Frequent
asked questions about Stock Photos
Q:
What is the difference between royalty-free pictures
and licensed stock photos?
A:
Royalty-free
(a confusing term, this does not mean the image is
"free")
- Pay
a one-time fee to use the image multiple times for
multiple purposes (with limits).
- No
time limit on when you can use an image.
- No
one can have exclusive rights of a Royalty-free
image (the photographer can sell the image as many
times as he wants).
- A
Royalty-free image usually has a limit to how many
times you can reproduce it. For example, a license
might allow you to print 500,000 brochures with
the purchased image. The amount of copies made is
called the print run. Above that print run you are
required to pay a fee per brochure, usually 1 to
3 cents.
- Magazines
with a large print run cannot use a standard Royalty-free
license and therefore they either purchase images
with a Rights-managed license or have in-house photographers.
Rights-managed
(sometimes called "licensed images")
- Pay
each time you use the image.
- There
is a time limit on how long a buyer has exclusive
use of an image (usually one year). This allows
the photographer to sell exclusive rights to the
image again when the first buyer's time limit is
up.
- You
must choose a Rights-managed license if you want
exclusive use of an image. The photographer would
not be allowed to sell the image to anyone else
if exclusivity is part of the license. Not all Rights-managed
licenses are exclusive, that must be stipulated
in the agreement.
-
Fee is based on such things as exclusivity, distribution,
length of time used, geographic location of use.
A Rights-managed image usually allows a much larger
print run per image than a Royalty-free license.
Editorial is a form of rights-managed
license when there are no releases for the subjects.
Since there are no releases the images cannot be
used for advertising or to depict controversial
subjects, only for news or educational purposes.
(Above
reprinted from the free Wikipedia,
webpage about Stock Photography at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_photography#External_links
following the GNU
Free Documentation License
Universal
Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines - UPDIG
The
Guidelines
(version 1.0 of Universal Photographic Digital Imaging
Guidelines - UPDIG) - for updates see below
1.
Manage the color.
ICC profile-based color management is the standard.
2.
Calibrate the monitor.
Monitors should be calibrated and profiled with a
hardware device.
3.
Choose a wide gamut.
Use a wide-gamut RGB color space (show footnote) for
capturing and editing RGB master files. We recommend
Adobe RGB (1998) or ProPhoto RGB.
Professional digital cameras have selectable color
spaces.
Photographs intended for print should be captured
in a wide-gamut space, such as Adobe RGB (1998). Photographs
intended only for the web can be captured in the narrower-gamut
sRGB color space.
It is possible, but not strictly necessary, to create
custom camera profiles. When such profiles work, they
can speed workflow and yield more accurate colors.
Adobe’s Camera Raw program allows for calibration
of a digital camera, creating in effect a custom profile.
It’s essential that a photographer choose the
correct color profile when capturing JPEGs or TIFFs,
because the camera will process images into these
formats using the specified profile.
4.
Capture the raw data.
For best quality, digital cameras should be set to
record RAW files.
5.
Embed the profiles.
All digital files should have embedded profiles (should
be “tagged”), unless otherwise noted.
Photoshop’s Color Management should be set to
“always preserve embedded profiles,” and
the “ask when opening” boxes should be
checked to alert you to profile mismatches and missing
profiles. When profile mismatches occur, you should
elect to preserve the embedded profile.
6.
Color space recommendations:
a.
For the web, convert images to sRGB and embed sRGB
profile before delivery.
b.
For display prints from professional digital color
labs (show footnote), if a custom profile is available,
use it for soft proofing. Then submit either sRGB
or (more rarely) Adobe RGB with embedded profiles,
as specified by the lab. If a lab does not have a
custom profile, it’s usually best to use the
sRGB color space with that profile embedded.
Most professional digital color labs that do have
an ICC workflow usually require sRGB as the color
space to send to their RIP or other printer software.
A few labs will work from Adobe RGB files, so it is
best to ask before submitting files.
Those labs that offer custom profiles provide them
as “soft proofing” profiles only, since
they update their actual profiles on a regular basis,
when they change chemistry, paper batches or software
versions.
c.
For display prints from many consumer digital-print
vendors, a database of custom profiles is available.
