a mixture of online and
on-site judging.
If you're new to this site, or have missed some of the stories we have published in 2011, check out these links to 52 of this year's most important and thought provoking stories. This summary of information should provide you with a good understanding of the state of the stock photo industry at the end of 2011. If you need more historical perspective check out the “
Top Stories For 2010.”
The concept of a realistic still photograph that provides an accurate
representation of a news event may be an impossible dream. Many people
blame Photoshop for making it so easy to “clean up” and “adjust”
photographs. Photographers lose their jobs if they “overuse” Photoshop.
But that is only a small part of the problem.
The microstock community
Dreamstime has announced that it saw consistent strong growth throughout 2011. Since 2007, Dreamstime’s customer base has grown from 350,000 to the more than 4.2 million customers. With this rapid growth, Dreamstime has positioned itself as a supplier of high quality digital images to the second largest community of registered stock image users. (It is believed that Shutterstock has the largest community of image users.)
The core business of providing pictures for commercial and consumer use
has moved from hiring a professional photographer to shoot an
assignment, to RM stock, to RF and then to
microstock. The next paradigm shift will be iPhoneography. Learn how this may impact you. Check out Jack Hollingsworth's two day workshop on the subject