Microstock photography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Microstock photography or Micro Stock Photography is an offshoot of traditional (macro) stock photography. What defines a company as a microstock photography company is that they (1) source their images almost exclusively via the Internet, (2) do so from a wider range of photographers than the traditional stock agencies (including a willingness to accept images from "amateurs" and hobbyists), and (3) sell their images at a very low rate (anywhere from $.20 - $10) for a royalty-free image.

The mindset of microstock is that quantity will prevail and the photographer will end up making as much from many small sales as they would from a few large sales on a traditional stock photography site. Many people disagree whether or not this is giving the photographer a just price for their image; many professional photographers believe microstock devalues the industry.

The pioneer of microstock photography was Bruce Livingstone when he created iStockPhoto, originally a free stock photo site that quickly became an industry phenomenon. Ultimately, Livingstone sold iStockphoto to Getty Images on February 9, 2006 for $50 million USD.

Many newer companies have attempted to duplicate iStockphoto's business model. ShutterStock, Can Stock Photo, Fotolia, Photocase, BigStockPhoto, Scanstockphoto and Dreamstime are among the competitors to iStockphoto, all with hundreds of thousands of photos available for download.