What is stock photography? Stock photography is licensing the use of a photograph that already exists as a practical and cost effective alternative to hiring a photographer to go out and shoot the photo. The rights to use an image are licensed from the copyright holder, usually the photographer, or from a legally appointed representative for the copyright holder like MyLoupe.com. There are two basic licensing models for stock photography. The photographer decides which model to license their images under and the individual images become defined by how they can be licensed either as rights managed (RM) or royalty free (RF). A photo can never be both RM and RF only one or the other.

Rights managed (RM) licensing was the only licensing model before the advent of digital media and distribution by CD and later the internet. In rights managed licensing usage rights are granted only for a narrowly defined use and limited time. Parameters that are used in defining the scope of the license include: media type: i.e. book, magazine, brochure, annual report, trade show display, billboard, size of reproduction, number of copies to be printed, geographic range of distribution and length of time before the rights granted expire. All of these parameters go into determining the licensing fee. Essentially the more exposure the image gets and the broader the rights granted the higher the fee. Many photographers prefer licensing their work under this model because there is some control over how images are used, so that rights granted can be managed. This is why for some high profile uses businesses may prefer paying a premium to license a rights managed image to reduce the chance that a competitor may be using the same image. Exclusive use within an industry or for a particular use, call Protected Rights, can sometimes be arranged for RM images. Rights Managed License Terms (PDF)

Royalty free licensing came about with the advent of digitized images that could be sold on a CD. For a onetime licensing fee the image can be used again and again with very few restrictions. Higher resolution digital files can be reproduced at larger sizes with more possible uses and therefore are licensed at higher fees. Royalty free (RF) licensing is popular with photo buyers because it's very easy to license ( no usage parameters) , the license does not expire and for multiple uses can be more economical. Royalty Free License Terms (PDF)

Which costs less? RM or RF?. This all depends on how their image is to be used. Rights managed licensing can cost less than royalty free in some cases, but for multiple uses royalty free will usually cost less.

Both RM and RF images are available on MyLoupe.com. Our image search allows you to filter your search results to return only rights managed, only royalty free, or both.

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