Stock Images Can Have Various License Types

sadman

The amount of time, money and effort required by custom photo shoots add up pretty quick. So, the best way to use stock photos is to select photos that look real. This gets you the best of both worlds: fast and easy photos without the price tag of custom made photos. How many types of stock licenses are there? — A bunch including special allowances for commercial usage and modification. Designers primarily find themselves dealing with three core types: Royalty-free: User doesn’t have to pay any royalties and can use the image free, but so can everyone else.

These include Public Domain content whose intellectual rights have expired image manipulation service and Creative Commons (artists choose that their work is royalty-free), however these may require special attributions. Rights managed: Images are pay-to-use, and can be licensed by individual projects, a period of time, or a geographic location. Extended or enhanced This provides additional liberties to a standard license, including multiple uses of the image and allowances for resale and commercial use.


Screenshot of Flickr’s licensing filters Flickr allows you filter image searches by the different licensing types. Via Flickr. For more on the specifics of stock licenses, read our field guide to stock image licensing. Stock images are priced differently depending on where you get them, and there are always plenty of free stock images if you’re under a budget. Some stock image sites let you pay per picture, while others offer a membership fee that allows you to download a certain amount per cycle.