Introduction to Microstock Photography

Featured How-To Photography Business Photography Tips Uncategorized

 
microstock photo by theprintSo, you’ve heard about microstock and thought about selling your images that way. It sounds like easy money, just uploading photos and waiting for a buyer to come along. Well, there is a little more to it than that. Not to worry, here’s a condensed introduction. Let’s start at the beginning.

First step is to sign up with a microstock agency and apply for a contributor account. Upon approval, you can start uploading pictures. Some will get accepted, some will not. You learn from your rejections until eventually, they become a rarity. In the meantime, your portfolio grows and with it comes sales. You cash out, impress your friends, and go back to uploading more photos.

That’s basically it. You are now a microstock photographer. But don’t quit your day job quite yet.

microstock photo by theprint

Within the microstock arena there are many possible levels of involvement. You might start communicating with other microstockers to learn from them and make friends. Maybe you’ll start posting in forums, on blogs, Twitter, etc. Or not. None of it is required, although every bit of “putting yourself out there” gets the word out about your photos and increases their sales potential . Just like keeping up with your sales (check out LookStat for that), to track what concepts are working, what needs improvement, etc. The important thing is to look beyond merely creating images and recognize that being a microstock photographer is also about competing in a fast-growing market.

With that in mind, to make it in microstock, you must learn to think like a client. To have the end-use in mind. Talking to designers and art directors can help, as can studying print, television and web advertisements that are using stock imagery. Look for how the pictures are used to get the message across, but also pay attention to how they are cropped and positioned in relation to copy, logos etc.
microstock photo by theprint
It’s incredibly important to realize that selling images only works if said images have a commercial value. Stock photography is not art. Just because your pictures get lots of praise from other people doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be hot sellers. Thinking that beautiful photos will sell is one of the most common misconceptions among new stock photographers. Useful photos will always outsell ones that are “just” pretty.

That said, there is also the Love-factor to consider. Those who do really well in a specific niche are driven by a passion for their subject. They use this passion to stay on top of trends, even create them. If your only motivation is to sell you’ll have a hard time keeping up with those who also have a burning love for creating a particular type of image. Therefore: Shoot what you love, but do so with commercial use in mind.

Luckily, all of this can be picked up over time. You don’t need a grand master plan when you’re first starting out (but good for you if you do have one). What you do need is to keep an open mind, do your research, follow your passion and keep those images coming. The rest will follow.

From The Editor:
There are lots of microstock sites out there. iStockphoto is one of the largest and best known and helped create the online, royalty-free, microstock market. They’re not the only game in town, though. This is by no means a complete list and we aren’t endorsing any of these sites. But if you’re interested in buying or selling photos thrugh a microstock site, here’s a list of sites to take a look at:
iStockphoto
Snapvillage
Stockxpert
Shutterstock
Fotolia
Dreamstime

About theprint
Rasmus shoots primarily urban lifestyle portraits and has been active in microstock since 2000, the last few years as an image inspector for iStockphoto. He is the author of “The Microstock Photographer’s Guide” and also does one-on-one coaching for photographers looking to get established in microstock. When he’s not involved with photography, he writes novels, music and lives the Bohemian lifestyle. His own microstock portfolio lives on iStockphoto, he blogs at rasmusrasmussen.com and is an avid Twitter user.

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  • moshe says:

    Thanks,
    Great article to begin with!

  • Orson says:

    Great article, if you want to know more info about the microstock agencies, you can check my article here: http://sellinggraphics.com/4/Best-microstock-sites-selling-photos-illustrations

  • Working for peanuts, like chipmunks. This is what I think about microstock. Submitting you best photos, well composed, sharp with best exposure to allow dowloads for pennie – is rediculos. Don’t give away your imagination, time, emotions.
    Reliable clients will buy from Gettyimages, Alamy and Corbis.

  • M Dawson says:

    I am with Stan, Giving away your creative energy and license for your work for peanuts so someone else can profit from your work is silly in my book. Friends don’t let friends give their work away!

