Micro Stock I have to ask again

[Tyson L. Sparks]

Does anyone here deal with a "Micro Stock" Photo company.

[mjs1973]

Yes, I have some photos on iStock for sale. Nothing major, and I don't spend a lot of time on it. I started uploading photos to iStock in August of 2006, so it hasn't even been a year. I have only had 8 photos accepted. Of those 8, 1 has never sold, 5 have sold anywhere from 1 to 7 times, one photo has sold 99 times, and a final photo has sold over 300 times.

My account balance is just over $200. I'm not getting rich, but that is $200 I wouldn't have if those photos were sitting on my hard drive. I have uploaded more photos to iStock, but most of them get rejected. They always give reasons for the rejections, and tell you that you can fix the problem and resubmit it if you want to, if they think the photo has potential to sell. If they don't think it will sell, the will tell you that, and tell you not to resubmit it. I don't always agree with their reasons for rejection, (like saying the noise reduction program I used cause problems with the image, when I didn't use a noise reduction program) but it's nice to know they are screening the images that come in, and not putting every snapshot they get up for sale. So if you start out and get a lot of rejections, don't sweat it. Keep trying.

If you're interested, give it a try. As a result of one of my photos on iStock, I was contacted by an ad agency from another state. They used one of my pics in a business proposal for the tourism board of a county in my state. They mentioned the posibility of hireing me to shoot the county for their project, if they get the contract with the county. I haven't heard anything from them in a while, but it was and could be a very good oportunity for me. At lease it got my name, and my website seen by people who could really help to jump start a photo career in the future.

[Tyson L. Sparks]

MJS1972,
Your web page rocks, very, very professional. What is the trick to getting a good stock photo? Do you mind if I ask a ton of questions and keep them here to help all those interested?

[mjs1973]

You can ask me all the questions you want, but I don't know if I will be able to answer them. I don't know exactly what it takes to make a good stock photo. A clear subject is important, good focus and exposure are also very important. Image quality is another one. I have had photos rejected for to much noise, or jpeg artifacts, even though I shot them in RAW at low ISO... That is pretty frustraiting.

I don't know what sites you are looking at, but I know iStock has some pretty good info on their site that will get you started. Business settings seem to be very popular, and have a very wide appeal. Of course if you have people in your photos, you will need to submit model releases as well. iStock has one you can print and I'm sure the other sites would have them as well.

[Tyson L. Sparks]

I sent in 10 more to shutter stock today, they all more than likely get rejected. My first ten came back to me.

[Tyson L. Sparks]

All 10 were rejected, What images did you use?

[mjs1973]

These are the two photos that I have had the most sales with. Over 400 sales between the two of them.

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...&ppuser=237118

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...&ppuser=237118

These photos were also accepted, but haven't done much of anything.

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...&ppuser=237118

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...&ppuser=237118

[Tyson L. Sparks]

It must be hard to get one accepted. I might try I stock, shutter stock say they have to accept 7 of 10 to get started.