Stock photos (stock photography) are professional photographs of common places,
landmarks, nature, events or people that are bought and sold on a royalty-free
basis and can be used and reused for commercial design purposes. The
photographer (or stock photography distributor) has ownership to the images, and
the commercial designer has some limited usage of the photo (which is set out in
the Terms of Service by the company you purchase the stock photos from). Some
conditions of use may include things such as use of the images is licensed, not
sold or in case of a stock photo being used in a magazine there may be a maximum
number of copies of the image allowed to be printed under the agreement. Terms
of Service policies will differ between stock photography distributors.
Stock photography is a cost-effective method for designers to obtain
professional photos and images without the costs of hiring a photographer
directly. Stock photos and stock photography refer to the images purchased under
this distribution method and may be photos, computer generated graphics,
clip-art, vectors, and
other form of imagery. Today stock photos can be purchased through a
subscription and downloaded from a stock photography distributor's Web site or
purchased as a CD-ROM collection.
