Selling your images as "Microstock"
Becoming a stock photographer is easy. If you carry your camera wherever you go and if you enjoy being behind the camera as much (if not more) as in front of it - stock photography is for you. Stock photography is ideal for an aspiring/amateur photographer as a venue of learning rules and tricks of photography, understanding strengths and weaknesses of your camera (and of other cameras as well as you will inevitably develop camera and lens envy), discovering your identity as a photographer and, in the end, becoming the creative mind you've always wanted to be - all the while making a few $$$ in the process. Stock photography is also suitable for a professional photographer who understands all the ins and outs of photography, who earns her living by taking pictures and who has already developed a specialization of her own. For a pro, stock photography offers a convenience of access to a global marketplace of designers looking for stock images without the need to invest in marketing and advertisement, a venue for all those photos you may not quite know what to do with (images discarded by clients, left overs of projects, etc.) and an additional sources of revenue - quite an important asset in today's fast-paced business world that emphasizes multiple streams of income.
Becoming a good stock photographer requires hard work. Being a part of of the stock industry contributor community is a fun, creative and rewarding experience. It does not mean, however, that there is no effort involved. Don't expect to upload all the thousands of snapshots from your camera you have stored on your hard drive and start making heaps of cash. Don't expect that your artistically magnificent (but digitally altered to the point where they are of no use to professional designers) creations will be accepted upon upload. Don't expect to have easy cash flowing into your bank account immediately. Whether you are an amateur or a pro photographer, becoming a successful stocker takes time and effort. To succeed in stock industry, just like in anything else in life, you have to work hard. Learn the rules of the game. You have to understand issues involved in noise, correct exposure, composition, marketability, light, WB and DOF, etc. Learn about the review process and selection criteria. Your success will depend on your hard work and your growth as an artist.
This page should provide you with answers to some basic questions pertaining to stock photography and useful links to get you started. Feel free to contact me with any questions. Good luck!
What is micro-stock?
Microstock refers to collections or libraries of contributor-(or phographer-) submitted royalty-free images that can be licensed to end users for a variety fo purposes. "Royalty" free means that in many cases buyers can use images more than once (special, higher, prices do apply for items for sale or/and items printed for mass production), that image use is not exclusive to any particular buyer, and there is no time limit on how long the buyer can use the image for. Anybody can contribute their images to microstock collections. Images submitted for stock have to have descriptions, titles, keywords (which you can either enter when you upload your images to agencies or in a photo processing software, which allows you to embed file information with your images), and have to adhere to certain quality standards. Most agencies also want to verify identity of contributors, thus asking them to submit a government id before payments can be received by contributors.
The "micro" part of "microstock" refers to prices buyers pay per each image and the pay photographers receive per each image sold. Depending on the stock agency, there are two main models of selling images for microstock (most stock agencies combine both models to attract as many buyers as possible): (1) "Subscription" model is when buyers purchase "subscription" packages that allow them to download a certain number of images daily for a certain period of time or over time (One example is when a buyer pays for a month-long subscription and is allowed to download up to 25 high-resolution images daily for a month. Another example may be when a buyer pays a "subscription" price for, for example, 20 images, which he can then download whenever he wants). (2) "Credit" model is when buyers purchase "credit" to buy a specific image (I suspect the "credit" model is most attractive to casual image users, personal sites/blogs, etc): buyers will pay anywhere from $1 to $12 per image, depending on image resolution, with higher-resolution images priced higher. Successful microstock photographers sell dozens and hundreds of images a day, thus making a stable income from microstock. Thus, in a way, it is a "numbers" game - it's all about selling as many images as possible; of course, to sell, they have to be commercially useful, viable and meet certain quality standards that buyers look for (a bit about that below).
What kind of images do stock sites accept? What kind of images do stock sites need?
Microstock agencies accept a variety of images: still-lives, objects isolated over white, landscapes and nature, macro & close-ups, people shots (lifestyle, fashion, glamour), pets, animals, interiors and architecture, destination scenics, transportation, editorial shots of events and famous people, and so on. Due to such a wide range of what microstock agencies have in their collection (pretty much, everything), people new to microstock tend to try and upload ALL the images they have on their hard drive to stock agencies. This is not the best strategy, however. First, many "similar" images will be rejected as, well, "similar". Second, you need to learn to choose your "best" work for uploading to stock because these are usually the shots that will sell. Which is what you are after - putting together a stock collection of images that will sell!
Now, what kind of images do stock sites need? This question is different from what kind of images stock agencies accept. The stock marget is extremely saturated in certain categories of images (think, flowers, trees, parks, textures, pretty business women isolated on white talking on cell phones, sunsets, seagulls, common household objects, etc). Thus, if you are submitting an image to compete in one of these "saturated" categories, it really has to stand out and be unusual in its quality and execution. FIguring out which categories are oversaturated is easy: just keyword whatever you are planning to submit in the agency's search enging and see how many images it will come up with! Again, quality of these has to be outstanding. Of course, there are certain categories that stock agencies need, and these are the niches that you have to find out as a photographer and fill. Some agencies have lists of what they need on their "FAQ" lists for photographers. Finally, your images have to be commercially viable and useful. Thus, before uploading your image to a stock agency, ask yourself this: what could this image sell, or advertise, or represent? How is it different and better from other similar images on the site? What could it be used for? Could it have a broad range of uses?
