stock photography

Stock photography is the creation, storage, and sale of photographs to clients who want to purchase already-made images. Photographers face various challenges in making a living as stock photographers. Many stock photographers, if not most, do it as a part-time job. Stock photography’s origins can be traced to the 1800s, but it has changed to reflect business practices and social values.

Background

The roots of stock photography are visible in the manufacture of stereographs and the carte de visite of the late 1800s. These were photographic products for mass audiences. Stereographs were two photographs taken side-by-side and printed on a card. Viewers would use a special device to look at the pair of images, resulting in a 3D effect. The carte de visite was a photograph printed on thick stock. Well-to-do individuals would have them created to share with friends, and consumers could buy cards displaying the portrait of a celebrity. The manufacturing of both kinds of cards involved mass production for many consumers. People created businesses for the manufacture and distribution of cards. They hired many photographers to create images for these businesses, often providing income in addition to their work as studio and portrait photographers.

Another influence on stock photography was the photo agency, run by a management company or a group of photographers. Photo agencies handle the business end of photography, often around particular kinds of images, such as news and documentary photography. Agencies recruit clients, assign photographers when a client contacts the agency, pay the bills, and handle contracts. Traditionally, stock photography companies would sell existing images, and photo agencies would deal more in specific assignments. However, some photo stock agencies are taking on some of the roles of a photo agency, such as contracting photographers to produce photographs. In all these cases, a photography industry was being established that involved the essential characteristics of modern stock photography.

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Modern Stock Photography Agencies

Stock photography businesses either sell only existing images or merge the stock photography model with the photo agency. The industry has experienced consolidation as a few companies have bought out some of their competitors. Photographers face uncertainty as digital photography has encouraged more people to participate, which has led to lower pay rates. At the same time, subscription-based licensing models and algorithm-driven search systems have become central to how images are distributed and sold.

There are two basic models for the stock-only agency. The more traditional model is one that is built around agreements with particular photographers. The expenses of the past involved storing photographic slides or other material and communicating by mail. Stock agencies built a relationship with clients, so agencies preferred reliable photographers. This model still exists but resembles boutique agencies because of their specialization, rather than library size. Clients use these agencies because they have a reputation for having particular kinds of high-quality photography. Commonly known as macrostock, these agencies have moved into the digital environment but continue to rely on quality and relationships as the basis of their operations.

Although these more traditional stock agencies still exist, they receive less press coverage than the start-up, microstock businesses that seek investors and photographs from anyone. Microstock prices are low, which means the businesses and photographers need to sell massive numbers of photographs to make a worthwhile profit. These businesses are popular with amateur photographers who started with smartphones and who can simply edit an image and upload it to the site. Microstock agencies follow a model for attracting customers who want to save money and seller-photographers who would otherwise not be able to make money in a traditional business model. Compared to traditional stock agencies, the images are crowdsourced and emphasize commercial usability and volume rather than exclusivity. This microstock business model depends on digital technology. Digital cameras have become so advanced that it takes less knowledge to make a usable image, though successful contributors typically develop specialized technical, editing, and keywording skills. The images circulate completely in a digital environment.

Stock Meets Photographers’ Agency

To expand their businesses, some stock businesses have adopted elements of a photo agency—one that represents its own photographers—by hiring photographers to produce high-quality images on demand. This appeals to photographers who want a full-time job and a consistent income. They have less freedom over what to photograph, but this is offset by the predictability of a salary. In practice, however, most contributors work as freelancers or independent contractors; fully salaried positions are relatively uncommon.

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Criticisms of Stock Photography

Although the quality of microstock photography has risen over the years, it has received criticism for multiple reasons. One reason is that the low pay accepted by microstock photographers has supposedly pushed down the rates professional photographers can charge. Another complaint, similar to complaints made about Instagram, is that images tend to look generic or repetitive. Contributors are encouraged to make images that will sell, not necessarily move photography forward or challenge photographers’ creativity. In 2004, for example, Dell and Gateway computer companies were criticized for using stock images showing the same model from apparently one photoshoot for their back-to-school promotional ads.

More recently, complaints have been directed at the reliance on stereotypes in how women and people of color are depicted. Part of the blame may be shared with the legacy stock agencies’ older collections. However, critics have accused microstock agencies of not being sufficiently cognizant of the need to offer diverse representations. In 2014, Pam Grossman, who was director of visual trends at Getty, created the Lean In Collection from the archives after noting that many stock images of female professionals featured heavy makeup and unnatural poses. Grossman saw this collection, which features more diverse images of women and girls, as only a starting point toward correcting the problem.

In response to being frustrated when trying to find images of Black people for his clients, the web designer and tech guru Kenneth Wiggins created a beta stock agency in 2015 to promote better and more diverse representations in his BlackStockImages, also known as BlackStock. The effort had limited success because of Wiggins’s death in 2017. However, similar initiatives and broader industry efforts have since expanded the availability of stock images depicting Black people and other underrepresented groups. Major stock platforms have increased their focus on diversity, and a number of newer or specialized image collections and agencies have emerged to address gaps in representation.

There has been a general trend in commercial and editorial illustration photography toward a more natural style, reflected in the lifestyle look. Some of the credit for the change in style goes to the economy. People struggling financially may not want to see an out-of-touch world. Another cause is social media sites such as Instagram, where the natural style became popular. Stock photography has followed these trends, with models appearing more like good-looking neighbors and using less obviously constructed scenes. This shift also coincided with broader participation from a more diverse range of contributors.

A major recent criticism concerns the rise of AI-generated imagery. Stock photography platforms now host or generate images created by artificial intelligence, raising questions about copyright, authorship, and the use of existing images to train AI systems. Some photographers argue that AI tools reduce demand for human-created images and contribute to declining earnings, while companies maintain that such tools expand creative possibilities for users.

Additionally, critics point to the increasing importance of platform algorithms, which determine image visibility and sales. Their use makes success less dependent on artistic merit alone and more on metadata optimization and search performance.

The original version of this article was published by SAGE Publications in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Journalism.