Dorling Kindersley stock images

A big part of Dorling Kindersley books revolves around the use of stock imagery, often placed against a white background to place it into sharper focus. Stock imagery can include illustrations, diagrams but in this context is mainly focused upon photographs. Most of these photographs are taken in a studio setting, with the animal in front of a screen that blocks out the background view. Some images are taken in a more open setting, either a zoo paddock or in the wild, with the background then digitally removed to create the standard stock image. It is unknown exactly how many stock images have been created by Dorling Kindersley, but the number is almost certainly in the thousands. Stock images are of some importance to Dorling Kindersley Vision programming, primarily for the covers of home media releases.

## Examples of stock images used for Dorling Kindersley Vision

Without a centralised stock image library, it is very difficult to find some exact stock images – in some cases, very similar images that were probably part of a photographic sequence can be found, while others have been found on more general stock image libraries such as Getty Images, Media Storehouse and Bridgeman Images.

### See How They Grow

All the covers for See How They Grow solely contain stock images from Dorling Kindersley – in the initial five videos, the animals are often all shown to be discrete of each other, while in the latter five they may overlap.

* Desert locust (link) - Used on cover of Mini Beasts
* Rabbits (link) – Used on cover of Wild Animals
* Mongolian gerbil (link) - Used on cover of Desert Animals
* Imperial scorpion with babies (link) - Used on cover of Jungle Animals
* Pipefish (link) - Used on cover of Sea Animals
* Fruit bat (link) - Used on cover of Tree Animals
* Common buzzard (link) - Used on cover of Tree Animals

### Eyewitness

All the VHS covers for Eyewitness involve stock images, with one larger image alongside anything between three and seven smaller images alongside it. The spines of the VHS all have a single image or sequence of images and many also have a single stock image on the back cover. Only a couple of the interactive DVDs (the alternative covers to Dinosaur and Prehistoric Life) have Dorling Kindersley stock images, while the American DVD releases have four to six stock images at the top of the front cover.

In the episodes themselves, stock images can appear in the small window frames of the Eyewitness Museum.

* Siamese cat (link) - Used on cover of Cat
* Porcupinefish (link) - Used on cover of Fish; also appears within episode of Monster
* Orangutan (link) - Used on cover of Jungle
* Spectacled caiman (link) - Used on spine of Jungle
* Red-billed toucan (link) - Used on cover of Bird
* Model of great white shark (link) - Used on cover of Shark
* Model of spinner shark (link) - Used on spine of Shark
* Upper human skeleton (link) - Used on cover of Skeleton
* Young gorilla (link) - Used on spine of Ape
* Ornate horned frog (link) - Used on cover of Pond and River
* King penguin (link) - Used on cover of Arctic and Antarctic, and also on the cover of Animal Survivors
* Rearing Barosaurus (link) - Used on spine of Prehistoric Life, and also on the cover of Extinct Animals
* Lesser octopus (link) - Used on cover of Monster
* Green sea turtle (link) - Used on cover of Ocean

### Amazing Animals

As with Eyewitness, all the VHS covers of Amazing Animals contain stock images. However, in some of the later seasons it is not certain if all the images are originally Dorling Kindersley pictures. The front covers can have anything from two to five stock images, with the spines and back covers also sometimes having a stock image.

Sometimes, stock images were also used in the creation of Henry’s Report, sometimes with the images animated to show movement or with additional clip-art added over them, such as cartoon eyes or smiles.

* Green-winged macaw (link) - Used on cover of Tropical Birds
* Thick-tailed galago (link) - Used on cover of Nighttime Animals
* Common egg-eating snake (link) - Used on cover of Animal Appetites
* Green iguana (link) - Used on cover of Animal Weapons
* Termite and wasp nest (link) - Used on cover of Animal Builders
* Postman caterpillar (link) - Used on cover of Mini-Beasts
* California sea lion (link) - Used on cover of Seashore Animals
* Malayan tapir (link) - Used on cover of Rainforest Animals
* Horsefly (link) - Used on cover of Creepy Crawly Animals
* Common kestrel (link) - Used on cover of Animal Flight

### Creatures Fantastic

Creatures Fantastic is unusual in that very few of the covers have any stock images from Dorling Kindersley at all – most are either images sourced from elsewhere or promotional stills taken from the episode itself. Other than a second possible image (the red fox on Tricky Tricksters is similar to another stock image used on the UK cover of the Amazing Animals episode Clever Animals), only one identifiable Dorling Kindersley stock image is used on any cover:

Long-eared bat (link) – Used on cover of Creatures of the Night

### Baby Animals

As with See How They Grow, the two covers of Baby Animals only contain stock images from Dorling Kindersley. These include the two main images, the pair on either side of the title, the spine image and the three sets of images on the back cover.

## Individual animals that appear in both Dorling Kindersley Vision programmes and stock images

Sometimes, an individual animal or species can be identified that was probably used for both photography and filming purposes.

An animal that appears in Eyewitness Horse and Animal Partners (described as a mule and horse respectively) may actually be a hinny photographed as a stock image (link). It shares several of the larger dark spots on the white background, but the additional dark spots on other parts of the body may be make-up – there have been other instances where a mostly white animal (in this case, a cow in Eyewitness Weather) had additional dark patches added to make it stand out more.

The domestic goat that appears in Animal Appetites and Animal Weapons appears to be the same individual as appears in several stock images (link).

The snake filmed in the studio for Animal Survivors that reappears in Desert Animals and Around the World, appears to be the diadem snake photographed for stock images (link).