Making Money With Photography - Using Microstock Sites
What is Microstock Photography?You may be familiar with the term "stock" photography - it refers to photographs that are licensed for a wide variety of uses. For instance, a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco could be a stock photo, which could be used in magazines, ads, calendars, or whatever else the person who buys it wants to do.
The big difference with microstock photography is that the images can be uploaded by anyone with good quality images and the images sell for less than stock photos. With microstock, you sell more images at a lower cost so you have to be willing to upload a lot of images to make it work. Some examples of microstock sites are Fotalia, Shutterstock and IStockphoto.
How You Can Get Started
Getting started with microstock is easier than you think. You"ll need a basic shooting and editing setup, but nothing that would break the bank. A digital SLR will be suitable for most of the photos, and you can use a free editing program like Paint.net until you feel ready to invest in one of the paid ones.
After you have your equipment all ready, it"s time to take a bunch of pictures so you can use them for the initial application process. If you want your images to sell, focus on subjects that are easy to sell in markets like business, home decor or other lifestyle themes. You should focus on creating and uploading images that someone buying photographs wants, but won"t find anywhere else. It is important to remember that your images cannot contain copyrighted or trademarked subjects, and if they feature a person"s face you"ll need a signed release from the model.
It"s probably a good idea to visit a microstock site and see the types of photographs they have to offer - this will give you a better idea of what sort of images they"ll buy from you. Once you have a strong portfolio, find a site that you like (or go to all three) and submit your photos for review. Pay close attention to the training materials and description the sites provide and make sure your portfolio completely fits within their guidelines, otherwise you may be denied.
How Do I Profit?
Unlike regular stock photography, microstock is all about quantity. Just remember that the more pictures you upload, the better your chance at making money. There are people who make thousands of dollars a month doing microstock photos, however, they do it full time and upload hundreds of photos a month. If you can commit this sort of time to the job, the potential for income is really limitless.
The best thing to do is to start small and see if you can get a grasp on what works best for you. If microstock seems to be your thing and you can see yourself making a healthy profit doing it, focus more time and energy on it and upload as many photos as you possibly can. If it doesn"t feel like a good fit, try looking for other photo opportunities that are more suited to your schedule or your images. Remember that photography is supposed to be fun first, so always do what works best for you!