(Show source note.) Otherwise, deliver files in the
sRGB color space with embedded profile.
There
is a free database of ICC printer profiles for digital
labs worldwide at the Dry Creek Photo site. The printers
covered include Fuji Frontier, Noritsu, Agfa D-Lab,
LightJet, Durst and Chromira printers, among others.
Because these printers do not recognize embedded profiles,
it is necessary to convert your files to their profiles,
then save them with the profile embedded. Converting
to these profiles will give you the best color fidelity
and allow you to soft-proof your digital files before
committing them to print.
Labs that don’t use profiles usually require
that submitted files be converted to sRGB. To avoid
confusion on your end, it’s still best to include
the embedded profile, even if the lab will ignore
it. Using the sRGB color space instead of a custom
profile may yield less accurate color that doesn’t
take advantage of the full gamut such printers can
produce.
d.
For offset printing, it’s always best to begin
by asking the printer or the client’s production
expert what file format, resolution and color space
they require. RGB files contain many colors that cannot
be reproduced by conventional CMYK printing. This
has often led to a situation where the final result
looks nothing like the screen version of the file,
or the inkjet print of the file.
There are two ways to avoid this confusion:
Files
can be delivered as CMYK files. This is the “safe”
way to go, because the image itself will contain no
colors that can’t be reproduced by the CMYK
process.
Files delivered as RGB files can be accompanied by
a cross-rendered guide print that includes only colors
reproducible in CMYK.
Files
can also be delivered in both CMYK and RGB. This allows
the photographer to make the artistic decisions about
color rendering, and gives the printer more tools
to recover from mistakes the photographer may have
made in converting RGB to CMYK.
Ideally, CMYK image files should be converted from
RGB using the printer’s CMYK profile with that
profile embedded in the file.
It is not always possible to get the printer’s
profile, either because the printer does not have
one or the client does not know who will print the
images. In such cases, it’s often best to deliver
an RGB master file (show footnote), with an embedded
profile and a ReadMe file that explains that “for
accurate color, the embedded RGB profile should be
preserved” when opening the file. CMYK profiles
and the RGB alternative are discussed on page XREF
6.
RGB
master files are Photoshop (.PSD) or TIFF files, optimized
in a wide-gamut color space (such as Adobe RGB or
ProPhoto RGB), at either at the digital camera’s
native file size or interpolated to a larger size
(consistent with any possible future use) by a RAW
file conversion program. They should be left unsharpened
or sharpened only on a removable layer, since resizing
for future uses is likely. Master files should be
archived along with the RAW files for a project.
e.
For inkjet and dye-sub printers (show footnote), use
a wide-gamut color space, such as Adobe RGB, for the
source space. Use a custom profile for the printer-paper
combination in the print space to get the best quality
and the best match to a profiled monitor.
You can easily bring desktop and wide-format printers
into a color-managed environment with the help of
profiles. If working with the manufacturer’s
printer driver, turn off all color management and
print a copy of the color target file.
Next, measure the printed target with a spectrophotometer
to generate a profile for accurate output on a particular
paper or other medium. Repeat this process for each
paper stock you use. Most RIP (Raster Imaging Processor)
software offers profiles for a wide variety of papers.
Many RIPs will also allow use of custom profiles.
7.
Formats and names.
File formats should always be denoted by standard,
three-letter file extensions.
a.
For the web, use JPEG files.
b.
For print, uncompressed TIFFs are best. Use JPEG only
when bandwidth or storage constraints require it.
Use the highest JPEG quality setting possible. We
recommend not using less than “8” quality.
To
avoid problems with files that will be transferred
across computing platforms, name files with only the
letters of the alphabet and the numerals 0 through
9.
Avoid
punctuation marks (other than hyphen and underscore),
accented vowels and other special characters. Keep
the full name (including extension) to 31 characters
or less for files on a network or removable media,
and to 11 characters or less (including the three-letter
file extension) when burning to CDR, in case a recipient’s
computers don’t support long filenames. For
the complete guide to file naming protocol, see the
Controlled Vocabulary website.
8.
Appropriate resolution.
Resolution
of digital images is described by three numbers: height,
width and ppi (pixels per inch). Beware: It’s
easy to confuse ppi with dpi (dots per inch), which
refers to the resolution of a printing device, or
with lpi (lines per inch), which describes a halftone
grid or screen used for printing images on a press.
