Sell your photos in microstock
Are you a good photographer and do you have many good photos available digitally and in a good resolution?
Then you have the ability to make money by uploading your photos to different microstock agencies. Be aware that if you have people on your photos, so the agencies will ask you for a "model release" which confirms that you have the right to use the picture with these people on. You can almost always find these permits in the agency's site. Most microstock agencies do not want logos and trademarks in the photos, but these you can of course remove in Adobe Photoshop.
Some microstock agencies can be quite difficult to break into, first you must pass a test, then you get a critical evaluation of your sample images. Among these agencies, I can mention iStock and Shutterstock, where I've tried twice, but has not been approved yet. I need a major portfolio with a few more examples of other themes before I can be approved there.
If you want to start selling your photos you should be aware that the photos you want to sell must contain IPTC data such as title, description and what is most important, keywords. Keywords are the way people will find your images for, when they seek in the microstock agencies. And before you start uploading, do yourself a big favour from beginning, make the IPTC data in the program you manage the photos in, here i'm talking about a title, description and what's really important, good keywords. It's annoying to do it manually in the different microstock agencies, it's better if you have done that once and for all.
As just a recommendation, look at Yuri Arcurs website. He writes a lot about this subject and has even a really good keywording tool, a very good site.
And it is obviously the right thing to do, NOT to give microstock agencies an exclusive right to your photos, so you can not use it for other places where you want to sell photos. It is best to diversify your photos as many locations as possible. But be a little critical of what they will give you for each download, some micro stock agencies are simply not worth the effort.
Then you have the ability to make money by uploading your photos to different microstock agencies. Be aware that if you have people on your photos, so the agencies will ask you for a "model release" which confirms that you have the right to use the picture with these people on. You can almost always find these permits in the agency's site. Most microstock agencies do not want logos and trademarks in the photos, but these you can of course remove in Adobe Photoshop.
Some microstock agencies can be quite difficult to break into, first you must pass a test, then you get a critical evaluation of your sample images. Among these agencies, I can mention iStock and Shutterstock, where I've tried twice, but has not been approved yet. I need a major portfolio with a few more examples of other themes before I can be approved there.
If you want to start selling your photos you should be aware that the photos you want to sell must contain IPTC data such as title, description and what is most important, keywords. Keywords are the way people will find your images for, when they seek in the microstock agencies. And before you start uploading, do yourself a big favour from beginning, make the IPTC data in the program you manage the photos in, here i'm talking about a title, description and what's really important, good keywords. It's annoying to do it manually in the different microstock agencies, it's better if you have done that once and for all.
As just a recommendation, look at Yuri Arcurs website. He writes a lot about this subject and has even a really good keywording tool, a very good site.
And it is obviously the right thing to do, NOT to give microstock agencies an exclusive right to your photos, so you can not use it for other places where you want to sell photos. It is best to diversify your photos as many locations as possible. But be a little critical of what they will give you for each download, some micro stock agencies are simply not worth the effort.
Please read carefully the terms before you decide to have your pictures for sale on a microstock agency. Print them out, seat yourself on the couch and read them in peace, some agencies have certain conditions if you should decide that you want to delete your photos again. And some of them you can't delete images before a certain amount of months has gone.
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ask4Photos is developed for photographers by photographers. The site is in a building phase and yet (2010) only sells sporadically. But it could be an excellent investment for you to contribute with your best stock images. Technique as well as content must be of the highest quality. ask4Photos pays the photographer a royalty of 60% from personal downloads, and - since the lowest price is 1.5 Euro - this is a good deal. As a serious photographer you have a vested interest in promoting this site by displaying your stock images in ask4Photos' gallery and especially by telling professional stock image consumers about ask4Photos. | |
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fotolia is a micro stock agency, where you are ranked in how many downloads your photo gives. For exampel up to 100 downloads you are “white”, and they pay here the lowest. The higher you get up, the more they will pay you. | |
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dreamstime, here it is the same as fotolia, except that you can quicker get more and more from the sale you do. After just 4 downloads you are on the next level of payment. | |
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snapixel, You'll earn 60% from every sale here. Payments are issued via Paypal. | |
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mostphotos, You get a 50% commission on all sales and you can withdraw your money when ever you want. | |
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123RF, 50% commission on sales of each photo downloaded. | |
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ScandinavianStockPhoto, here you will get 1 € for each downloaded image. | |
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BIGSTOCK, You earn 50 cents for every 1 credit a customer spends on your images-up to $3 per download. | |
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pixmac, It is from 30 and 44% for non-exclusive images and from 45 to 60% for exclusive for photographers. The concrete percentage depends on volume of sales (everyone starts with 30%). | |
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featurePics, pays 50% of the license fees received for all photos uploaded. | |
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colourbox, pay to the Photographer a royalty of € 0,20 per download of the Images. For downloads made by non-profit organisations the Photographer only receives € 0,10 per download as non-profit organisations are given a 50 % discount on all Colourbox Images. For downloads made by schools and students the Photographer does not receive a royalty as the Images are used for educational purposes and not commercially. | |
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Graphic Leftovers, sellers earn 52% of their chosen sale price for every download. For example, if you sell an image for $5, you will earn $2.60 each time that image is purchased. You also earn 52% of each merchandising license and ultimate license purchased. | |
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YAYmicro, here it's also 50% you'll get I commission for each sale. | |
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Cutcaster, the payment here is good if you follow Cutcasters algorithm. But i haven't sold anything there yet, so maybe it's better if you make your own lower prices. |
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CanStockPhoto, pay a 50% commission for guest & member purchases on Can Stock Photo, and a flat $0.25 for subscription sales. Photographers are free to submit as many photos as they like, and will never be charged a cent. You always retain ownership of your images, and once you earn $50, you can request PayPal cash-out, or $100 for a mailed check or Moneybookers transfer.As an added bonus, your photos will be automatically represented on Fotosearch, one of the world's largest stock photography agencies. |
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depositphotos, the earnings you can make here is in the way, that you can go from green up to platinium. It means that the more you sell, the higher level and payment you will get. So in green level you can earn 0.22 dollars for xs to 3.96 dollar for xxxl size. |
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