They look similar. They’re sold differently, and mixing them up can get you in real trouble.
Stock photography is made to be used. A smiling team around a laptop, a bowl of fruit, a generic city skyline. Photographers get signed releases from people in the frame, and from property owners where needed, so a buyer can use the picture in ads, on packaging or on a website.
Editorial is about events
Editorial photography documents something that actually happened. A protest, a football match, a red carpet. There’s rarely time or reason to get a release from every person in the crowd, so these pictures are licensed only for editorial use: news, commentary, education.
This is a small street demonstration on a wide Italian street in warm late-afternoon light. The banner and flags carry the message.
The centrepiece is a large hand-painted red banner held across the road by several marchers. The white lettering reads “Sabotare la guerra imperialista” (sabotage the imperialist war) on top, and below it, in much larger letters, “No imperialismo, No NATO e MUOS”. A hammer and sickle sits at the bottom right, with what looks like “Partito” in small print beside it. MUOS is the US Navy satellite communications station in Niscemi, Sicily, a long-running target of local protest. That, plus the shop sign “Fecarotta” on the right, suggests this is Sicily, probably Catania, though I’m inferring that from the clues.
Behind the banner is a cluster of young marchers, mostly in T-shirts and shorts. Many hold red flags on wooden poles, several with a hammer and sickle inside a star or circle, and one with a laurel wreath. A yellow, blue and red flag with a ring of stars, the Venezuelan flag, rises above the group at centre and stands out against the muted building behind it. Some marchers are singing or chanting, some stand with their arms crossed, and some are simply watching. At far left, blue lights suggest a police vehicle keeping an eye on the march, and a megaphone pokes into the frame at right edge.
The setting is a grand old street of tall, sand-coloured palazzi with wrought-iron balconies. A long scaffolding canopy runs over the pavement on the right, and graffiti and a closed metal shutter show at street level. A woman with a small dog on a lead walks past on the pavement, apparently unconcerned. In the foreground a woman with auburn hair, in a red-poppy print dress and with a black backpack, faces the group with her back to the camera.
The light is low and warm, and it makes the reds glow against the faded stone. A red banner in the middle of an ordinary Sicilian street gives the image a strong sense of place. The tourists and shoppers who pass by add to the feeling that the march is small and self-contained.
That’s why you can’t put a news photo of a famous face on a product page. The person never agreed to endorse anything, and the license doesn’t cover it.
Pick the right one
If you’re illustrating an article about something that happened, editorial is the honest choice. If you need a picture for a landing page, go with stock or shoot your own.
Always read the license. The words “editorial use only” mean exactly what they say.