Photo Agency: What It Is and How it Helps Your Creative Workflow

“Photo agency” is a term you hear and read a lot in the graphic design and visual creative businesses. But what actually is a photo agency? How does it work? And why is it valuable for creatives? 

Today we answer all these questions and more, to show you just how photo agencies can help your business’ creative workflow and maximise costs. This way you’ll understand the value in stuff like our list of the 20+ best photo agencies of the web!

Ready to learn? 

What is a Photo Agency? 

When a graphic designer, a marketing creative or photographer mentions a photo agency, they are actually referring to a stock photography agency. 

How Do Photo Agencies Work?

Photo agencies usually operate online: they have a website that hosts their entire image library, a search engine to find photos easily, and they sell images online via image packs or credit packs for on-demand buying, and through stock photo subscriptions for regular customers needing new photos all the time. 

Photographers and artists wanting to sell their work submit their images to the photo agency via the web, and if approved they make it into the agency’s catalog. Every time one of their images is sold, the artist gets a percentage of that sale in the form of royalties. 

Why Are Photo Agencies Valuable?

The value in a photo agency for creatives and business owners is rather clear: it’s much easier and faster to visit one website and find all the perfect images for marketing and visual content you need, than going to different photographers according to what kind of image you are after. Plus, through a stock photo subscription, you can save a lot in the long run and download new images almost instantly with just one click of your mouse. 

They are particularly ideal if you plan on creating your own visuals for your business. In which case, our guide with 102 tips to creating visuals with stock images will be your best friend!

And there is value for artists too, of course. By selling their work through a photo agency, they don’t have to worry or spend on marketing, and they are free from the task of dealing with customers directly and setting up online buying/paying methods. 

What are the Top 10 Photo Agencies Today?

Online stock photography is a very crowded space in our times, but there are some companies that stand out thanks to their success, their quality of service, and their reliability. 

We have a complete list of 20+ top stock photo sites, but here we gathered the best 10 photo agencies of today: 

#1 Stock Photo Secrets – Budget-Friendly, High-Quality Images 

Our Stock Photo Secrets Shop is a photo agency oriented to small and medium-sized businesses, with a large and high-quality library and plans and prices that meet all budgets. 

• See the full Stock Photo Secrets review
• Best deal! 99Club
• See all plans and prices 
• Sign up for free at Stock Photo Secrets

#2 Photocase – Unique, Fun-loving Photos

Photocase is a photo agency based in Berlin that specialises in quirky, out-of-the-box photography that combines an artsy eye and commercial value, available at very reasonable price points. 

• See the full Photocase review
• See all pricing details 
• Grab our special Photocase Coupon with 5 Free Credits + 10% Off 
• Sign up for free at Photocase

#3 Shutterstock – Massive, Commercial Photo Library

Shutterstock is a giant in the photo agency industry, with a library of over 280 million photos, all with a strong commercial feel that is every creative directors' dream, at super low prices. 

• See the full Shutterstock review
• See all plans and prices 
• Use our exclusive Shutterstock Coupon Code with up to 15% Off 
• Take advantage of the Shutterstock Free Trial with up to 10 free images for one month
• Sign up for free at Shutterstock

#4 iStock – Exclusive, Affordable Photography

iStock is a renowned company that sells both budget stock photography as well as exclusive, high-value images at a bit of a higher price point, which covers most art directors needs. 

• See the full iStock review
• See all plans and prices 
• Save with our iStock Promo Code with up to 15% Off 
• Sign up for free at iStock

#5 Adobe Stock – High-Res Pictures for Creative Cloud Lovers

Adobe Stock is a photo agency developed by Adobe that is fully integrated into their Creative Cloud platform too, making its full library available within your favourite design apps for improved creative workflow. 

• See the full Adobe Stock review
• See all plans and prices
• Take advantage of the Adobe Stock Free Trial with up to 10 free images for 30 days
• Sign up for free for at Adobe Stock

#6 Getty Images – High-End, Prestigious Photo Agency

One of the most prestigious photography agencies in the world, Getty Images is famous for its exclusive and very high-end catalogue. It’s a creative and editorial photo agency. 

• See the full Getty Images review
• See pricing details 
• Get more for your bucks with the exclusive Ultrapacks that save up to 30% 
• Sign up for free at Getty Images

#7 Dreamstime – Low-Priced, Professional Imagery

In business for over a decade, Dreamstime is a very good photo agency in the sense that it offers a large collection of images at very low price points making it accessible for nearly everyone. 

• See the full Dreamstime review
• See all plans and prices
• Sign up for free at Dreamstime

#8 123RF – Reliable, Affordable Stock Photo Service

123RF, which stands for “one, two, three, Royalty-Free” is a photo agency with a good reputation emanating from their many years in business, their abundant image catalog, and their affordable prices. 

• See the full 123RF review
• See all plans and prices
• Grab the special 123RF Coupon Code with up to 20% Off
• Sign up for free at 123RF

#9 Storyblocks – Unlimited, Membership-Based Agency

Initially spreading from Videoblocks’ stock footage offer, Storyblocks is a stock photography service that sells memberships with access to unlimited downloads from a wholly-owned library, as well as to an on-demand marketplace powered by contributing artists. 

• See more about Storyblocks
• See all plans and prices 
• Sign up for free at Storyblocks

#10 SignSilo – Specialised Photo Agency & Car Outline Provider

For creative directors needing something more specific for marketing and branding efforts, SignSilo is an ideal service as it includes both a big library of stock photography as well as one of the richest car outline collections available, perfect to design car wraps. 

• See more about SignSilo
• Best deal! VehicleClub 
• See all plans and prices 
• Sign up for free at SignSilo

Types of Photo Agencies Available

Many companies selling photos online have multipurpose catalogs covering all popular topics and genres. 

However, most of the main ones are heavily focusing on the content that makes it into the latest photography trends reports. 

And many more. 

Are There Free Photo Agencies?

Why yes, there are. The web is packed with sites offering images that you can download and use in your work without paying a dime. However, most of these images are still under a license that determines how you can use them. Usually, it’ll be a variant of Creative Commons (CC) license, or they’ll be under the Public Domain, though you may also find custom license agreements. 

More details in our article on the 5 risks of using free photos from the Internet. 

BONUS: Reliable Free Photo Sites

If you must use a free photo agency, let it be one of the few that are serious and trustworthy enough. Here we give you some options, and you can find a lot more in our list of 27+ Best Free Photo Sites! 

Unsplash

The uber-popular Unsplash is both a free photo site and photography enthusiast community, and it’s in constant expansion and evolution.

Pexels

Pexels is a free image site that sources its own content as well as aggregates from other free photo providers. They are now owned by web-based design platform Canva. 

Pixabay

Recently acquired by Canva, Pixabay is a rather serious source for free photography that compiles images from various other sites as well. 

PikWizard

Owned by professional visual production brand Wavebreak Media, PikWizard has high-quality and wholly-owned images available for free.

Burst

Property of Shopify, Burst is a free photo service with a clear commercial perspective oriented to online shop owners, but available for everyone needing commercially valuable images

Use Photo Agencies to Solve your Visual Needs

Photo agencies are middlemen companies that simplify the process of finding, licensing and downloading stock photography to use in your business’ visuals. 

By using their services, you get all the photos you need immediately, legally, and without breaking the bank. 

That’s what we call a well-round solution! 

Which one are you choosing?