Thousands of dollars are paid to get desired images; changing technology has meant you can now pick up these images very cheaply. Companies, websites, newspapers choose common method - they save time, money and simply subscribe for Micro stock photography.

Micro Stock Photography is an offshoot of traditional stock photography-that consists of existing photographs that can be licensed for specific uses. What defines a company as a micro stock photography company is that they source their images almost exclusively via the Internet, do so from a wider range of photographers than the traditional stock agencies and sell their images at a very low rate (anywhere from $.20 - $10) for a royalty-free image.

Tools to help support the micro stock photographer have also started to emerge, including the Micro Stock Monitor tool which is a plug-in for Firefox browsers and reports on your sales and viewing statistics from a range of different micro stock websites. Each micro stock company keeps a different pricing and payment scheme. Photographers can upload the same pictures on multiple sites or, become an exclusive supplier and receive an increased commission.

There is no fee to post photos on a micro stock site. However, micro stock companies do not accept everyone or all photographs. Each employs a team of reviewers who check every picture submitted for technical quality, as well as artistic and commercial merit. Photographers add keywords that help potential buyers filter and find pictures of interest.

If you enjoy photography as a hobby or a career, you may try yourself as the members of the Micro stock photography. Over time a passionate person, be it beginner or professional, can build quite a large portfolio of wonderful images. Some photographers take advantage of various outlets to make some good money from their images, but most never do.

Technology developments give us high quality digital cameras at a price that almost everyone can afford. Using the internet as a means to deliver content, a market for high quality stock images at an incredibly low price has all but exploded. Technology is closing the gap between beginner "point and shoot" photographers and "pro" photographers. There is a lot thing to consider and learn, but it does not seem to be very difficult start making career type of income with almost not experience with a camera.

The pioneer of micro stock photography was Bruce Livingstone, who created iStockPhoto, originally a free stock photo site that quickly became an industry phenomenon. Livingstone sold iStockphoto to Getty Images in February 2006 for $50 million USD.