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In the Information Age with all of its technological capabilities, stock photography images can now be bought and sold digitally in all corners of the world. Magazines, book publishers, interior decorators, home architects, website developers, service companies, and marketing companies all have a need for stock photography at some point in time to enhance the marketability for their company. Sometimes having the right visual media is just what is needed to add that extra touch increase sales.
Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash
That presents an opportunity for any photographer. If you are prepared to learn the ins and outs of the stock photography business, then it's possible to do well.
Here you can find 8 sites that accept stock photography submissions, as well as some of the higher paying micro stock photography websites.
With BigStockPhoto.com, you will earn $0.50 cents for every credit that a customer spends on your image, up to $3 per download. If you choose to provide additional usage rights to allow customers to print your image on a poster, greeting card or any other product, you will receive a special licensing commission at 35% of the sale. Contributors may request a payout when their balance reaches $30.
With ShutterStock.com, you will earn $0.25 cents per download of your image until you have reached $500 in lifetime earnings. The reason that the royalty rates for images at Shutterstock.com are lower than other stock photography sites is because they sell subscriptions to customers who download many images. When your earnings are $500 to $3,000, you will earn $0.33 cents per download. Contributors may request a payout when their balance reaches $75.
With IStockPhoto.com, you will earn a royalty rate of 15% for each download of your image. If you have had at least 250 downloads with a minimum 50% approval rating, you can choose to make IStockPhoto.com your exclusive agent so that you will get a higher royalty rate of 22% to 45% per download. IStockPhoto.com also accepts audio and video contributions. Contributors may request a payout when their balance reaches $100.
With Alamy.com, you will earn a whopping 60% royalty fee on all of your images. This company is among the better ones in terms of paying the highest royalty rates to its contributors. Alamy.com also does do not force you to give them exclusive rights of your image, so you are free to sell your image through other stock photography resellers.
With SubmitStockPhotos.com, the unofficial monthly earning average is about $1 per image. This is assuming that clients who have purchased a subscription have downloaded your image 10,000 times in a month. SubmitStockPhotos.com allows you to keep 100% ownership rights on your images so that you can sell your photos through your own website or other sources at any time.
With US.Fotolia.com, you can earn about $0.30 cents per image download by the site's monthly subscribers. When your image is sold as a single-image download, you could earn 25% to 63% per download. Contributors can request a payout when their balance reaches $50.
With Veer.com, you can earn a substantial amount by selling different sized images. You can earn as low as $0.35 cents for every image that is downloaded. As the size of your photo increases, so does your earnings. Extra large photos can receive an unbelievable $5.25 per download! Contributors can request a payout when their balance reaches $100.
Hopefully that gives a few budding stock shooters a place to get started. Stock photography isn't an easy way to make money (top micro stock shooters work damn hard), but it is an opportunity that is there if you want to grab it.
About Author
Rob is the founder of Light Stalking. His love for photography started as a child with a Kodak Instamatic and pushed him into building this fantastic place all these years later, and you can get to know him better here. Rob's Gear Camera: Nikon D810 Lenses: Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
Thanks for the information. Can I add https://www.123rf.com ? Their uploading process is much easy as compared to others. And, they’ll share 50% with us if our images has been downloaded.
Are you Nuts? Some people have to make a living, i.e. photographers.
???!!!!
The company I work at use IStock every now and then, but I have to say I am surprised at what little return the photographers get from this I expected it to be much higher
Well, remember that some photos are downloaded several thousand times. There’s a guy on YouTube (“kinghuman”) who has a video that’s a real eye opener about the potential earnings from uploading photos to stock photo sites.
Hey Thanks a lot for these wonderful sites list. The share of photographer is less then 50% this doesnt goes fare with these sites…
Thanks for this list, I’m only just starting to get into photography as a whole but stock photography is definitely something I want to get educated about early on.
As is the case with most creative photographery (not just people, weddings, babies etc. etc.). Finding an avenue to sell your art/photography can be hard to find.
30% of something is better than 100% of nothing. Harsh but true!
No need to find or own a gallery to sell your photographs in!
Thanks for all the info and ideas…I’ve been wanting to sell my MANY photos online for years…NOW, I have an “open door” to try out…All the best!
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9 Comments
Thanks for the information. Can I add https://www.123rf.com ? Their uploading process is much easy as compared to others. And, they’ll share 50% with us if our images has been downloaded.
Are you Nuts?
Some people have to make a living, i.e. photographers.
???!!!!
The company I work at use IStock every now and then, but I have to say I am surprised at what little return the photographers get from this I expected it to be much higher
Well, remember that some photos are downloaded several thousand times. There’s a guy on YouTube (“kinghuman”) who has a video that’s a real eye opener about the potential earnings from uploading photos to stock photo sites.
Hey Thanks a lot for these wonderful sites list. The share of photographer is less then 50% this doesnt goes fare with these sites…
Thanks for this list, I’m only just starting to get into photography as a whole but stock photography is definitely something I want to get educated about early on.
Another site not on the list that comes up fairly often is http://www.dreamstime.com
All the best.
As is the case with most creative photographery (not just people, weddings, babies etc. etc.). Finding an avenue to sell your art/photography can be hard to find.
30% of something is better than 100% of nothing. Harsh but true!
No need to find or own a gallery to sell your photographs in!
Thanks for all the info and ideas…I’ve been wanting to sell my MANY photos online for years…NOW, I have an “open door” to try out…All the best!