Stock Photos?

[Tel]

I'm wondering, Is there any money in Stock Photos?

And if so, What is the best advice you can give me for stock photography?

Also, What's the best Stock Photography site?

[JSPhoto]

I'm wondering, Is there any money in Stock Photos?

And if so, What is the best advice you can give me for stock photography?

Also, What's the best Stock Photography site?

Yes, but the best selling stock photos are, ummm, your too young....second is nature, well the first could be considered all natural I guess.

You do have to be carefull though, there are lots of legal issues in stock photography. Nature photos give you the best return without much in the legal department.

JS

[Tel]

Too young? Oh wait, I get it. XD.

Well, I dunno, Some of those sites may not even allow 13 year olds.

And what would the legal issues be? Cause I dont wanna get sued or anything.

[livin4lax09]

the legal issues deal with image copyrights.

[Tel]

So basically, Stock photos arent a very good way to make money? Honestly, I dont really care for Sports shooting or Portrait shooting. I'll do it, But you know, I'd like to make money shooting things that I like to shoot, you know?

[megan]

From what I've read in PDN, the legal issues can also be rights to use someone's image - e.g. did you get a model release.

[Tel]

Well I shoot Nature mostly, So the real question is... Do I need a model release for that bird?

[JSPhoto]

The legal issues in stock photography are many, and include, but not limited to:

1: selling a photo of someone without their permission
2: Say you take a photo and in the background there is a Shell gas station sign, Shell could sue....stupid, but thats the way things are.

there are many many more, but you can make money at it, you have to stay at it and work at it. It's actually best to use more than one service which among other things gets your name out more. Just use different photos at each site.
One stock photo I had of a Redtail Hawk brought in $75 from one sale.

JS

[Tel]

Allright, So I need to not have say... a coke can in there?

So basically, dont shoot people or brand names. Well, I wanna capture natural beauty, so it seems I should be good.

[JSPhoto]

Yup, no coke cans funny you mention that because in my haouse all you'll find is coke cans...and my vehicles....coke should give me a discount!

JS

[Tel]

Hah, I dont think they'll do that. I wish they did, like a frequent buyers program. Every time you buy a coke, the discount increases more. Like you gotta use a card or something.

[JSPhoto]

Hah, I dont think they'll do that. I wish they did, like a frequent buyers program. Every time you buy a coke, the discount increases more. Like you gotta use a card or something.

for 30 years I have only been drinking Coke....well except for that stretch I only drank Budwieser.....

JS

[Tel]

Hah, I bet your liver had fun during that time. XD

[mjs1973]

So where do you plan on selling your stock images? Do you plan on using one of the royalty free websites like www.istockphoto.com, or use some other sort of stock agency?

I have a few images on istock. Quantity is the key to sites like istock. You have to have lots of images, that sell lots of times before you start making any real money, but there is money to be made. I have been a real slacker when it comes to submitting photos to istock. I have a grand total of 7 photos that were accepted. Of those 7, I have had 274 dowloads or sales if you will. That may sound like a lot, but like I said before, the key is quantity. Istock sells the images very cheap, and therefore you don't make much money on each sale. But if you can get a lot of good images, that sell well, you can make a little extra money.

If you're planning on using a stock agency on the web, they will have a list of things for you to keep an eye out for. They also have people look over your images to make sure there aren't any legal isssues with using them, as well as checking the quality of the photo itself.

Good luck.

[Ronnoco]

Sure stock photography is a great way to make money. I have about half a million stock photos that I have purchased. I find that to be profitable in photography and media production you need the flexibility to be able to work at a number of levels.

It is possible to be out on a shoot, and putting together a different presentation from stock and personal shots at the same time. Stock shots may also lend themselves very well for titling and graphics work. I put together one presentation from personal and stock shots that brought the audience to tears and brought me a lot of credit and "visibility" as well as the usual remuneration.

Ronnoco

[Tel]

So where do you plan on selling your stock images? Do you plan on using one of the royalty free websites like www.istockphoto.com, or use some other sort of stock agency?

I have a few images on istock. Quantity is the key to sites like istock. You have to have lots of images, that sell lots of times before you start making any real money, but there is money to be made. I have been a real slacker when it comes to submitting photos to istock. I have a grand total of 7 photos that were accepted. Of those 7, I have had 274 dowloads or sales if you will. That may sound like a lot, but like I said before, the key is quantity. Istock sells the images very cheap, and therefore you don't make much money on each sale. But if you can get a lot of good images, that sell well, you can make a little extra money.

If you're planning on using a stock agency on the web, they will have a list of things for you to keep an eye out for. They also have people look over your images to make sure there aren't any legal isssues with using them, as well as checking the quality of the photo itself.

Good luck.

Yeah, I was looking at IStock. I couldnt find anywhere else that really looked that good. But the key is submitting them to alot of sites.

[walterick]

I recently visited istock on the reccommendaiton of someone here. I purchased a few photos for a brochure I am putting together. Naturally, I got to thinking about how I could be making money from selling stock as well. One thing I found that helped was sorting all the photos I was looking at by "number of downloads." This put the most-downloaded images on top of the results list allowing me to see what styles and kinds of photography were selling. Since you're into nature photography, you might do the same with their nature images to see what's getting downloaded. It seemed to me that the simplest shots overall were the ones that sold the most.

Good luck, and let us know how you do!
Rick

[Tel]

I dunno, The one thing I'm wondering is how much I'm making. Cause if I'm making like 20%, I'm not gonna do that. I want atleast 50%

[mjs1973]

I want atleast 50%

Don't we all!!!

If you go with istock, you can become an exlusive istock photographer. They pay more to their exclusive photographers, but then you can't submit your photos to other sites.

[MarcusK]

Tel,

Although i am learning about this just as much as you from this post... there is one thing that I have been preparing for a while... Stock photos sell for a reason....Graphic Designers.... otherwise, sales won't be much.... GDs want images or editors or ad companies and such, they want something good and fast....

If you tap into this you should be able to make some money off of it.... But they have to be graphically related.... you can find such examples by googling Graphic Design Companies... and see samples of their work....

This means though, that you either set up your own site, or are gonna have to get in touch with these companies...AND maintain a website....

Will let you know as to how things develop over here once i'm up and running!

Marc

[JSPhoto]

MarcusK,

One of the largest users of stock photos are publishers of school text books and then Nature related publications. In fact all of my stock sales wound up in text books.

I guess I should look into another stock dealer since the one I used to use went belly up. Too bad too as there weren't alot of sales but the pay was great. I'd rather sell fewer at higher prices than sell hundreds at low prices and maybe break even.

JS

[Tel]

Don't we all!!!

If you go with istock, you can become an exlusive istock photographer. They pay more to their exclusive photographers, but then you can't submit your photos to other sites.

Hmm. I'm gonna look around, and see what the highest paying Stock Site is, and of course look at the legal stuff, etc. I'll report my findings here.