2/20/01 - According to TrendWatch, 8 out of 10 creative pros download individual royalty-free (RFI) stock images from the Internet, while 85% still use RFI CD collections. And the use of RFI CDs and single images downloaded from the Internet is increasing. Even commercial photographers themselves--though they are in the image-creation business--are increasingly purchasing royalty-free images. It's not uncommon to see the same royalty-free images turning up all over the place, and the subjects of certain royalty-free CD-ROMs are becoming highly recognizable. The "stars" of one particular "Business People" disc are probably in danger of being recognized on the street, so often do they appear in B2B pubs. To avoid using the same images over and over, creatives are always looking for new--yet inexpensive--sources of imagery, and as the need for RFI grows, so, too, does the opportunity for photographers and illustrators who can supply it.