With a collection of over 10 million images, video, audio, and flash resources, iStockphoto is an immense microstock site. I explore how the independent digital artist and photographer continues to flourish against such apparently overwhelming competition.

iStockphoto, started by Bruce Livingstone in 2000 and now under the brand umbrella of Getty Images, has become the first port of call for those seeking images for the world's web and print media. If you pick up a newspaper today or spend longer than ten minutes watching TV or browsing the Internet you'll likely view images that were sourced from iStockphoto, and certainly from Getty Images who have a mindbogglingly vast archive of some 80 million images and more than 50,000 hours of stock film footage.

iStockphoto distributes around a third of the money that flows through their site. Their revenue will very likely be well in excess of $200 million during 2011, and of that they will pay around $60 million to their contributors. After operating costs the biggest winners by far are the owners of Getty Images: Hellman & Friedman, a billion dollar private equity firm.

There are a number of commission levels at iStockphoto - the highest of which is 45% of each sale and available to exclusive members. That highlight figure tugs a lot of new blood into the site, but achieving exclusive status is not so easy as it is only available to those that have already proved their commercial value through hundreds of downloads, and who agree not to present their work on any other site, including their personal web site.

I became a member at iStockphoto in 2009 with a view of observing the leading microstock site from the inside, and I present a small number of images on the site to maintain a presence:

EyeInvent at iStockphoto

I did not sign up to an exclusive agreement for any of my images as I wanted to maintain control of the cost, presentation, and distribution of my work at EyeInvent.

The identical images that you'll find here at EyeInvent for example are less expensive. The largest sized images of mine at iStockphoto currently cost 20 credits. That's around $32 if you're flushed enough to purchase 300 credits at once. The price goes up to aroud $35 if you want to purchase the minimum credits for the size of image.

Compare the iStockphoto pay-as-you-go prices with the $30 you pay at EyeInvent were a single purchase is supported. Subscriptions at iStockphoto start at over $1000 for three months and which are limited to a use of 10 credits per day. When you work the numbers you can download around 45 of my largest images for a three month subscription. At EyeInvent the price is $1500 for 6 months and no restriction on the number of images members can download.

The up-side of using iStockphoto is the sheer volume of creative resources - in short: choice. The down-side starts with the elevated price, but continues in a more subtle yet significant long term negative impact for both creative and consumer.

iStockphoto have very strict criteria for being accepted as a new contributer. It is very difficult to become a member as they take their pick of the best and operate narrow formulaic judgments about work that is submitted. This stifles aesthetic originality, and has a tendency of flattening the look, feel, and sound of creative resources at iStockphoto to the current trend. The lack of imaginative editorial is inevitable as what started out as a personal portfolio has become a multi-million dollar consumer-led marketplace.

What seems to be greater choice delivers a narrow band from a multitude of similar creative approaches. From the photographer's perspective it might appear impossible to do anything but join this membership of homogeneous creatives, but doing so places grave danger to the artistic vision of the individual.

The revision of the iStockphoto Artist's Agreement of September 2011 placed increasing pressure on contributors to offer their work as exclusive or accept their work would be automatically submitted to multiple stock image sites, thus diluting the status of their work but increasing the chance of a sale.

Despite the commercial advantages of pushing my work on more prominent stock sites, I am a fierce advocate of the independent creative soul that can only flourish in a world of artistic freedom. EyeInvent provides that context, and I hope you enjoy what you'll find here and on other independant artist's sites...