Some image quality considerations
Size: most stock agencies have "minimum size" requirements, you have to check with each agency individually (these are clearly posted in submitter guidelines). "Size" refers to resolution of an image, NOT its size in megabytes!
Noise: when viewed at 100%, your image has to have no or very little noise.
Focus and sharpness: this is also quite self-explanatory. When viewed at 100%, your image has to be in focus and sharp (not soft).
Color: try to avoid dull, flat colors, uneven lighting or harsh shadows. These are common no-no's for stock submitters.
Composition and framing: much can be said about composition and framing, and of course there can be no single opinion on what is "good" or "bad" composition. Basically, think of your composition as a designer: where would you put text, if you needed to? Is the image too cluttered for designing around its central subject matter". Rule of thirds is generally a good guideline to follow (bottom line, avoid flowers smack in the middle of the shot, unless, of coures, they are stunning and spectacular shots).
Commercial viability: your images have to be useful to buyers. Of course, you may think about your images in terms of artistic value or interesting story behind them, but this is not something that buyers generally care about. They want images that advertise, represent certain ideas and themes clearly, sell something, and so on. So, generally, ask yourself: what can this image be used for and how? Is it versatile for a variety of projects, or does its composition, color scheme, framing, main subject too "narrow" for most ideas and designs?
What are the "best" microstock sites in the industry?
The big 6: are the most profitable, prominent microstock agencies in the industry. They are "Shutterstock" (commonly abbreviated as SS), "Istockphoto" (IS), "Dreamstime" (DT), "Fotolia" (FT), "Stockxeprt" (SX), and "123RoyaltyFree" (123 or RF). They have more stringent review criteria and some of them have "exams" that each contributor has to pass, but they are also best sellers and are worth the effort
A few others: include "crestock", "bigstockphoto" (which, I believe, belongs with the big 6), "canstockphoto" and a bunch of other new sites, which are considered low earners (see list of these sites, along with a forum dedicated to a discussion of each on on the microstockgroup discussion board. Below, you will find some referral links along with some description for a couple of sites I like personally (I will be adding a couple more links over the next few days as well!)
Good luck on your microstock journey. And do not hesitate to contact me with any questions: just shoot me an email - chasingmoments (at) gmail (dot) com.
Shutterstock (SS) is among the stock industry's leading stock agencies and has been featured by many media moguls, including the New York Times and the BBC. Shutterstock photographers are paid 25 cents for a purchased picture; the price rises to 30 cents once $500 worth of their work is bought. Shutterstock is home to rich collections of high quality photographs as well as illustrations, vectors and footage clips. Submission guidelines are simple: submit 10 images (10 photographs, illustrations or clips) for review, and if 7 out of 10 are approved - you are in! Shutterstock is often quoted as the top earner by its contributors.
Fotolia (FT) boasts the largest image bank of free as well as affordable royalty free photos and illustrations perfect for any medium, web or print. According to their official release, as of December 2007, Fotolia had more than 500,000 members who had uploaded more than 2.7 million photographs and graphic illustrations. Becoming a member of the fotolia community is easy: register, upload, sell. Its review criteria are generally known to be less stringent than at SS, Istockphoto or DT, and it is probably a good place to check out if you are just starting in the stock industry. It underwent a comprehensive site-wide overhaul early in the summer of 2007, after which it became notorious for a variety of problems. I am happy to report, Fotolia has beencompletely back on track for a while now and is catching up with the big fish (SS, IS, DT) in the stock field. No exam.
Another up and coming stock agency, Bigstockphoto (BS), is very easy on uploaders as it is not characterized by any of the more stringent (sometimes, to the point of absurdity) policies (noise, composition, marketability). Again, good for a beginning stocker. Importantly, its payout minimum is among the lowest in the field - only $30, so if you are eager to get some $ for your hard work fast - Bigstockphoto is your place to submit as you won't have to wait for $100 minimum paymenets at SS, DT, and IS (even higher if you are requesting a payout by check). No exam, just register and upload.
123RF is in the same league as bigstockphoto and a few other second-tier (so to speak) stock agencies that are quite competitive with the big fish of stock industry. They attract customers, generate downoads (although not at the same rate as SS or DT) and are easy on the contributor. With 123rf, it is easy to get through the approaval process, there is no exam (although like with other "no exam" stock agencies, there is a selective review process), and the keywording and category selection process is quite user friendly. Contributors receive $0.36 per subscription download and 50% off credit downloads.