Soon enough, Microstock and RF (royalty free) stock photography will be the same thing (see Fast Media Magazine on this happening right now at Veer).  There will be different tiers of pricing for MicrostockRF, but essentially, there will be little difference.  As it is now with much Microstock, the more popular images are more expensive.  That model of pricing, regardless of what it cost the photographer to produce the image, would seem to be the model most likely to be used going forward.  Given that there are thousands of amateur photographers and semi pros who enjoy seeing their pictures used in print and online, there will be no shortage of content produced for MicrostockRF even if professionals drop out entirely due to the low prices.

Professional travel photographers seem to be at greatest risk from this loss of income.  The photographers at the top of their game are still making money, (Simon Watson, Len Jenshel & Diane Cooke). But income from stock for travel photographers has declined significantly, maybe as much as 80% based on my own experience, as MicrostockRF photographers, who live and vacation all over the world, have uploaded their images. Picture editors with shrinking budgets are finding these images good enough for their publications and have used them to replace both more expensive professional stock and assignment photography.

As it now stands, Rights Managed sales and revenues have declined so much for Getty/Corbis photographers that many pros in all specialties have stopped shooting stock altogether. There is hope that as the economy rebounds, pent-up demand for unique, artistic images will return. It is possible that the migration of books and periodicals to high-res, full-color, tablets and e-readers will motivate photo editors to spend more on photography. That said, I’d be very wary about investing in stock photography right now.