Good design incorporates rich, meaningful content to bring creative concepts to life. Designers need unique, high-quality images to communicate their visions.
Changes in the stock photography industry have created significant challenges and huge opportunities to develop a system that meets the needs of design pros, photographers and the agencies that represent them.
Proliferation of New Devices
One of the biggest changes is the proliferation of new devices and the need for media that can optimize their use. Over one billion cell phones are used worldwide. The U.S. has over 180 million mobile devices. There are more than 60 million Web sites. That number is increasing at a rate of a million per month. Blogs are multiplying at a rate of 23,000 each day.
Opportunities in Cross-Media Publishing
This explosion of media diversity represents an amazing opportunity for everyone, especially photographers and designers. For photographers, cross-media publishing expands the concept of composition. Images that communicate perfectly on printed pages may not translate to cell phone screens or Web pages.
The proliferation and sophistication of mobile technology continues to drive demand for visually rich content. Creatives and advertisers will need quick access to images that work in any media.
Digital Camera Challenges
Camera sales are on the rise, but it hasn’t slowed the growth of stock image sales. Digital camera sales are up across the board. Planned purchases and use of stock images are also increasing.
Low to midrange priced cameras aren’t capable of capturing print-quality or producing hi-res for larger images that compare with stock images. On the Internet, where the volume of images is high and resolution requirements are low, digital camera images can compete better. Still, only a small percentage of publishers plan to purchase a camera for Internet production work in this year.
New Model Offering Lower Cost Options
Royalty-free, low-end Internet services make it easy for newcomers and amateur photographers to enter the market. Thousands of unlimited-use images are available weekly for as little as $1.00 each. Photos used dozens of times help companies make money, but earn amateur photographers pennies.
Issues Facing Graphic Designers
Clients and agencies demand that photographers and designers work faster to break through the din with rich, targeted messages for communication devices. This means less time and energy for the creative process.
What do designers need to meet these demands?
They need to execute their ideas quickly with rich, inspired stock images that address media complexity and are accessed through their design and layout applications. That’s the goal of the Adobe Stock Photos service -- our one-stop stock photography shop.
The service simplifies workflows, so designers can focus on creativity. Adobe Creative Suite users can access over 575,000 high-quality, royalty-free images from a variety of sources.
The Stock Photo Controversy: Royalty Free Vs. Managed Royalty
The initial Adobe Stock Photos service offers royalty-free images. Royalty free doesn’t protect intellectual property, but designers find it easier to navigate through the licensing details than rights-managed, which protects photographers’ interests.
Rights-managed leads in revenues collected, but the trend favors royalty free, which accounts for over half of all stock sales. The popularity of royalty free doesn’t necessarily mean Adobe is committed to that model. We’re also looking at the rights-managed opportunity.
Licensing and royalties are complex issues. Adobe is committed to sorting it out with the stock community, professional photographers, and first and foremost, the creative professionals who license content. We’re working with the Plus Coalition to develop and implement licensing standards and systems that will bring photo licensing into the 21st century.
In addition to offering the ability to license royalty-free images, creative professionals can access several partners’ rights-managed libraries or connect with photographers via the Adobe Photographers Directory www.photographersdirectory.adobe.com.
People want and appreciate good design. By working together, we can make this happen.
For more information about Adobe Stock Photos, visit: www.adobe.com/adobestockphotos. James M. Alexander, Director of Adobe Stock Photos
 James Alexander is Director of Adobe Stock Photos in Adobe’s Creative Professional Business Unit. He leads the team that created and now manages the Adobe Stock Photos service, which is a part of Adobe Creative Suite 2. He is responsible for growing the Adobe Stock Photos service by delivering a powerful new distribution platform for professional photographers and a seamlessly integrated, time-saving resource for creative professionals.
Prior to joining Adobe, James led venture-backed Mibrary Inc., a New York-based software start-up founded to make electronic books and other digital content easier for consumers to use. Since joining Adobe, he has managed a diverse product portfolio including Electronic Publishing, Creative Professional Services, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe Type and Adobe PostScript.
A frequent public speaker, James has testified on the consumer impact of Digital Rights Management technologies before the Congressional Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. He has been quoted regularly in the media about technology issues. James represents Adobe on the Leadership Circle of the PLUS Coalition, in which Adobe is a charter Visionary Sustaining Member. He is also a member of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).
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