Microstock Basics

Photo by Maria Li

Microstock is an ever growing trend that is taking over the photography industry. Nowadays, even semi-pro photographers can contribute images to stock photo agencies. Gone were the days when photography is considered “not for everyone with a camera”.
Since Flickr has partnered up with Getty Images, even photos from mobile phones get accepted as stock photos. So what do you need to know before trying to shoot pictures for microstock?
There are some things that you need to be familiar with:

Image License

Each image that you contribute and get accepted in a stock photo site will fall under one of two licenses.

Royalty Free

Royalty-Free images means the user pays a one-off fee and no royalty fee for each usage of your photo. However, the user may have to buy an extended license if they plan to use the image a significant amount of times. Royalty free images have restricted content:

• No copyrighted or trademarked items are allowed, including logos and brand names. Most vehicles made after 1985 cannot be the main focus of a royalty-free photo.

• Also, no branded toys or figurines, like Barbie dolls, and no recognizable book or newspaper titles or images. Text may be only partially visible.

• Full or major sections of maps are not allowed.

• Do not photograph playing card backs and boxes, or unique cards such as the Ace of Spades and Joker.

• No photos that show logos, trademarks, company names and product names.

• Certain buildings are protected by copyright also some modern art.

Editorial 

Images for editorial use can be licensed without model or property release. An image marked for editorial use cannot be used in for commercial purposes for instance for advertising a product or service. However they can be used in publications such as newspapers or magazines to highlight an editorial article. In order for them to be useful, you will need to keep track of when and where you took the photo and what is happening to include in your description.

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