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I am interested in hearing your opinions on selling stock photos online? Good idea? Bad idea? Which are the best ones to go with? ShutterPoint claims to give the best payout on the web but are they the best or most popular?
All comments greatly appreciated!
Denise
Making money is always a good idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by ddt0725
I wouldn't have any advice one way or the other, but there are some tutorials on Yuri Arcurs website. Maybe they might help.
http://www.arcurs.com/
Thank you for providing this link! I found it a very interesting article and VERY helpful!!Quote:
Originally Posted by HDNitehawk
I started this post a number of months ago and yesterday I did finally add a few photos to an online stock agency that were accepted. I'm still unsure if this is a smart or beneficial route to take. I know it's not a get rich quick idea but since my unemployment checks are coming to a halt within a few weeks generating some $ is always better than nothing! So far, I have only uploaded a handful of photos but I'm hesitating on whether I should continue.
Anyone else doing this? Opinions or posts of anyone's personal experience with selling stock photos would be greatly appreicated!
I don't see how it could hurt you, another possible source of income from photography:)Quote:
Originally Posted by ddt0725
I looked at ShutterStock in the past but I didn't think any of my material would be very desirable in view of the millions of images out there and I didn't really have time to develope a portfolio of stock images. At the time I was looking I only had bird images. I may consider it again sometime once I get a more diverse portfolio or have more time to specifically work on it.
Denise,
If you start making a bunch of money at this, please let us know. We will want to jump in to. :)
Stock Photo's looks like a volume game to me. The more you can get out the better chance you have at making some.
I don't print and display any of my photos so no sales there. As far as my website goes, I pretty much stopped adding photos to it a number of months ago. I was thinking of adding a few of my recent ones but no, I haven't sold anything from there either ...except a mousepad to my youngest daughter!Quote:
Originally Posted by jrw
I did finally put a poster up at my dog's veterinarian's office a few days ago. I also ordered a free box of business cards that should be here soon. I will put a few up at the local pet and grocery stores ...wherever I can find bulletin boards. I am also going to start passing them out to other dog walkers at the lake when I walk my dogs. Many people there have walked up to me asking about my camera etc. so now I will freely hand them a card! I also updated my ads in two sections on the local craigslist.
Hopefully, some day in the future, I will be able to do that! It sounds like it great way to make some sales!Quote:
Originally Posted by jrw
I have been selling stock since 2008, at first I was with all major stock agencies and then became exclusive with iStockPhoto who is also owned by Getty, people can make good money with stock even though images are licenced for only cents however, those making a living from it have major upfront investments in equipment, studio and models.
Street and product photography sell but you have to be lucky to hit the right market, you also have the ever increasing issue of copyright to deal with, an agency like ALAMY licence images for good money and I have had images sell for more than I have ever made with IS selling 500+ images again luck or shooting anything and everything is the answer to selling an image, with Alamy you are in a basket with 34 million other images all looking for a buyer.
Bottom line, unless you are the next Ansell your chances of living off income from stock is not good it will take time and a large portfolio with goods agencies before you even see a modest return on your time and effort.
As your are also aware by now all your images have to be approved for technical competence and some agencies like IS also judge the commercial or creative content, as an existing stock shooter I'd encourage you to find another vocation but in saying that a big part of me wants to reduce the competition :rolleyes:
Still happy to answer your questions if I can
David
Welcome to the forums, David and thank you for your input! Very helpful inside information!
I, by no means was looking at this to be any major source of income or my career of choice. Just something to dabble in to see if a few bucks is made from it at any point. I just thought if I can take a few minutes to upload photos on flickr every day, what's the harm in taking a few extra minutes and submit them as possible stock photos also.
Obviously, dabbling would be more a waste of time than anything. Looks like you really need to give it complete 100% dedication to earn just that few $.
The customers who use stock photos are, advertising agencies, printers, web designers, publishers, craft, writers etc. flowers and macros sell but in the minority, what sells in the majority are posed shots with models at say a dentist, shopping centre, market, home, etc. then food shots.
most stock agencies allow you to view their offerings so would be a good idea to go and have a look at whats on offer, http://www.istockphoto.com/browse/latest/ also don't assume just because you take a photo it will be on sale, most inspectors are brutal photographers and agencies only want the best of your work, this means rarely getting anything accepted higher than ISO 100, and size is also a factor. And key wording your images is also an important factor
My sole reason for getting into stock was to see if I was a good enough photographer to get my images accepted, and then to see if anybody would like them enough to pay money for them, in both accounts I am now satisfied, the money I don't need, but I do get a buzz knowing there are publications, books and magazines that have my photos in them.
