Stock photography is among the fastest growing and profitable branch of commercial photography. Its success is attributed primarily to its ability to meet the creative needs for images intended for advertising, marketing, web designs, books and magazines, graphics, filmmaking, interior decorating and the likes without spending too much money and time. With the variety and multitudes of choices, it is hard not to find something that will fit a commercial, personal or corporate need. The images are sold under certain agreements or licenses quite commonly known as RF or Royalty Free stock photography and RM or Rights Managed Stock Photography.
RF is a type of license in which the buyer is allowed to use an image for multiple purposes for a one-time fee. It is ‘free’ in the sense that it is ‘free of royalties’ in each and every use. Its downside is the fact that the buyer can never exclusively own the image bought. This is is the most popular being the cheapest to buy. Meanwhile, RM is a type of license that comes with exclusivity over a particular duration limited to particular regional areas and for just one purpose. Because of the exclusivity, it is also more expensive. These terms are generally stipulated in the contract that protects the buyer.
Obviously, with the fast-growing demands for stock photos is the rise in the supply as more photographers realize its potentials as a good way to make a living. The fact that stock photography is an industry where there are licenses and contracts as well as sales and commercial usage, point to the fact that money is changing hands. This means that there are people making money out of these images and that photographers are earning out of selling these stock photos. Hence, it is quite understandable why agencies and subscription-based image libraries, in behalf of the photographers, sell the use of these works under RF and RM licenses.
Then what is this concept of free stock photography photos all about? How do the photographers earn from this scheme? There are so many websites and libraries that offer visitors free use or downloading of image from their collections. What visitors need to do is simply sign up to download the image they want for commercial and personal uses. In these websites, visitors are asked to support the website by visiting their advertisers and by checking back the fresh digital images as these come in and posted. These websites also ask for certain feedbacks from the users. Those who sign in are also kept in the database for other future opportunities to make a sale for profit. Certain websites also keep images that can be downloaded for free which means traffic to the website as visitors keep on dropping by.
Are you publishing a newsletter and want to entice readers through beautiful, appealing pictures? If the budget is limited and you’re still trying to sell the idea without a guarantee of any commitment from the client, your best bet is free online stock photography. There are millions of these online found in a multitude of free stock photo sites. Based on certain criteria such as straightforward arrangements, no subscription required, huge choices of high-resolution photos and with simple copyright and intellectual property rights, the following sites are recommended:
1.MorgueFile is amazingly uncomplicated to use with no registration required and the photos are mostly high quality. In many cases, attribution are just encouraged but are not mandatory.
2.Flickr is among the biggest online sharing sites, and is owned by Yahoo! It prides itself with a broad array of photos from both amateur and professional photographers. There is an advanced search that helps narrow down or filter choices accordingly.
3.Stock.xchng has an immense collection of both photos and registered photographers. The advance search facilitates the weeding out of extra restrictions. It is necessary to register, though before any download can be made.
4. EveryStockPhoto and Creative Commons Search are two sites that equally served as aggregators and came back with overwhelming results. Creative Commons searches Google, Yahoo, Wikimedia Commons, Flick and more. EveryStockPhoto, on the other hand relies on Flickr, Free Range, and Stock.xchng among others.
The Internet offers a wide array of opportunities to earn extra income. It is also an amazing reference and resource of information and images for free for those who may need or want it such as free stock photography images. If in need of such images, try the promotional photos; it is always wonderful to use materials for free.