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Stock photography is a source of photographs for publishers (such as Book publishers, specialty publishers, magazines, advertising agencies, film makers, web designers, graphic artists, interior decor firms, corporate creative groups, etc.) looking for images to add to their print, video and web publications.
This could include advertisers designing brochures, posters, billboards or even the artwork required for normal ads in print, as well as still shots for TV and video.
Stock photography allows a publisher to overcome the frequent need to come up with photographic images in a hurry, without the need to hire a photographer and send them out to take those pictures, when and as needed.
Stock photography is usually sold from a stock photo library (sometimes called an image library or image bank). Photographers submit their photographs for sale, and the public can browse the library, pick and choose the photos they want, and then purchase them direct from the website.
Other stock photography services may sell stock photos as part of a collection, and available on a CD (no doubt DVD versions also exist). This gives the purchaser the opportunity to get a discount, because they are buying more than 1 or 2 photos, all built around a theme (such as nature photography or wedding stock photography).
In addition, the other advantage of purchasing stock photography on CD/DVD is that it provides a way of supplying a large number of large file-sized images on 1 disk, saving the graphic artist from having to download many megabytes of image files from a stock photography website supplier.
Stock photography is usually available in multiple resolutions and graphic formats, to suit the needs of the publisher. A web site designer typically requires 72 ppi .jpg/.gif/.png graphics, whereas a magazine publisher is much more likely to require 300 ppi TIFF, for example.
One interesting fact has come to light about the effect of the stock photography market on the creative community. According to TrendWatch Graphic Arts, "thirty-five percent of creative professionals say their use of scanners is decreasing as a result of having access to a digital camera and stock photography."
Stock photographs are now more commonly taken with digital cameras, rather than being scanned from books, prints and film/transparency, which allows a much faster turn-around time from taking the photograph, to having it available for purchase.
The use of stock photography is moving into many new and unexpected areas as well. With the explosion of home PCs and the growing sophistication of small and home business computer facilities, even small business owners, students, and individuals are using stock photography. While this has not been a big focus for most stock agencies, it speaks to the product's pervasive influence and broad appeal.
Our Stock Photography Services
The DW Stock Picture Library is one of Australia's leading stock photograph galleries. Over the last four years the photo library has built up a rich resource of over 200,000 high quality stock images. We represent some of Australia's leading photographers as well as many great international stock agencies.
Our Categories page will show you some of the subjects that we
carry stock photographs of. Aside from our large selection of photographs still waiting to be
loaded on our site, we have enormous coverage of Australian animals
(Kangaroos, Koalas, Insects, Marine life etc.), Australian landscapes and
cities (Deserts, Mountains, National Parks, Beaches, Mood Scenes,
Rainforests) and Travel images covering most countries of the world. Lastly, our people images are natural and not staged.
Combined with this wonderful collection of great stock images covering the widest range of topics, the library is the only one in Australia to also offer
you the freelance services of researchers with extensive knowledge of picture
& text researching, photo-editing and rights & permission clearance. In other
words, if the images you are seeking are not in our files, we will locate them
for you, clear the necessary rights, document all images and finalise the project
on your behalf.
We can assist you in creating and establishing your own
in-house photographic collection, resulting in an efficient filing system where
previously inaccessible images can be easily retrieved and utilised for your in-house
projects. To view samples of projects we have been involved with and for
further information on these and the other services we have to offer, please go
to our portfolio. Our office hours are 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Monday to
Friday. Telephone or email your picture request. Images can be sent
via email or cd.
Just use the IMAGE SEARCH box at the top right of this page to get started. | 
