Stock Photography FAQ

How have computers effected the Stock Photography industry?

Initially, the computer revolution caught a lot of photographers by surprise.  This has caused some major problems for the stock photography industry.  Generic stock images can now be changed to the point of being virtually unrecognisable, even to the photographer whose work is represented.  Colors can be changed instantly, so images can be reused over and over (Pickerell and Child, 1994).

Not all such images need to initially be in digital form.  It's easy to steal images out of catalogs by scanning them and fixing any moire effect in programs like Photoshop.  Some photographers are beginning to sense that the traditional methods of submitting original transparencies for review by clients may have become too dangerous a practice.  Original transparencies are cheap, easy to scan, and store all the information one would need for reproduction.  Even if images are scanned and stored in digital form without the intention of ever being published, they can be repeatedly copied and accidentally distributed into the wrong hands (Pickerell and Child, 1994).

The original resolution of such a scan can usually be successfully quadrupled using Photoshop without severely degrading the quality of the image.  Photographers need to face up to the fact that this technology is here to stay and won't go away, so solutions need to be made to combat these problems (Pickerell and Child, 1994).