When you purchase a stock image from us, you purchase the right to reproduce the image. You do not own the image itself but you buy 'permission' to use it
There are two types of license in stock photography:
- The creative license: images can be used for commercial purposes, such as in an advertisements, in a brochure, on a website to promote goods or services. Images featuring people and/or property need to be model and/or property released (i.e. have signed permission from people and/or property owners who appear in images).
- The editorial license: in the editorial market (primarly magazines, books, newspapers), images can ONLY be used as a descriptive visual reference, to illustrate an article for instance. Images featuring people and/or property do not require model or property releases to be used for editorial purposes.
And there are two types of rights models available for license:
- The Royalty Free (RF) model. You will notice the icon
for Royalty Free images.
- The Rights Managed (RM) model. You will notice the icon
for Rights Managed Images. (as of 1 March 2018, photonewzealand no longer uses this model)
Here is a quick overview of the differences between the two licensing models.
RIGHTS MANAGED ![]() |
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PROS | PROS | |
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CONS | CONS | |
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NOTES | |
NOTES |
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ABOUT STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY | GO BACK TO OVERVIEW | PURCHASING AN IMAGE | ![]() |