Mixing It with Rights-
Managed Stock
Once you have got your feet wet in the world of microstock photogra-
phy, you may start casting around for other ways to make money from
your photography. After all, your confi dence will have grown from
some success in the world of microstock, so it is reasonable to look at
the alternatives.
I know quite a few microstock photographers who have expressed
an interest in the more traditional stock outlets. It can be rewarding
to sell an image for $100, $500, or even more instead of just $1 or
$2. That is not to say that you will earn more per image over time
with a traditional rights-managed or royalty-free library (you may
or may not), so beware of confused thinking that leads to
disappointment.
There are many “traditional” image libraries serving a wide range
of markets. You may know of the big guns like Getty or Corbis, but
there are hundreds of others. However, there are some rules to
observe.
First, you cannot sell your microstock images as licensed or rights-
managed images through traditional outlets. Buyers of rights-managed
images would be appalled to fi nd an image they had purchased on a
single-use basis being used royalty free by others. You would also
probably be breaking the library’s rules.
Second, you may not be infringing any rules by selling your micro-
stock images royalty free through a traditional royalty-free channel, but
the pricing is so different that it is bad practice to do so. In other words,
you should develop a separate portfolio for sale through traditional
outlets, as I have done (Figure 9.1).
The most popular general “open” library seems to be Alamy, based
in Abingdon, near Oxford, England. “Open” means that Alamy does
not select images by reference to subject matter, composition, and so
on, but only by reference to technical standards and legal compliance.
Alamy leaves the photographer in charge, for better or for worse, and
it seems to be a successful formula given the rapid growth that Alamy