concepts in photography

Commercial and editorial stock photography

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example to illustrate an article on commercial and editorial photography on outback photography.au

Know the difference between commercial and editorial stock photography.

Understanding the difference between the two is crucial. Ensuring you’re using the right image for your needs.

Commercial stock photos are images used in advertising, marketing, and other commercial contexts. These images often feature models or staged scenes designed to sell a product or service. They may include recognisable brands or logos and often require a model and property releases.

Editorial stock photos are images used to illustrate news stories, feature articles, and other non-commercial content. These images are often candid or documentary in nature and may feature people, events, or locations that are newsworthy. Editorial images, often don’t have the required commercial releases to be used in advertising.

One of the main differences between commercial and editorial stock photos is their intended use. Commercial images are explicitly created to promote products or services. Editorial pictures are used to illustrate news and feature stories. As a result, the licensing agreements for these images can be quite different.

Commercial stock photos are typically licensed for commercial use, meaning they can be used to sell products or services or to promote a brand or company. For example, somebody may use them in advertising campaigns, websites, brochures or flyers, and other marketing materials. Licenses for commercial stock photos often have restrictions on how the images can be used.

Editorial stock photos, on the other hand, are licensed for editorial use only. They can only be used to illustrate news stories or other non-commercial content. Mostly used in newspapers, magazines, online publications, or other editorial contexts.

Understanding the difference between commercial and editorial stock photography is important to ensure that you’re using the right type of image for your needs.  When licensing  images, it’s important to pay attention to the licensing agreement and any restrictions that may apply to your use of the image.

Photography How and Why

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Photography how and why

Some people talk about the right brain or the left brain. I prefer the phrase, photography how and why. Each of us, as individuals, create our little visual masterpieces for different reasons.

Let me take a few moments of your precise time and define how I see the How of Photography. First, how is the technical side. The juggling act of squeezing little rays of light through a lens onto a sensor. The laws of physics govern this process. Deviate from the rules at your peril.

We still have multiple tools that allow us to manipulate how our viewing audience perceives reality. And remain within the boundaries of the physical laws that bind us.

Anytime I do a live class, you will hear me babbling about my approach to photographing a subject. If I have my working hat on, I will most likely know what my client wants. We will have discussed the expected result earlier. So we can ignore the Why for the time being.

That leaves me with how to contend with. When I arrive on set, I have an almost infinite number of options. So my approach, is to eliminate those things I can’t do.

Let me explain my process.

For example, I am booked to photograph outdoors at 12 midday. Immediately I know I won’t have beautiful early or late light at my disposal. Secondly, I have only five minutes to capture a portrait of a VIP. That dictates that my gear choice needs to be made before the subject arrives. The kit I choose must be compact and preferably preset to my preferred iso, aperture and focal length.

By forgetting about all the things I won’t be able to do, I can concentrate on those I can achieve. Naturally, in a real-life, the situation is likely to be more complicated than this, but you get the drift. Focus on problem-solving, using everything at your disposal. Forget the “if I only had syndrome” and just DO IT.

Here is an example of both how and why.

A beauty portrait of a beautiful young woman photographed in a cramped location for a blog post on Photography how and why
The quick and easy portrait solution talked about above

 

We arranged to photograph a beautiful young friend in Melbournes CBD at night. Naturally, it rained. Instead of ruining her hair and makeup outdoors, we decided to create a safe shot indoors. That’s the why. We wanted to do a shoot, and it was raining. Already, our options have narrowed.

We choose to work in one of our hotel rooms. It is dry, small, and has appalling decor. Full-length or even half-length photos are out of the question. Can you see how easy this is so far? We have been able to eliminate a vast number of options for creating a portrait. I view that as a positive thing.

Our model has earlier in the day purchased a costume mask; it’s silver in colour. Robyn, our stylist and my life partner, works with the model to create a dramatic look using the mask and some black tulle. The material adds drama and hides the green wall behind our model. I think that is called two birds with one stone.

We are halfway there with the how bit at this point. All that is required from here on is to create soft, beautiful light. The solution is straightforward. Strip the single bed back to the white sheets, which will be our reflected light from below the face of the subject. The main light is an on-camera flash, pointed straight up onto a white foldable disk reflector above and to the photographer’s left. One last thing, to reduce the blackness of the tulle and increase the sense of depth to the shot, we added a second wireless controlled flash unit behind our subject so that you can see through the fabric.

That’s it for this post on photography the how and why. We have a similar post introducing our photographic journey here.