David
From what I have seen, vector files seem to be very popular amongst sellers, not sure how much they sell of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by djmorgan
I would think that with today's craze being with texture overlays and backgrounds that those would do well. I have seen some really nice ones for sale. I get mine free though so maybe that is the route most people would take before buying.
Wouldn't pet photos do well for calendars and such? Like my purebred cocker or say Steve's blue eyed white cat or his dogs or Dave's blue merle Australian shepherd for a few examples? I know I would buy a wall calendar with their photo on it along with a number of pet photos in our pet thread in a heartbeat!
Is it better to submit to various publishers directly after reading up on their guidelines?
I'd gladly sell you a calendar of Zuni pictures! ;) Perhaps you're on to something though. Our themed threads (Pets, Landscapes, Nature), and even our assignments are all potential calendar making material. I'm not sure how you can get them printed somewhere reputable, and still be cheap enough to sell a boatload of them though.
I ordered calendars from Vistaprint once, and they were quite nice, but not as cheap as you'd find in the mall stalls. The mall stalls don't get made somewhere reputable though. One year our calendar had a week in August where ever day was labeled Tuesday (true, I swear!), and the year before that there was something else screwed up, like 3 Wednesdays in a row.
Anything will sell, what you need is consistency and volume, I have 1 image (see attached) that has sold over 300 times in 18 months, I don't know why or in what context it could possibly be used, but it sells and to different buyers, the same image on another site doesn't sell! if you could figure out the stock industry you would make a fortune.
Attachment 1358
Uploading to multiple sites is a lot of work, i had a smallish portfolio with 9 agencies for over a year made some sales but then I became eligible to be 'exclusive' with a single agencies which meant more money per image sold but I can only have my images with that agency so had to pull the others, being exclusive has given me more money and less work than dealing with multiple agencies.
If you Google search you will find a number of forums devoted to discussing stock agencies, I would recommend you read some of these, at the end of the day the industry leader in Microstock is iStockPhoto.com getting in requires image approval as does ongoing uploads.
Yes, pets, flowers, bees, whales and birds are all good niche markets together with anything else you could think of, this is where key wording your image becomes important as the majority of buyer use a search engine to find images, after all nobody is going to scan through a million images to find something they like
Big agencies will 'manage' your images and they market their services to buyers, these are agencies like Getty (recently sold), Alamy and a few others scattered throughout the Americas and Europe, sales take a long time but you get hundreds of dollars rather than cents from microstock, but you need to be very good to get into the bigger agencies and competition is top draw.
Vectors, art, icons, audio and video are all acceptable to agencies for sale, I'm not that talented so can't give you any direction in those areas, I'm tone deaf, and have 8 thumbs.
Link to forum dealing in stock agencies http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?action=forum
David
LOL! What I wouldn't have done for a calendar stuck on Saturday when I was working!Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidEccleston
I do have a book (a tad outdated), the 2011 Photographer's Market ...Where and how to sell your photographs. It has some very interesting info in it. I just never moved forward with any of it at the time because my photos were surely lacking even more then than they are now.
I find i-stock to have the best selection when we need to buy an image, which is rare now, we get our own images as needed, but they have always had a good selection and prices are good. i-stock pays you more % if you make them the exclusive on the image, or you can sell the image on many sites. I am not an expert about this at all, these are just some thoughts. Good luck.
I'm particulairly interested in how stock photography affects your copyright. Since you don't have any influence on potential buyers you are never sure what happens with your photos right?
If you would be exclusively bound to one service would that mean that the rights of your photos would be exclusively for the selling and buying parties?
Thanks! I was aware of the limited use license and I guess these licenses differ from service to service. My biggest question was in the exclusivity. I guess I was mistaken by thinking that you more or less give away your rights on your photo there by giving one service exclusive rights.
I know some photographers that use services like Zenfolio and have options to buy the full rights for a photo(sometimes for as little as 50 bucks). I guess you could choose if you want to have this option in stock-services? I think big companies like Ikea for example would want exclusive rights for an image they would like to sell on canvas. This would mean you as the photographer would sell all your rights and you could not even print one for yourself anymore.