Basically, there are two ways that a commercial photographer can earn money from their work. The first, assignment photography, is when a client has a specific image that they need to have created and they hire the photographer to produce that image. Advertising photography is an example of assignment work.

With assignment photography, the images are created for a specific client who pays for all of the expenses incurred in the shoot and who guarantees the photographer a fee up front for creating the image as well as for licensing them the right to use it. This client usually gets exclusive use of the images, meaning that the photographer cannot license the same images to another client for additional fees. The second way, stock photography, is where the photographer creates images that they believe there exists a market for. People who need an image for an ad, brochure, web site, billboard or other promotional use can look through the photographer’s existing images and license the right to use those existing images instead of hiring the photographer to create a custom image just for them. Obviously, if the end user needs the photograph to show someone using their product, they need to have the image custom made just for them, but for many companies such as banks, insurance companies, hospitals, and many others, the right stock photograph can do the job as well and it’s risk free--they know exactly what they’re going to get. Most stock photography is licensed through stock agencies. These are companies that represent the stock images of anywhere from a handful to several hundred photographers. They usually maintain an extensive web site and produce catalogs that get distributed to thousands upon thousands of commercial photography users. When an end user finds an image that’s right for their project, they contact the stock agency (or photographer who created the image) and negotiate a fee for using that image in an ad, brochure, billboard, web site, or whatever other use they need it for. The licensing fee that the client pays is based on the way they plan to use the image and each additional use has a separate fee associated with it. You can see some examples of stock photography by visiting Corbis Stock Market, Creative Eye, or Image Bank.

Because stock images can be licensed and relicensed to user upon user, over time they have the potential to earn far more money than assignment photographs. However, with a stock shoot the photographer is footing all the bills up front with no guarantee that anyone will license the image. If you get called for a stock shoot, the photographer will most likely offer

you a reduced fee--really a token payment just to cover the time you spend with them--plus a royalty agreement in which you get a share of whatever licensing fees the photographer later collects on any images in which your likeness is recognizable. This way, the photographer can afford to take greater chances (like working with less experienced models), and the model gets an enjoyable experience, some great photos of themselves, a little pocket money for spending a couple of hours having fun and the potential to earn additional income each and every time their image gets licensed.