NZPhotographer Issue 53, March 2022
As of December 2022, NZPhotographer magazine is only available when you purchase an annual or monthly subscription via the NZP website. Find out more: www.nzphotographer.nz As of December 2022, NZPhotographer magazine is only available when you purchase an annual or monthly subscription via the NZP website. Find out more: www.nzphotographer.nz
A Sea Change In The Stock Photography Industry By Ana Lyubich Over the last decade, nothing has changed in the way that stock photography platforms manage their commission structure, apart from photographers receiving less money year on year for the same number of sales! So it’s no wonder a lot of photographers have lost faith in trying to sell their work online in recent years. For the global giants such as Shutterstock and Getty Images, photography has been used as a commodity for far too long with photographers receiving pennies for their image sales despite the time, effort, and energy needed to not only take and edit the photos but upload them too. When the reward is so little but the effort so high, there is no real motivation for photographers to keep uploading their work despite thousands of people and companies seeking fresh, interesting, and authentic photographs. I felt that it was high time something changed. Since the beginning of last year, together with our team, participating local NZ companies, and selected Excio members, we have started building a new kind of photography marketplace. Some of the findings we came across during the development of the marketplace I am sharing with you here. THE FREE OPTION IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE “I guess it’s just the way things are... and when we use Unsplash, we take advantage of those photographers who offer their work for free.” – This was the answer from a big NZ educational institution when I asked if they thought using free photographs from the web is a good thing. If businesses such as Shutterstock have helped diminish the value of photography, sites like Unsplash 22 March 2022 NZPhotographer
and Pixabay, etc continue promoting the concept that photography is ‘free’! By uploading your work to sites like this you are helping them to devalue digital photography in general. Whilst those free image websites exist and thrive on the back of photographers, digital photography will always be considered something that image users can take advantage of. The big problem is educating the image buyers about the true state of the market and how much photographers earn from stock photos. When companies hear that photographers receive US$0.47 from Getty for the photo/s they bought for hundreds of dollars, they get an unpleasant surprise. The good thing is, most imagebuying companies would love to do the right thing but just don’t know how. It’s not really their fault though - When you buy a premium Spotify subscription, do you pause and think how much the artists are making from it? Exactly. IT’S ABOUT PURCHASING AUTHENTIC PHOTOGRAPHS, NOT STOCK We keep hearing from each and every image buyer, be it a big branding agency or a small accounting firm, that they don’t want stock photos. The term ‘Stock photography’ developed with the growth of big international giants like Shutterstock, iStock, and so on – they require photographers to submit ‘clean’ photographs with no signs, branding, logos, etc. to avoid copyright infringement. It is easy to sell these types of images as they are universal - a street photo without a landmark and where there are no logos or signs in the background (or where the branding has been erased) can be taken in New Zealand or New York, doesn’t matter. However, we’re finding that what image buyers really need is recognisable photographs – where someone can look and say ‘I know this street/cafe/place’. You probably have thousands of these shots on your hard drive but the problem is – standard stock platforms won’t accept them unless you submit them for editorial use only. That’s why we had to create our own marketplace with our own rules – you can find out more in the link at the end! HOW MANY PHOTOGRAPHS IS ENOUGH? Don’t get us wrong, there’s still some money to be earned from uploading and selling stock photos at traditional stock photo websites but you need to manage your expectations right from the start so as not to be sorely disappointed. NZPhotographer March 2022 23
- Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 53, March 2022 TAKING PHOTOS
- Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS 4 8 12 20 26 34 38 56 62 B
- Page 5 and 6: ‘The Good Side’ Nikon D500, 70-
- Page 7 and 8: Rent it today. www.progear.co.nz |
- Page 9 and 10: NZPhotographer March 2022 9
- Page 11 and 12: Photographic Expeditions 2022/2023
- Page 13 and 14: What's In The Bag? with Shaun Barne
- Page 15 and 16: WHAT’S IN THE BAG? My camera body
- Page 17 and 18: Wellington-based Shaun Barnett has
- Page 19 and 20: Subscribe today and download all ba
- Page 21: NZPhotographer March 2022 21
- Page 25 and 26: Remarkable Form, Exceptional Functi
- Page 27 and 28: Elaborately Dressed Canon 5D Mk IV,
- Page 29 and 30: Hey. Are You Listening? Canon 5D Mk
- Page 31 and 32: Ice Bubble Canon 5D Mk IV, Canon 10
- Page 33 and 34: Print On Demand Why not read your f
- Page 35 and 36: such as light, context, and composi
- Page 37 and 38: Which brings me to my response to t
- Page 40 and 41: ADEN MESER 40 March 2022 NZPhotogra
- Page 44 and 45: ANDRE KIRSTEIN 44 March 2022 NZPhot
- Page 46 and 47: 46 March 2022 NZPhotographer
- Page 48 and 49: ANNETTE CHING 48 March 2022 NZPhoto
- Page 50 and 51: 50 March 2022 NZPhotographer
- Page 52 and 53: BRUCE HANCOCK 52 March 2022 NZPhoto
- Page 54 and 55: 54 March 2022 NZPhotographer
- Page 56 and 57: 56 March 2022 NZPhotographer
- Page 58 and 59: From the Road: Karachi by Susan Bli
- Page 60 and 61: 60 March 2022 NZPhotographer
- Page 62 and 63: Get Your Grunge On by Fairlie Atkin
- Page 64 and 65: MAKING YOUR OWN GRUNGES Photographi
- Page 66 and 67: MAKING YOUR OWN GRUNGES WITH BRUSHE
- Page 68 and 69: MONOCHROME READERS' SUBMISSIONS Cha
- Page 70 and 71: RASPBERRY AND WASPS Delicious and j
and Pixabay, etc continue promoting the concept<br />
that photography is ‘free’! By uploading your work to<br />
sites like this you are helping them to devalue digital<br />
photography in general.<br />
Whilst those free image websites exist and thrive on<br />
the back of photographers, digital photography<br />
will always be considered something that image<br />
users can take advantage of. The big problem is<br />
educating the image buyers about the true state<br />
of the market and how much photographers earn<br />
from stock photos. When companies hear that<br />
photographers receive US$0.47 from Getty for the<br />
photo/s they bought for hundreds of dollars, they get<br />
an unpleasant surprise. The good thing is, most imagebuying<br />
companies would love to do the right thing but<br />
just don’t know how. It’s not really their fault though -<br />
When you buy a premium Spotify subscription, do you<br />
pause and think how much the artists are making from<br />
it? Exactly.<br />
IT’S ABOUT PURCHASING AUTHENTIC<br />
PHOTOGRAPHS, NOT STOCK<br />
We keep hearing from each and every image buyer,<br />
be it a big branding agency or a small accounting<br />
firm, that they don’t want stock photos. The term<br />
‘Stock photography’ developed with the growth of<br />
big international giants like Shutterstock, iStock, and<br />
so on – they require photographers to submit ‘clean’<br />
photographs with no signs, branding, logos, etc. to<br />
avoid copyright infringement. It is easy to sell these<br />
types of images as they are universal - a street photo<br />
without a landmark and where there are no logos<br />
or signs in the background (or where the branding<br />
has been erased) can be taken in New Zealand or<br />
New York, doesn’t matter. However, we’re finding<br />
that what image buyers really need is recognisable<br />
photographs – where someone can look and say<br />
‘I know this street/cafe/place’. You probably have<br />
thousands of these shots on your hard drive but the<br />
problem is – standard stock platforms won’t accept<br />
them unless you submit them for editorial use only.<br />
That’s why we had to create our own marketplace<br />
with our own rules – you can find out more in the link<br />
at the end!<br />
HOW MANY PHOTOGRAPHS IS ENOUGH?<br />
Don’t get us wrong, there’s still some money to be<br />
earned from uploading and selling stock photos at<br />
traditional stock photo websites but you need to<br />
manage your expectations right from the start so as<br />
not to be sorely disappointed.<br />
<strong>NZPhotographer</strong><br />
<strong>March</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
23