Photo by flickr member let ‘er rip

In a deal announced yesterday, Getty can now search Flickr’s vast member archives for appealing images for their own use. Selected Flickr photographers would be invited to join a program and paid the same amount as Getty’s own contract photographers. (Photographers typically get between 30-40% of a $500-600 fee for exclusive rights.)

Jonathan Klein, co-founder of Getty, told the New York Times that this arrangement allows them to take advantage of Flickr’s strengths, which are a depth of images from around the world and covering every imaginable area. Plus, Klein said, they often have an “authenticity” that professional photography might not.

Article via the New York Times.