Shutterstock.com - Subscription-Based Stock Photos

Are you a web designer, magazine editor or graphic designer? If so, Shutterstock is the place for you. You’ll find over two million royalty-free stock photos by subscription and thousands of photos are added each week form more than 60,000 photographers. Stock photos can be used for print and web ads, in books and magazines, in news, on websites, in brochures and packaging, and in a large number of custom applications, according to the licensing terms to which the photographer and buyer have agreed. By using an image that already exists you can save time and the expense of a custom photo shoot. You can subscribe for one month, three months, six months, or one year and download up to 25 images per day, that’s 750 per month. You can even continue to use them past your membership period and there are no hidden or additional fees after you become a member. Shutterstock also provides special licenses for multi-user accounts, print runs exceeding 250,000, and merchandise and media uses. Photos can be downloaded in four different sizes (small, medium, large, and supersized), all of which are included in a basic subscription membership. Are you a photographer? You can submit your photos to Shutterstock and get paid every time one of your photos is downloaded. Shutterstock pays 20c per download, so every time one of your photos is downloaded, you get 20c added to your account.

“Shutterstock is the largest subscription-based stock photo agency in the world. Our outstanding collection of premium, royalty-free images grows every day, with photographs, illustrations, and vectors you won't find any where else. Sign up for a cost-effective subscription plan and download 25 images every day (that's 750 each month!) with no hidden costs. Picture it found™”

Shutterstock service sounds as an incredible deal, as a single picture at other agencies can cost the same as a monthly subscription to Shutterstock. Shutterstock has a huge potential audience ranging from bulk photo purchasers to small design firms.

With Getty Images, the largest agency by far with more than 30 percent of the global market, according to Wired, and other big stock photo agencies, why would anyone use Shutterstock? Will the subscription model change the market? Will they add the possibility to create online galleries of your photos?