With the advent of more affordable high-quality digital cameras, it has become easier than ever to capture scenes from our world. In fact, your photos can be worth quite a bit of money, and we are not talking about entering them in contests – though by all means, you can try.
Stock photography is the production of photographs for paid or even free use. Unlike more traditional photography business models, stock photography does not require the user to pay royalties for each use. The business models applied to stock photography can vary.
The idea is to photograph various objects, scenes, and people in a way that they become symbolic of stereotypes of exemplars of their object type. For example, you can photograph a pickaxe in such a way that it becomes a symbol of hard work, or in a way that it can be used as an element in edited photos.
You can photograph people displaying emotions not for the reason of photographing the person, but for capturing the emotion so the image can symbolize that same emotion, as opposed to portrait photography.
Remember to get the consent of the people you photograph!
Stock photographs are valuable commodities. They can make their way into advertisements and even games. The important thing to know is the proper way of assigning rights to your stock photos.
Though some stock photos are free of charge, most are purchased from the sellers. However, stock photos tend to lean towards a “pay once, use unlimited times” model. You can place limits on the time period that the image may be used, or territories where it may be used.
You can also choose to maintain ownership of your photographs or grant exclusive rights to an interested buyer (meaning no one else but the buyer can use the photograph). As with so many things these days, it pays to examine the laws governing the ownership and trade of stock photos.
Recommended stock photo sites: