thumb|A [[public domain stock photo titled "frog on palm frond"]]
Stock photography is the supply of photographs that are often licensed for specific uses. a service that allows smartphone users to instantly upload photos to the photobank from their devices, followed by Fotolia, that launched the very similar Fotolia Instant later that year.
Between the 1990s and the mid-2000s, Bill Gates' Corbis Images and Getty Images combined purchased more than 40 stock photo agencies. The Wall Street Journal subsequently characterized the period as an existential moment for veteran contributors, as agencies including Getty Images and Shutterstock integrated AI-generated imagery alongside their traditional libraries.
Adobe Stock, which began accepting AI-generated submissions in December 2022, saw the share of AI imagery in its catalog rise from approximately 2.5% in May 2023 to 48% by April 8, 2025—roughly 313 million AI images compared with 342 million conventional photographs—with more than 29 million new AI images uploaded each month during the first quarter of 2025, a pace that prompted Adobe to begin enforcing per-contributor upload limits in May 2025. In November 2024 Adobe rolled out generative editing features such as Generative Edits and Generate Variations, allowing customers to modify licensed assets in real time using Adobe Firefly. Under Adobe's contributor model, photographers are compensated only when a generated output derived from their image is downloaded, or through periodic Firefly training bonuses for content used to train the model—policies that The Phoblographer and other outlets criticized for shifting risk onto human contributors and increasing rejection rates for traditional submissions citing duplicate content.
By 2025, Axios reported that AI tools were also displacing entry-level work such as professional headshots and food imagery—citing claims by services like Profile Bakery that 92% of viewers could not distinguish AI headshots from photographs—while major brands continued to commission established photographers for higher-end campaigns.
Description
Stock photography refers to the supply of photographs, which are often licensed for specific uses such as magazine publishing or pamphlet-making. According to The New York Times, as of 2005 "most" book cover designers prefer stock photography agencies over photographers in efforts to save costs. Publishers can then purchase photographs on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis.
Types of stock photo licenses
Public domain (PD)
thumb|Example of a public domain stock photo, showing the Marina City building complex in [[Chicago]]
In relation to photography and graphics, public domain (PD) means the image is free to use without purchasing a license, and can be used for commercial or personal purposes. Works in the public domain are those whose exclusive intellectual property rights have expired,
Royalty-free (RF)
In photography and the illustration industry, royalty-free (RF) refers to a copyright license where the user has the right to use the picture without many restrictions based on one-time payment to the licensor. The user can, therefore, use the image in several projects without having to purchase any additional licenses. RF licenses cannot be given on an exclusive basis. In stock photography, RF is one of the common licenses sometimes contrasted with Rights Managed licenses and often employed in subscription-based or microstock photography business models.
See also
- List of online image archives
- Microstock photography
- Stock footage
- Representative image
References
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