Selling Stock Photography for Amateurs
It may have crossed your mind at some point that you would like
to sell your images with some of the photographic stock agencies
online. You may have then visited their sites only to be put off
by the costs involved with regard to the equipment needed to
"produce the goods". Many of the larger agencies need file sizes
of 50MB which require professional or semi-professional
equipment and for which the costs run into thousands.
What a lot of people don't understand is that there
are "micro stock" agencies that cater for a different
market altogether! You see, the huge image files required by the
larger agencies are what are needed for large advertising or
marketing companies that need to either show off exceptional
quality or reproduce the images in print, at greatly enlarged
proportions. But what about the rest of the world?
What about small companies that cannot afford the rates offered
by large stock agencies? What about the sole trader or self
employed that simply needs a few decent images for his/her
website or small marketing campaign? What about colleges or
faculties that have a strict budget but still need good images
for their workshops or tuition? This is where you come in!
The agencies I am talking about, only need good, nice clean
images of 2.5 megabytes or above which can be produced by
cameras of around 3 mega pixels or higher. This would include
your everyday advanced digital compact like a Canon Sureshot for
example.
The cost of buying the images is kept very low for the
consumer as the file sizes restrict the applications for which
they can be used, but are perfect for the type of outlets I have
just described. Therefore the payout is less to the photographer
but sales happen a lot more frequently and you can earn
yourself a nice residual income for as long as your images are
online. Obviously the more you have the more you earn.
It doesn't mean that you can send any old tat in; the
images must be clean (in all respects), interesting, well taken
and well exposed. The agencies normally have a "wants" list
which is excellent as it lets you know exactly
what you have to do to earn money! Apart from anything, it also
gives you more of a reason to go out and make use of your camera
in a more exciting way.
There is a forum on the site that I use and recommend,
that has a bunch of regulars that are always there to lend a
hand with advice, hints and tips and also to give inspiration
and motivation. It has a community of photographers that will
put you at ease and help you on your way to earning money from
your camera, and I can guarantee you will make friends there
too.
After I had registered (which is free), I was a little bemused
by it all as I had only ever used the larger agencies, so before
I uploaded any images, I introduced another photographer to
them. He had about 20 moto-x images on within a week and sold 6
of them immediately. I uploaded 1 image after that and
sold a copy that night. I then uploaded 48 more, 5 were rejected
but I sold 18 of the others within a week. I then submitted
another 90 and so it goes on, all very exciting as the sales
stats are updated every 15 minutes and you cannot help
but keep "refreshing" the page!
It is by no means my main source of income, but the way I see
it, I can upload smaller copies of the 50MB files I have on with
larger agents here and add another stream of revenue for
very little work. If you have images sitting around on your hard
drive, or would like a reason to get up in the morning and go
out and do something constructive, give it a go, there is
nothing to lose.
One word of warning though, read very carefully the
criteria for uploading images. If you consistently upload
rubbish, your account will be suspended for 6 months pending
review. I suggest that you read the submission guidelines for
all stock agencies at my site here;
Selling Stock Photography at "All Things
Photography"
and look for the yellow information box halfway down the page.
This will require work and a bit of commitment, but you can earn
some nice pocket money here from your hobby and some of the
regulars earn a good living from it, but you must
follow and abide by the rules.
Good luck and hope to see you in the forums!
Nick Stubbs www.all-things-photo
graphy.com