What is Stock Photography?

Stock photography is imagery that can be used and reused for commercial design purposes.

Book publishers, magazines, advertising agencies, web designers, graphic artists, corporate creative groups, and other entities utilize stock photography to fulfill the needs of their creative assignments. By using stock images instead of hiring a photographer to perform on-location shooting, customers can save valuable time and stay on budget.

While using stock photography is usually less expensive than creating an assignment, the photos are never free. You may download a watermarked image for comp purposes, but to obtain an image without watermark for final use, you must pay a usage fee. You can browse Obsidian Stock's website to find the exact images that meet your needs, or call us to request a custom assignment. Stock images may be purchased online with a credit/debit card or Paypal, and are delivered immediately via a FTP download.

Obsidian Stock offers its images through a Broad Use license and in four size categories: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra-High.

  • Due to its small pixel count (72dpi), "Low" is typically only suitable for web use and won't reproduce well as a printed image without looking heavily pixilated.
  • "Medium" is a larger file size and may be used up to about 5x7 inches in 300dpi printed materials.
  • The "High" size would be suitable for a one-page 8.5 x 11 advertisement.
  • "Ultra-High" covers a double-page spread in a standard-size magazine.

Purchase of a smaller-size image and then attempting to increase file size with digital interpolation usually results in a file with less color accuracy and poor overall quality, and is herefore strictly prohibited.