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Another Before and After CS5 Image

OK, so you are looking at this before and after shot and thinking to yourself, "Just what is the big deal here? I don't need CS5 to remove a cable from an image." You are right. You don't! But what if I told you it took only seconds to remove that cable from the image? This new feature will be a great time saver. And time is money!

Beta Testing CS5

I have been beta testing CS5 in secret for Adobe for the last few weeks, but today received the official email stating that I can post a picture or two and confirm that I have been testing and that CS5 is on its way! I can't say much more than that the images shown are BEFORE and AFTER pictures using a cool feature and that I think CS5 ROCKS!

License this Image

The Parable of the Sidewalk Sale

License this Image

I love a sidewalk sale, don't you? Merchants place their goods outside the store and you are free to browse at your leisure without someone asking, "May I help you?" every five minutes.

Sally, Ann & Mary also like sidewalk sales.

One day Sally saw a beautiful red hat like the one in the photograph. She liked it. So, she just placed it on her head and walked away reasoning, "It's just for personal use. I won't be reselling it for a profit or anything, so I don't need to pay for it."

Next along came Ann, and she also liked the beautiful red hat, so she placed it on her head and walked off with it while telling herself, "I'm an actress and I need this hat as a prop for my business, but I'm not profitable so I don't need to pay for it."

Finally, along came Mary who decided that a red hat was just what she needed to complete her mother-of-the-bride outfit. So she brought the hat into the store and paid for it before walking away with it.

Who then did the right thing? Sally? Ann? Mary? Mary, of course!

Photography on the Internet is like goods at a gigantic sidewalk sale. No one is going to ask, "May I help you?" (except maybe through a pop-up chat box.) You are free to browse for hours at your leisure.

Stan, Bill and Joe were browsing at their leisure one day when each stumbled across an image not unlike the one above.

Stan copied the image to use on his personal blog and to make a print to hang on the wall in his living room reasoning, "It's just for personal use. I won't be reselling it for a profit or anything, so I don't need to pay for it."

When Bill saw the image he thought it was perfect to put on his website to advertise his fledgling clothing store and to place on his business cards. He reasoned, "I need this image to promote my business, but I'm not profitable so I don't need to pay for it."

Joe thought the image was just what he needed to illustrate an article he was writing about the Red Hat Society. So he clicked on the link and proceeded to license the image.

So, who did the right thing this time? Stan? Bill? Joe? Joe, of course!

Welcome to the Stock Photography blog of Diane Macdonald

Well folks, I have finally joined the 21st century and am an official member of the blogosphere! Most of what I publish will relate to stock photography.

"What kind of photography?" you ask! I know, I know! Many of you have been shooting stock for eons and think this question is too basic, but there are those out there (professional photographers included) who really don't have a clue what stock photography is. So, please be patient as I describe the business of stock photography in a few short paragraphs. This is not an in-depth description of the business - just enough information to make the uninformed sound informed when joining a conversation about it.

First, let me tell you what stock photography is not. Stock photography is not about SELLING images. It is about LICENSING images. With that out of the way, let me give a little more detail.

Stock photographers create images which they offer for licensing through agencies such as Getty, Corbis and Alamy, or they may choose to license the images directly to clients without using an agency. However they choose to license their work, photographers still retain the copyright to their images. Clients pay for the rights to use the images in certain ways on the web, in magazines, on greeting cards etc., but no matter which licensing model they choose, they are never free to resell the images as their own stock images or as their own art.

The two licensing models are RM (Rights Managed) and RF (Royalty Free.) RM is the oldest and traditional stock photography model. Images are licensed for a certain period of time and for a certain usage and may be used only for that time period and for that usage. There are no time limits to the usage of an RF image, and it may be used in many different projects without paying an additional fee. Note that "Royalty Free" does not mean that the image is free of royalties, only that the client does not have to pay an additional fee once the image has been licensed.

In recent years microstock has become a buzzword. I'm not involved with microstock, so cannot speak from experience there. In a nutshell, microstock is RF imagery sold at a much cheaper price and in a higher volume than traditional RF images.

So, there you have it -a very basic understanding about what stock photography is.

In addition to licensing my images at Getty, I also license some images through Alamy. You can check my work at the following links:

http://bit.ly/DianeMGetty
http://bit.ly/DianeMAlamy