Tips for selling stock photography

Firstly what is stock photography?

Stock photography (also called micro-stock or micro-payment photography) generally refers to images that are uploaded to an agency, so they can be added to a photo library for others to purchase. The photographer makes a commission per sale, anything between 25 cents and five dollars, or more depending on the agency. Stock photography is normally in reference to selling images on your own website or larger paying agencies such as Getty Images or Alamy. Whereas microstock or micro payment photography are subscription based agencies such as Shutterstock, Dreamstime, or istockphoto to name a few, where the photographer will receive a smaller profit over a longer time.

For example, I've made several hundred dollars from this photo of a water droplet shown below through Getty Images. They saw it on my flickr account and requested the image for their clientele and has now sold several times, giving myself anywhere between $60 and $150 profit each time. Keep in mind their clientele are normally magazine publishers and those willing to pay a higher price for republishing your images. Sales from these types of agencies are often few and far between but when they do happen they pay well.

Now lets look at an example of an image that sells well across all microstock agencies. Yes that's right, little Nemo (photographed in an aquarium) is a popular image selling almost daily on one microstock site or another. The difference being, with microstock agencies the photographer usually only makes between thirty cents to five dollars per sale. Buyers are offered subscriptions allowing them to download many images per month for very little cost. When someone from a microstock subsciption makes a purchase, the photographer usually gets as little as 25 cents (depending on other factors). However, these sales happen more often so as the photographer you reap the benefit over a longer period of time.

At this stage you are thinking gees that's not very much money! At first this may not seem like a lot, however it's important to keep in mind that a single photograph could possible sell thousands of times over, making you a very neat profit. Imagine getting 25 cents every time you press your cameras shutter button!

Is stock photography still worth it?

Reading forums and photography blogs, there seems to be a lot of negativity recently when it comes to stock photography. Photographers aren't getting as much profits as they were several years ago. So your next question might be, is stock photography still worth it or how much money do you make from stock photography? In my personal opinion it is definitely still worth your time and effort.

Here are the reasons why:

• Lets face it, how many images do you have sitting on a hard drive somewhere that no one looks at? Why not have them sitting on several stock sites with the potental of earning you extra residual income. I can tell you now, residual income is awesome! You upload the images once and reap the rewards for years.
  
• How many images do you have sitting on free photo galleries like flickr or 500px? Why not upload them to microstock websites instead and earn extra income. In my experience microstock communities are just as fun and friendly as flickr and 500px if you enjoy the social aspect of mixing with other photographers. I find this especially true with Dreamstime community.
  
• If you are new to stock photography you won't be comparing profits with those from several years ago. You'll be comparing them with going from zero dollars to a couple of hundred dollars or more per month across a dozen stock sites. In my experience if you have one thousand images on eight to twelve of the top microstock agencies you'll make roughly $500 per month. Now I don't know about you, but $6000 extra income per year for me means a new camera, a few professional lenses, a high quality photo printer with a years supply of inks and fine art papers. That sure beats uploading them to free photo galleries!
  

This image above is a great example of a photo that sat on my hard drive for years and now sells every few days. It was an image I'd forgotten about until looking through old photographs a few month ago. I also have several other images selling well from the same trip to the zoo. Stock photography doesn't necessarily mean professional shots set up with white backgrounds. Often the best sellers are those you shoot in every day activities. 

Stock photography tips

After submitting photographs to twelve different stock agencies, this is what I've learned so far about selling microstock.

• Submit your photographs to more than one stock agency. There is no reason to limit yourself to only one microstock site. They all have different customer bases who will be searching similar keywords. I find if an image sells well in one agency, it will also sell well in another. Imagine the sales I'd have lost if I limited myself to only one microstock site. Also photographs that are rejected by one agency, can be accepted and sold well by another. It doesn't take long to realize what each agency likes and doesn't like.
  
• There are many reasons why an agency may reject an image. Just because an agency rejected your photo, doesn't mean it was a bad image. Most agencies will give an explanation for the rejection. However don't take this personally or become disheartened. A good example of this is the water drop seen at the start of this page. It sells well on Getty Images for a high price, yet microstock sites like Dreamstime or Shutterstock who sell images much cheaper rejected the image when I submitted it. One said the image wasn't focussed enough on the droplet, the other said they already had enough of that specific subject in their database.
  
  As a photographer you can also learn a great deal from rejections. For example, this image of a bird below was rejected by a couple of agencies who all gave the same reason. Looking at the photo in a smaller size it looks perfectly focussed and sharp. However, when viewing the bird photo in it's full resolution it's clear to see the eye is hazy and the focus is on the birds body, not its eye. Lesson being, eyes need to be in sharp focus. I also learned that I should view photos in their full resolution before submitting them.
  
  
  
  
  
  If you have any doubt about sharpness seen in the photo, I suggest resizing the image to the lowest resolution accepted by the microstock agency. In other words, don't submit the full resolution. Minimising file sizes also increases sharpness. I've had images that were initially rejected due to sharpness, I resized them to smaller resolutions and then successfully resubmitted.
  
• Check your photographs in their full size for noise. Noise refers to grainy or pixilated area's found within some photos. Any images that contain noise are usually rejected by stock agencies. The best way to stop noise from appearing within your photographs, is to set your digital SLR camera to its lowest ISO. However, sometimes this is not possible depending on the lighting situation.
  
  So how do you get grainy photos accepted by stock agencies? First you need to minimise the grain by using software such as Definehttp://www.niksoftware.com/nikcollection/usa/dfine.html which is part of the Nik collection. There are many other similar software available.
  
  If you own Photoshop you can also use the blur tool to rub over grainy areas which minimises the chance of stock agencies rejecting the image.
  
  As with sharpness, resizing images to a smaller size also helps with noise reduction seen in the photo.
  
• If you are submitting insect or flower images, use their scientific name as well when adding keywords to help increase sales.
  
• Don't crop photographs too tight (if at all) so there is some space for buyers to add text if needed. Often publishers who purchase your images, will want to use them for posters or full page advertising. Therefore, they need space for words and quotes. I've found images with space, are more easily accepted by stock agencies and sell better than those cropped tightly.
  
• Don't upload too many photographs of the same theme, otherwise they may be rejected. For example, just because an acency has accepted one of your highrise buildings, it doesn't mean they want another seven from different angles.
  
• Most agencies have enough photographs of flowers and pets. It's always best to check out their list of 'wants' and 'don't wants'. Each agency will differ in the types of photo's they need and don't need.
  
• The more photographs you submit, the more money you make. Those that submit 400 photographs, make more money than those who submit 50. If you intend on making a living from stock photography, then you should be treating it like a full time job.