Stock photography, which of the Big Three (Getty, Corbis, Alamy) and why?

My business is seasonal, so for 3 months out of the year I'm sitting on my butt. This year I'm going to keep myself busy with shooting stock. However, I am unsure of who I should stock with. I'm not worried about getting accepted, I am confident enough with the quality and originality of my images. However I am worried about getting in deep with a company whom I find I dislike and later decide to jump ship.

I've heard some bad things about Getty, they have been known to copy ideas and have their inhouse photographers replicate your images.

Corbis is owned by Microsoft and from what I've heard they haven't been making very good profits lately.

Which leaves Alamy, which my only dislike is the fact that they'll accept almost as much junk as Microstock just so they can say they are the worlds largest stock agency with 9.XX million images. Keywords that will bring up 50 photos in Getty, and 75 in Corbis, bring 1500 in Alamy.

I will not Microstock.

Maybe someone with experence can tell us their opinion, and what not

I have it on very good authority that your statement about getty is not true. I also recently read an article that said Corbis has yet to turn a profit since its inception.

I don't know anything about Alamy but from what you say it sounds like they let any work in and I wouldn't think it was a good idea to associate myself with a place that I felt had low standard.

This is the article I mentioned earlier check it out and maybe it will change your mind about microstock. http://money.cnn.com …7/04/01/8403372​/index.htm

Digger wrote in post #3746979
I have it on very good authority that your statement about getty is not true. I also recently read an article that said Corbis has yet to turn a profit since its inception.

Most likely internet rubbish then.

Digger wrote in post #3746979
I don't know anything about Alamy but from what you say it sounds like they let any work in and I wouldn't think it was a good idea to associate myself with a place that I felt had low standard.

I guess I shouldn't say they let anything in, they're pretty strict on the quality of your inital submission..but afterwards they let a lot of lousy images through.

I've looked into all three and been rejected by Getty and Corbis. Alamy will accept me, but, it's like Groucho Marx used to say, I won't join any club that will have me.

Your money makers are most likely going to be Getty or Corbis. Before you start trying to figure which one you'll choose, you'd probably do well to see if they'll have you. It may not be as cut and dried as you think. (I've shot for magazines, done a lot of big budget ad work and won the big awards so I thought I'd be a shoo-in too. They have specific needs though and there's lots of competition.)

Also, agencies these days really like to be involved with the creation process. The days of just shooting stuff and sending it in seem to be over (at least with the big guys). I'd want to know what my sales channel is and what they wanted before I started shooting a bunch of stuff.

John

John Mireles wrote in post #3748151
I've looked into all three and been rejected by Getty and Corbis. Alamy will accept me, but, it's like Groucho Marx used to say, I won't join any club that will have me.

Your money makers are most likely going to be Getty or Corbis. Before you start trying to figure which one you'll choose, you'd probably do well to see if they'll have you. It may not be as cut and dried as you think. (I've shot for magazines, done a lot of big budget ad work and won the big awards so I thought I'd be a shoo-in too. They have specific needs though and there's lots of competition.)

Also, agencies these days really like to be involved with the creation process. The days of just shooting stuff and sending it in seem to be over (at least with the big guys). I'd want to know what my sales channel is and what they wanted before I started shooting a bunch of stuff.

John

Thanks for the information.

I'm hoping that my close proximity to the 3 automakers will lead me somewhere. I'm about 15 minutes from the GM proving grounds and I see a heck of a lot of prototype vehicles..I'm sure the big car mags check Corbis and Getty daily for those type of images. Heck a guy that lives next to me works for Ford and drives prototypes home 2 or 3 times a week!

A quick search on Getty shows 9 hits for "GM proving grounds" with 8 of them from 1 photographer. Surely Motortrend wants more options then 1 image of Bob Lutz at the proving grounds.

Hey Nick,

Just contact the car mag and skip corbis or getty for the proving ground shots.

Depending on the agency and the intended use, property releases may be required and the auto companies may not be willing to co-operate, especially for prototypes and research vehicles.

This is a 6 year old thread?

rgs wrote in post #15973862
Depending on the agency and the intended use, property releases may be required and the auto companies may not be willing to co-operate, especially for prototypes and research vehicles.

That would mean that you would miss out on the daily news market that normally doesn't need releases.

More to the point, Nick, what's been your experience since you started this thread?