Can Stock Photo is a royalty free stock photography community, established in June of 2004. Based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, the website has a library of 300,000 images, and 18,000 active members.

History

The site was officially launched on June 3rd, 2004 and was a clear entrant to the booming microstock faze. The original site design was very simple in design, and drew criticism for not being as graphicly attractive as it’s rivals. However, to it’s credit, the site did haveeveral unique features at the time, including the ability to search by color, and the ability to zoom in on preview images.

In Janary of 2006 Can Stock Photo re-launched their website with a format that is currently in use today. This revised look was a relief for many, and was a drastic departure from the old site format. This was largely seen as a significant turning point for the site.

Photographers

As of October 2006, Can Stock Photo has over 3,5000 active photographers, located around the world. However, the largest concentration of photographers originate from the United States.

Perhap’s the site’s best known feature is it’s absility to quickly upload multiple images. It is generally reguarded as the fastest image submission system availible in the microstock industry. Critics point out that if it was not for the ease of uploading, the website would likely not receive so many image subbmisions as it does. When an image is submitted to the website, it is then evaluated by one of Can Stock Photo’s staff members for technical and legal approval. It is rumored that 30-50% of all submitted images are rejected for a variety of reasons.Photographers on the site earn a 50% commission on image sales. Factoring in the range of image sizes, this can mean a return of $0.50-$4 per image. Licensing options provide additional revenue streams.

Licensing

Over the past year, Can Stock Photo has launched several additional licensing options for buyers, in line with industry evolutions:

In November 2005 Can Stock Photo added subscription sales, to mixed reviews. Designers praised the upgrade, while photographers questioned the lower commission returns.

In July of 2006 Can Stock Photo launched several optional licensing packages, including increased reproduction limits and template resale options. Once again, these changes were met with mixed reviews. Approximately 80% of photographers opted-into these changes, for increased sales commissions – whereas others choose not to participate, citing a desire to retain more control over their images.

Critiques

Can Stock Photo has had several critiques over the years.

An initial concern was that the site was not cosmeticaly pleasing enough to attract photographers and buyers. Although the design was modified several times, it wasn’t until the total re-design in 2006 that this complain was put to rest.

Additionally, Can Stock photo expeianced an array of photographer complains after it launched it’s subscription sevice at the end of 2005. Some photographers objected to not having the option of opting out and complained about the intial $0.20 payout. These concerns seemingly dissapeared after the site raised it’s payouts to $.20-$0.30 in 2006.

Finally, the website has contatnly struggled in the shadow of it’s closest rivals, with noticably lower sales numbers. Although Can Stock is considerably younger that it’s competators, photographers continually push for higher expectaions.

See Also

Microstock photography

External Links

CanStockPhoto.com website

;Industry News

About the Image

pdnewswire Photo District News

;Stock Agency Associations

British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies Trade association for stock agencies in UK.

Coordination Of European Picture Agencies Trade association for stock agencies in Europe.

Picture Archive Council of America Trade association for stock agencies in US.

;Stock Photographer's Associations

Stock Artists Alliance worldwide photographers’ trade organization

Stockphoto.net list of international and local stock photography associations