[eric_t]

I think it's wrong to say "Amateurs, happy to accept small checks for snapshots of children and sunsets". It's more of a democratization of the tools needed to do a successful photo shoot. Anyone can buy a DSLR, the strobist movement means good-looking lighting for cheap and excellent post processing tools are available for free.

This means that amateur photographers in many cases can do just as good a job as a professional. It's pretty much the same reason why magazines and newspapers are declining, the internet and social networks have lead to a democratization of news.

To be successful as a professional photographer, you have to offer more than what amateurs are capable of, and in addition be able to educate your customer why you're worth the extra cash. As always, it's about staying competitive, instead of weeping over the past.

[_delirium]

Yeah, despite the protestations, I think in a lot of relevant ways the amateur stuff is up to par these days. There is plenty of professional photography that really is unlikely to be replicated by amateurs, but from a market perspective, the photographers' biggest problem is that they don't have a monopoly on the profitable mid-range stuff anymore. It used to be that to have even a decent looking shot of like, a computer on a desk, you needed to pay a professional. Amateurs owned the "shitty snapshot" market, and professionals owned everything above that. But these days there are 100 decent shots of computers on desks on the internet, and professionals only really still own the high-end market, which is much smaller.

[lokijuhyghj]

Most stock usage isn't sunsets - how many sunset photos do you need? It's smiling attractive people sitting at desks, or smiling in front of power poles wearing hard hats.

There is still a business of stock photos for people that want it. You just have to know what the market wants - and it isn't another misty dawn view of the Golden Gate.

[ja27]

For a while I've been trying to think of other fields where this will happen. iStockPhoto has already expanded into stock video, stock illustrations and stock audio (environmental and music). It's also clearly happening with written articles and perhaps even entire books.

What's next? Software? 3D models?

[olefoo]

You already see that with software both GNU and non-GNU. The internet means that any good that can be reduced to bits on the wire will become widely available at low or no cost. And it's not just piracy, but competition between substitutes that cost almost nothing to reproduce. Automated fabrication means that this is beginning to happen to physical goods as well.

What you see happening is producers competing against all other producers in their field, past and present.

Uniqueness, originality and authenticity become the premium values for any creative work.