Feature Set:  

BlackStar focuses their work on editorial and assignment photography. They offer high-end images for ad agencies and specific need clients.

They are also a high-touch agency, in that most of their work is commissioned through one-on-one contact through their various consultants. They offer professional searches, public relation services and corporate consultations. On their AssigmentPhoto.com website, they boast that they can turn projects around in less than 24 hours, around the world.

They do not offer instant downloads or pricing. All prices are negotiated individually based on the image and how it is to be used.

Search/Sort Options:  

In relation to their stock site, stockphoto.com, they offer several search options including, by theme, keyword, release status and by collection. Please see the full review of stockphoto.com for more information.

Quality:  

Their stock images and commissioned photos are exceptional.

However, due to the nature of photojournalism, the images are not as good, because they are harder to get or have to be taken in the moment. Since editorial images may relate a rare and brief occurrence in history, quality may have been sacrificed for the sake of not missing an opportunity. Therefore, the cost of the image is related to the uniqueness and not the quality.

For example, they offer pictures of political figures and celebrities that may have been taken from a distance or archived editorial images taken by cameras whose technology cannot be compared to modern cameras.

Selection:  

They offer a wide selection of editorial images and stock imagery. They also offer special interest images such as medical and celebrities/famous people. Of all of the services reviewed, only BlackStar through stockphoto.com and Getty images offers in-depth procedural medical images. However, they do not offer many of the simple, inexpensive images that designers or web artists use, like isolated or vector images.

BlackStar is the premier source for editorial and archived editorial images. They offer exceptional ad and public relation assistance.

However, this is not the best source for those that need multiple, inexpensive images.