Stock photography - Essay Example

Stock Photography Stock photography is different from ordinary photography. It is completely restricted to those clicks or pictures which are or can be licensed for any sort of moneymaking or public use. Such type of pictures are most commonly found in different professional photographer websites or social media pages etc. Stock photography and its pictures are usually a great tool that is used in advertising or marketing of a number of brands (Wilkinson, 23).Most often, companies prefer to advertise their products and services by getting some related pictures from the stock photographers rather than hiring their own professional photographer and paying him or her a bunch of dollars.

Stock photography in this case becomes highly cost effective and of great use at the right time. Moreover, hiring and explaining while training the photographer as to what the company actually needs out of his work takes a lot of time and still cannot assure the desired results. Therefore in order to minimize the risk of getting the wrong outcomes, most of the companies go for stock photography (Highton, 244).The use of stock photography is most commonly found in the advertising, design or such related agencies which have more of a creative and artistic work to do.

Although this type of photography seems easy but it has some serious criterion related to it. Such photographers always have to keep on following certain criteria so that their images can match up to the standards which most of the reputed and well established companies desire (Gross, 185).This type of photography is best utilized by those companies which are purely involved in their core business and can hardly manage these advertising and promotional aspects on their own.Stock photography is of great value both to the photographer as well as the employer as it mutually benefits both parties not only in financial terms but also in terms of saving valuable time of both parties.

The success of stock photography entirely depends upon the effectiveness and efficiency of the photographer. If the portfolio of his or her pictures is diverse and caters almost everything that can match the needs of his target clients, then it would definitely get him a huge business. Similarly, he would not be in need of updating the portfolio of new pictures every now and then.The trend of the stock photography started a long time back, nearly in the nineteen twenties. But now the things have changed drastically.

It has not just been limited to photography but a number of agencies have been established with such business and have become renowned brands in the industry.Although, photography is actually a person’s own capability as how he sees and portrays things in an unusual manner. But nowadays it has become a great source of making profits. That is why a number of schools and reputed colleges all over the globe are offering diploma’s, bachelors degree and even masters program in the related field.

Still it has not become really mandatory to have a degree in stock photography, but adds value to work and with the passage of time and evolution of creative industry, agencies will prefer to hire a qualified photographer than a usual one.Stock photography business is still in this evolving stage. It is greatly capable of making huge profits and revenues with the passage of time. The pricing varies greatly depending upon the nature of the business of different agencies. Some well established companies charge really high for each of their pictures and people are willing to pay that as they will be assured to get the best quality.

ReferencesTop of FormBottom of FormTop of FormGross, Larry. Image Ethics in the Digital Age. Minneapolis [u.a.: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2003. Print: 185Highton, Scott. Virtual Reality Photography: Creating Panoramic and Object Images. San Carlos, CA: Virtual Reality Photography, 2010. Print.:244Wilkinson, Helen. "‘The New Heraldry’: Stock Photography, Visual Literacy, and Advertising in 1930s Britain." Journal of Design History 10.1 (1997): 23-38. Bottom of Form