  • A very interesting article!

    As a contributor to microstock photography sites, I could not agree more!

    You can read about my experience with microstock photography on my blogsite: http://philminnis.blogspot.com/

    I’m certainly one person who is very happy to be selling my images this way!

    Thanks!

  • Ben says:

    well, before microstock I had to collect all my peanuts the hard way, in a cubicle at a corporation…. now I get my car payment taken care of by taking pictures that I enjoy taking. So maybe I’m a chipmunk, but my cheeks got a bit fuller once I started selling microstock!!

    Nice article!

  • Libby says:

    Great intro to microstock Ras. Microstock has given me a wonderful opportunity to supplement my income with photography and I’ve been so pleasantly surprised at the amount of money I’ve earned. I doubt that Getty, Alamy and Corbis would have given me the same opportunity!

  • Rasmus says:

    In response to those who don’t see the appeal of microstock:

    What you miss out on by selling at a lower price, you can make up for in volume. It is possible to make a lot of money, if you treat it like a business and put in the hours. Since many of the shots are based on common themes, it’s relatively easy to generate a high output of images per photo shoot. For the pro microstockers, there is a constant production. This ties in to why stock photography isn’t art — it’s a product. And working that way is not for everyone.

    There is another, more common type of microstocker, namely the hobby/student photographer who wouldn’t normally be represented by the more traditional stock agencies. Personally, I found a lot of encouragement in even the tiniest sale from my very small portfolio, before I had even started photography school. As I slowly kept adding pictures, my income grew. With moderate dedication, anyone can make enough to pay for that new lens or a camera upgrade.

    Finally, microstock can be a gateway to macro stock collections, which means that photographers who started out in micro can “graduate” to the big league, once the skill level is there.

    There are pro microstockers, making enough to have their own studios, use professional models etc, and there are people who’ve just recently picked up their cameras. It is what you want it to be, and that’s what I love about it.

  • Funtofocus says:

    Rasmus

    Great article!

    I still remember the first photo I sold, I made .20 and I was so excited!!! I still get giddy when I refresh and see sale after sale… People want my work and are willing to pay for it!!!

    Micro does require hard work though. You are going to just shoot a few hundred images then quit and watch the money roll in. You must keep up on the trends, keep it fresh, and add images on a regular basis.

    As with most things in life you get out what you put in to it.

    have fun
    Bob

  • Funtofocus says:

    opps missed the “‘nt” makes a big difference on what I said.

    You aren’t going to just shoot a few hundred images then quit and watch the money roll in.

    Bob

  • danic says:

    An interesting article and something to keep in the back of your mind. I understand people’s concerns regarding not wanting to “give” your photo’s away for such a low price, but still, if you have a lot of photo’s and of the right quality, why not?

  • Tyler Olson says:

    Well put Rasmus. That is also what I think the beaty of microstock is – That both the professional with paid models and a full studio as well as the hobbyist who just picked up a camera can participate. Everyone is essentially put on a level playing field for the buyer and the best images get the action. A very fair and equal opportunity, which is something that totally didn’t exist in the stock photography market 5-10 years ago.

  • Sasha Antich says:

    This is very usefull post about microstock photography. I am in the proccess of joining some of these sites, but it is not easy to get accepted by some of them.

  • George Mesazos says:

    You can try uploading your index at smaller sites that need photos and give better commissions.

    You could try http://www.nextdoorphotographer.com

  • Bob Keenan says:

    Good article. I started about 2 yrs ago. I am still torn between taking images that I like versus what is a commercial image. I am up to about $2K/ yr. and I think I can get it up to about $10K/ yr which is my goal. At that point it would be enough money to take care of my habit of Photo gear and maybe some left over for trips. Anyhow…. I too have written about my experiences with microstock and you can read about it here;
    http://www.bobkeenanphoto.com/microstock-simplified/

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