Microstock

[theraven]

I am sure I am not the first, and I definately will not be the last person to delve into the world of microstock selling.


I haven't sold anything yet, but it has only been a week.

I have read about it and looked into it and decided that the only thing is to go for it. So I decided upon four different sites.
Dreamstime

Alamy

123RF

Shutterstock

These apparently have the most traffic, sales and offer the most generous cut for the photographer.


I am currently awaiting approval from the last three, but Dreamstime has accepted just over half of the shots that I uploaded and we are away!


Fingers crossed. The shots that I have uploaded are just from my personal portfolio, but I have been doing a lot of research and will be shooting specific shots just for stock, learning what they are looking for. I know it is going to be a lot of work but I am ready for it!



Anyway, feel free to have a look at my portfolio on Dreamstime!


Ravenphotography - Photographer profile


I'd love to know if anyone else does microstock and how you find it!

 

[gsgary]

Alamy used to be one of the hardest to get on, i hope you have another 1000 good shots because you need 1000's loaded up to make any money

 

[theraven]

Alamy used to be one of the hardest to get on, i hope you have another 1000 good shots because you need 1000's loaded up to make any money

I know, it's given me a new reason to shoot to be honest, and to shoot things I don't usually.

 

[imagemaker46]

What kind of things are you shooting as stock?

 

[theraven]

What kind of things are you shooting as stock?

I have just put up generic things as of yet, but my next batch is going to be small electrical components, macro and close up, they seem to have a lot of downloads and there is not as many pictures on there as others.

Then see how that goes.

 

[KmH]

It is my understanding that about 85% (give or take) of the stock images that get licensed - have people in them.
Each microstock agency generally states somewhere on their web site what kind of images they want/need more of.

The microstock agencies basically sell low cost, non-exclusive, almost unrestricted usage (up to 250,000 or more impressions), pay 1 time, royalty-free (RF) licenses.
The major stock agencies (Corbis, Getty, Alamy) also offer royalty-free licensing. But, they also offer, pay based on usage, rights-managed (RM) licenses.

Here is Shutterstock's standard use license - Stock Photos, Royalty-Free Images and Vectors - Shutterstock