Stock photo questions

[gekko513]

I know next to nothing about buying photos for commercial use, but I know there are a lot of people in that industry here on macrumors, so maybe you can help me.

I'm considering buying some photos for use in a shareware application.

I know there is something called stock photos, which seems to offer photos for such purposes. I've visited iStockphoto.com and budgetstockphoto.com and I saw some mention of royalty free stock photos.

Now I wonder what exactly lies in the term "stock photos" and what does it mean that a photo is royalty free? Are there some licensing terms that I should be particularly aware of? Any recommendations? How much should I expect to pay to use a photo in a shareware application?

 

[varmit]

I know next to nothing about buying photos for commercial use, but I know there are a lot of people in that industry here on macrumors, so maybe you can help me.

I'm considering buying some photos for use in a shareware application.

I know there is something called stock photos, which seems to offer photos for such purposes. I've visited iStockphoto.com and budgetstockphoto.com and I saw some mention of royalty free stock photos.

Now I wonder what exactly lies in the term "stock photos" and what does it mean that a photo is royalty free? Are there some licensing terms that I should be particularly aware of? Any recommendations? How much should I expect to pay to use a photo in a shareware application?

Stock probably means that they are basic photos, nothing special about them. Royalty Free means you don't have to pay to use them, don't have to pay royalties.

 

[Cybernanga]

Stock just refers to the fact that they have a large "Stock" of images, it doesn't mean that the images are basic.

Most of these "stock" photo-libraries have thousands of images, so you can usually find one that suits your needs. They are very usefull if you don't have the time or $$$ to setup a photoshoot.

Royalty-free images mean they don't charge you according to how many times you reproduce the image, but you still have to pay for the image itself.

 

[gekko513]

Thanks a lot for clarifying. I also got the following response from iStockphotos, so I think I now understand enough to not break any rules.

Thanks for contacting iStockphoto Inc. You may use our images in shareware computer applications as long as the image(s) can not be harvested by the users. Also, there will need to be a section in your application that credits iStockphoto and the photographers for their images. Furthermore, if you plan on copyrighting the application you may not copyright the images within the application as you will not own the copyright to the images - the copyright remains with the photographers.