IStockphoto

iStockphoto is an online, royalty free, international microstock photography provider operating with the micropayment business model. Images cost between $1 and $40 (depending on size). General consensus attributes the pioneering of the microstock photography industry to iStockPhoto, which claims to be "the world's fastest growing collection of original, independent, royalty-free images."

The online photo library contains (as of August, 2007) over 2 million images (up from 760,000 in April, 2006) contributed by over 23,000 photographers at the rate of 12,000 to 14,000 images per week. iStockPhoto.com is currently (13 October 2007) ranked 325 on Alexa.

History
The company was founded by Bruce Livingstone in May, 2000. Originally iStockphoto was a free stock imagery website. Over the course of time it transitioned into its current micropayment model. The website was originally supported by CEO Livingstone's web development firm, Evolvs Media, but began charging money in 2001. iStockphoto has been profitable since then.

On February 9, 2006 iStockphoto was acquired by Getty Images for $50 million USD. Livingstone promised that the site would continue "functioning independently with the benefits of Getty Images, yet, very importantly for them and us, autonomy. They will nurture and encourage our pioneering spirit so that our entrepreneurial culture will continue to thrive."

On September 18, 2006 iStockPhoto displayed the first results of the Getty ownership. A new system called "Controlled Vocabulary" was borrowed from Getty and installed on iStockPhoto to control and manage keywords and searches, and to provide multilingual searching abilities. While this feature is still in disarray, the company appears to be attempting to resolve the issues. Support for several languages was also added and the website can now be viewed in English, French, Spanish, and German. Keyword searches can also be performed in British English or American English, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Greek and even in Japanese and Cyrillic characters.

As of March 31, 2007, iStockpro has been closed. Istockpro was the more expensive part of Istock that was never as popular as Istockphoto and became redundant after the acquistion by Getty Images.

The company also supports the following international currencies: US dollar, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Euro, Yen, and British pound.

Since September, 2007, the site has been frequently paralyzed by serious software issues.

Contributors
Contributing photographers apply (via a short quiz regarding the website's policies and requirements, and basic photographic knowledge) before they are eligible to upload their images. The applicant's sample images are screened for quality and suitability before being approved. Photographers must be over 18 years of age to join.

Once approved, photographers can begin uploading their work through the website. They supply keywords, categorize the images, and submit them to the "inspection queue", where each and every image is examined to ensure that it meets the standards of quality, usefulness and copyright and trademark laws.

iStockphoto also sells vector graphics made in programs like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand; Macromedia Flash elements and raster illustrations created in 3d graphics programs or bitmap editors like Adobe Photoshop.

Contributors receive a commission of between 20% and 40% of each sale, depending on whether or not they are "exclusive", and on their current "canister level." New canisters are awarded for various milestones such as 250 sales, 2,500 sales, 10,000 sales, 25,000 sales, and 200,000 sales. Only two photographers have passed the 200,000 point, while 84 members have passed the 25,000 level as of 2006-12-01 and received the coveted "diamond canister."

Contributing photographers who reach a minimum of 250 sales are offered the option of becoming exclusive to the company. If they do so, a bonus is added to their commission and they must not sell royalty-free stock images anywhere else. Rights managed sales are allowed off site even under the exclusivity contract.

Purchasing and Use
Each approved image is added to the searchable online database, where it can be found by purchasers. Depending on the original size of an image, it can be bought in Extra Small, Small, Medium, Large, XLarge and XXLarge sizes. These cost 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, or 15 credits. Vector and Flash files also cost 1 to 40 credits, based on complexity.

Note: On December 4, 2006, Istockphoto announced a new pricing scheme to take effect in 2007. This includes the addition of a new image size, XSmall, and changes the cost of the other image sizes. The base price of credits is also rising to $1.20 per credit with discounts for buyers who purchase in bulk. Bulk purchase gives up to 20% bonus credits.

Files can be downloaded immediately, and used in almost anything. The license agreement prohibits only a few uses, such as web templates, print on demand, adult materials, etc. Any print runs over 500,000 must pay additional royalties. Extended licenses are available for purchase to cover needs not met by the basic license agreement.

Community
iStockphoto's online community of 1,000,000 members includes internet forums, a creative-network for keeping track of friends, and peer review/rating system.

iStockphoto has a reputation for interacting with their member-base and discussing changes and new ideas openly before and after implementation, but also has a reputation for censorship among some photographers.

The forums are a good place to get to know the rules and procedures, and to seek help understanding the site or improving one's skills. The forums have also spawned a number of iStockPhoto colloquialisms, such as "F5" (referring to the F5 key on a keyboard which refreshes the page in most browsers) which is used in conjunction with the announcement of a secret upgrade that will take place soon, leading users to refresh their browsers repeatedly in hopes that the change has occurred, and to post in lengthy "F5" threads devoted to the wait. Another colloquialism is the word "Wooyay", used to celebrate a personal victory, milestone, or public achievement, and often found in the seasonal "Wooyay threads."

iStockphoto get-togethers are occasionally held in various cities around the world, and are sponsored by the company. They are referred to as iStockalypses. Smaller, photographer organized events are put on in many cities are the world, and are called Minilypses.

These iStockalypses provide photographers of every stripe the opportunity to meet likeminded enthusiasts from all over the world, near and far, and connect in the spirit of sharing. Members often take major steps in their photographic development as a result of the support and experience to be gained at such events. Members share their knowledge and tricks and take away more than just technical info: friendships and connections are cemented through the common interest that is photography and creativity.

The Steel Cage
In 2005 iStockPhoto re-launched an old site feature, the Steel Cage. The Steel Cage is essentially an organized game of Photoshop tennis, in which contestants battle against their opponents in a 5-round game. The players trade a Photoshop Document, containing an artful, weird, or crazy photo collage, back and forth, each time preserving at least one element and changing the rest to their heart's content. The battles are scored by judges appointed within iStockPhoto, and download credits are awarded in values of up to 50 credits.

Controversies
To critics of the micropayment stock photography market, iStockphoto represents a threat to an old and well established precedent. Stock photography has long been an expensive and elite market. Critics contend that the extremely low prices are undercutting and devaluing the stock photography market, by offering images vastly below accepted price standards. The commissions at iStockphoto (on the low end of the spectrum, and ranging between 20% and 45%) are below the industry norm of 50% and are based on much lower purchase fees (compared to typical fees in the hundreds of dollars) to begin with.

Critics also cite low earnings in comparison to expenses, if equipment costs, image processing, and contribution process are taken into account. With roughly 45 cents per download on a standard image, members could expect only a couple dollars per image over a years time, they say.

An informal poll conducted on iStockphoto's forums found an average royalty of $11.01 USD per image per year. However, such data may reflect the self-selected nature of the respondents as heavily involved contributors. No official data about average royalties is released by Getty which owns the company.

An article in The Seattle Times confirmed that at least one talented photographer is earning around $70,000 per year. Curious number-crunchers may be able to extrapolate from the data available in the article.

Supporters of the iStockphoto system contend that a large portfolio, due to the vastly reduced prices, and equally increased sales numbers, yields the same, or higher, earnings as a traditional stock service would. Hard evidence to prove this is not available, and number-crunchers must content themselves with a handful of personal success stories. Additionally, many contributors are not professionals, but a new generation of skilled in-betweeners who find themselves above the skill level of a casual amateur, and not as serious as a professional.

Other complaints often refer to an elitist or cult-like community, and refer in particular to unyielding moderation on the iStockphoto forums, which are guarded by administrators and moderators. Allegations of censorship have also occurred.

Some concerns have been voiced relating to an unusual intellectual property double standard.

Rising prices
Since iStockphoto's launch in 2000, purchase prices have slowly increased, from initially bartered (based on accumulated contributions), to $.25 and then $.50, and more recently tiered at $1, $2 and $3, to a higher-cost tiered pricing of $1, $3, $5 and $10 or more for extra high resolution, to today's current pricing scheme where images cost between 1 and 15 credits, and credits sell for between $1.20 each and $.96 each in bundles of 10 to 625. On August 19th, 2007, iStockphoto adjusted the pricing structure in the Illustration and Video categories and raised the base price of credits. The vector pricing is $1, $3, $7, $12, and $25, and video pricing is $10, $20, $30, $40, and $50.

For designers, what was once an inexpensive alternative to purchasing more expensive stock photos has slowly become less so. Despite raises, the site's popularity continues to grow.

iStockvideo
On July 31, 2006 iStockphoto announced the development of a new branch, iStockvideo, which will sell stock video clips in a variety of formats from web-size, through NTSC and PAL up to HDV and HD sizes. The collection is slated to open on September 5th, 2006, and clips (between 5 and 30 seconds) will range in cost from $5 USD to $50 USD, based on resolution.

This new branch of iStockphoto competes with motion stock collections already available from companies such as Getty, Artbeats, and Veer.