Updates to my Image Library

Just a quick site update for Monday morning. As part of my ongoing effort to pacify my image archive and library, I've been simplifying the license structure for images available for sale through my archive. As modern standards continue to evolve in web design, some of the existing image sizes are no longer relevant. Most major libraries are now moving to a one size per license and so I've decided to do something similar.

I have images available to buy for both creative / commercial, and for editorial uses. For my royalty free images, I've decided to just have one size for web, and one larger size for print. Web sized images are now sized at 2500 pixels on the long edge, and print sized are full resolution (depending on the image). The reason I chose to have a second "web size" rather than just a single size is that I still believe that for smaller publications and online sites it helps to have a smaller, less expensive option available. Pricing wise, Web sized are €50 and full res is €100. While this may not compete with micro stock sites (although iStock's prices are significantly rising) it's still competitive with smaller creative sites, and with 500px licenses.

I'm still using rights managed licenses for some of my images. Photographs that are more unique, and artistic are still set using rights managed licenses, because in my opinion they don't suit typical royalty free uses as they're more artistic and unique than typical stock. I use the excellent Photoshelter for my library and sales. Photoshelter has a great built in tool for managing rights managed licenses, and allows customers to select their terms, duration and it generates a price. It's also pretty flexible in letting you build and choose your own licenses.

The downside of Photoshelter is that it can be a bit confusing, especially when you have multiple license types available. To help with some of the confusion, I've created a comprehensive "How To Buy" page with detailed instructions on navigating the library, and a plain english description of the various license types.

You may be asking: "Why not just sell through an agency ?" Well I do have some images available through iStock photo, but having your own library has its advantages. You can be more flexible with your licenses as you have complete control over it. You can also sell more artistic and unique images that would otherwise get lost and be undervalued in a larger stock site.

You can see the images I have available to license on my library. Most of these images are also available as prints.

Speaking of the image library, I've recently added images from my archive of both Fall photographs, and travel images of Paris.