According to the web-site, the OpenPhoto collection currently holds only 3,424 images and has 10,734 registered users.  For its part, Dreamstime, based in Romania, boasts 1.6MM images and over 350,000 registered customers, worldwide.  Dreamstime also offers a collection of images free of charge as a special promotion to its users or as a way for contributing photographers to gain added exposure for their work.  The search link from OpenPhoto takes users to results of images from Dreamstime’s regular image collection.

The benefits of the exclusive arrangement for both parties are clear. OpenPhoto users can now reach a much more comprehensive collection which, though not quite free, can be purchased under a royalty free license for extremely low micro-stock prices.  Dreamstime acquires access and exposure to a new set of potential customers to whom it can “up-sell” (if that term applies when referring to users who pay nothing for an image being enticed to pay one dollar per image.)

To this writer, the most intriguing aspect of this deal is the difference in the numbers of images on each site.  Naturally, far greater numbers of photographers are willing to “sell” their images than those willing to give them away.  The miniscule prices the Dreamstime submitters earn for each license (they don’t call it “micro” for nothing,) however, contrast starkly with the numbers of images they submit when compared to the OpenPhoto.net submitters.  That is to say, one wouldn’t think a dollar per image would be as extreme an incentive as the difference between 3,242 images and 1.6MM images implies.  But maybe that’s the insight the micro-stock companies have recognized, all along.    

Websites: Dreamstime and OpenPhoto.net