The following target resolutions are meaningful only
when paired with the height and width at which an
image will appear in the final form:
a.
Low (monitor or “screen”) resolution is
defined as less than 100 ppi.
b.
Inkjet prints normally need resolutions of 180 ppi
to 360 ppi.
c.
Continuous-tone printing requires resolutions of 250
ppi to 400 ppi.
d.
The offset-printing standard is often considered 300
ppi. But resolutions of 1.3 - 2 times the halftone
screen for the project are considered safe. If the
images will be printed at 150 lpi, the appropriate
image file resolution range would be 195 ppi to 300
ppi.
9.
Sharpen last.
All digital images require sharpening, during capture
or after, and the correct amount to apply depends
on the type of use and size of the final output. For
most uses, it’s best to sharpen little or none
during capture with a camera or scanner. Sharpening
is an art, and requires study and practice.
There
are several schools of thought regarding proper sharpening.
One recommended method is to remove capture softness
using a gentle sharpening pass followed by local sharpening
and/or output sharpening. Sharpening should be the
final step in reproduction, because resizing and contrast
adjustment affect an image’s sharpness.
Sharpening
is best evaluated at 100 percent and 50 percent views
on your monitor, or by making a print. The most common
sharpening method is to apply an “unsharp mask”
filter (higher settings for higher-resolution files)
to images, but other sharpening methods and Photoshop
plug-in programs can be useful, too. Oversharpening
creates obvious halos around edges within images.
10.
Delivery.
Digital image files may be delivered on removable
media (removable hard drive, CD-Rs or DVD-Rs), or
via FTP or e-mail. If files are delivered on CD-R,
the standard disc formatting is ISO 9660 or “Mac
OS extended and PC (Hybrid) CD.”
When delivering images on a DVD-R, make sure the recipient
can read the chosen format, since there are multiple
standards. Often speed and convenience require delivery
by File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
Although not a preferred method, e-mail delivery usually
works if image files are small in number and size,
and both sender’s and recipient’s internet
service providers permit large attachments.
E-mail
delivery sometimes works better if the image files
are first compressed using RLE compression software
such as WinZip or Stuffit. Check to make sure the
recipient can access your specific version of compressed
files.
Delivery by FTP or e-mail usually precludes delivery
of a “guide print” (discussed below),
so a disclaimer should always be included that states
accurate viewing and reproduction depend on the recipient
properly applying ICC color management.
11.
File info.
All digital image files should have embedded metadata
— including copyright, usage license and contact
information — that conforms to the IPTC or the
newer IPTC Core standards. Photoshop users can input
and edit this information by choosing “File
Info” under the File menu. Adding caption, title,
origin and keyword data enhances searches and organization
with digital asset management applications.
12.
Describe what’s there.
Provide a ReadMe file in either .PDF, .HTML, or .TXT
format with all files delivered for output. Such files
should specify image size(s), color space(s) and any
licenses granted, the copyright owner’s contact
information and, if certain rights are being withheld,
the words “other uses, reproduction or distribution
are specifically prohibited.” The ReadMe file
should also include disclaimers noting recipients
are responsible for following an ICC-based color management
workflow.
13.
Send a guide.
Whenever possible, include a guide print with digital
image files. A guide print is typically an inkjet
print that serves as a color reference for reproduction
of a digital image file.
14.
Disk labels.
Do not use adhesive labels on optical media, since
they may separate and damage an optical drive. Printing
directly on inkjet-writable CDRs or DVDRs is a good
way to provide information such as your copyright,
usage license, file lists and disclaimers.
15.
Long term.
Archiving responsibilities should be clearly stated
in writing for everyone involved. Photographers should
note that charging for archiving could mean assuming
liability for maintaining such archives. Prudent photographers
keep back-ups on external magnetic drives, as well
as on optical media and, if possible, also keep duplicate
back-ups offsite.
Please
consult for updates at the website of Universal Photographic
Digital Imaging Guidelines UPDIG http://www.updig.org/
and get information about the background and organization
of Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines
UPDIG - sign up for future updates, too.
Copyright
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008: Soren Breiting/A-Z
FOTOS. |
