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Wanted To Get Into Stock Photography....Help...

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John L.41003

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I have been into photography for some time but now I would like to turn my hobby into a little cash. I want to try iStockPhoto which seems like a good place to start. Are there some good sites to look at for suggestions on what makes a good stock image, what I should shoot and what I should not. For example - is it better to leave off any 'brands' in my photos - for example - should I take a photo of a CocaCola can or is it best to leave brand names off completely and make them generic?

I currently have a D30 (yes I know - old camera). I am planing on getting a 30D for this since I doubt anybody wants a 3.2mp image now-a-days.

Any help to get me started woulb be wonderful.

Thanks,

John
 
The i-stock site itself is a good place to start. It has a tutorial on issues of image quality and size, it has a most requested photo page so you can see the sort of photo that people are after and it gives you feedback (painful in my case) when you send in your intial submissions.

Even if you decide not to go with them the info they provide up front is good place to start, and worth the time in my view.

Nigel

PS It's often best to mention microstock sites under your breath in these here parts :)
 
Thanks so much for the info. As for the comment on the microstock sites - please explain - Is iStockPhoto not a good place to start? Do you have any other suggestions on how to get into Stock photography?

Thanks,

John
 
John,

Do you want to earn 20cents an image sale or $100 an image sale??

Microstocks are indeed the spawn of the devil if you care a jot about your work.

I have just over 2000 images on Alamy. Nothing special. This month was best ever. I grossed $1800 off 7 sales.

Most microstockers (apart from the ones that are planted to talk the place up) make on average $50 a month if they're lucky.

Your choice. Do you want to make a lot of money or a little money?

PP
 
I started on iStockPhoto about 1.5 month ago. I don't intent to make much money, but to see whether my work is good or not. Sure, I got praises from friends, even on DPReview, but nothing beats the approval from the buyers.

What I got is much more than that. I became better at composition etc, but more importantly post-processing because of all the rejections I received. I use what I learn to shoot better and process better, and today I submitted the first 10 pictures to alamy.

If I can make it to alamy, then I will definitely stop microstocking. I did give my pictures away almost free until now, but it's my learning process. Kind like tuition if you will.

I don't know how you started stocks. I felt my experiences in microstock are rewarding so far. I am not a professional, and I don't want to be a professional, but having some pictures in stock agencies and make some extra money is always good. Everybody has to start somewhere, and microstock is where I started.

Just my 2 cents.
ProPhotographer said:
John,

Do you want to earn 20cents an image sale or $100 an image sale??

Microstocks are indeed the spawn of the devil if you care a jot
about your work.

I have just over 2000 images on Alamy. Nothing special. This
month was best ever. I grossed $1800 off 7 sales.

Most microstockers (apart from the ones that are planted to talk
the place up) make on average $50 a month if they're lucky.

Your choice. Do you want to make a lot of money or a little money?

PP
Click to expand...
--
http://xiongate.smugmug.com/
 
Buyers use microstock sites because they are CHEAP.

If you can produce a 48Mb file of good quality and subject matter you can start on Alamy straight away.

PP
 
I'll stick to 20 cents an image, thank you very much. If your best month ever is only grossing $1800, let's say you're averaging maybe $21600 a year at best (every month as good as your best). That's only $10.80/image/year. I'm making that much being non exclusive on a combination of microstocks, mainly istockphoto, dreamstime and shutterstock. I don't have to send in CDs or tie up my computer uploading 50 MB files. I don't have a problem with agencies like Alamy, only be fair with your critique. Also, you've made a serious charge that proponents of microstock here are "planted. Prove it or retract it.

Howard
http://www.pbase.com/hsandler
ProPhotographer said:
John,

Do you want to earn 20cents an image sale or $100 an image sale??

Microstocks are indeed the spawn of the devil if you care a jot
about your work.

I have just over 2000 images on Alamy. Nothing special. This
month was best ever. I grossed $1800 off 7 sales.

Most microstockers (apart from the ones that are planted to talk
the place up) make on average $50 a month if they're lucky.

Your choice. Do you want to make a lot of money or a little money?

PP
Click to expand...
 
I've been running a "test".

On one hand I have about 4000 images on a mid-range stock site — images sell for about $90 to $225, depending on resolution.

Later, I started on a micro-stock site to see how it compared. I only have about 600 files on it.

So far, each site is producing about the same revenue each month (a lot more than $50, by the way). If I had the same amount of images on each site, I'm sure the micro-stock site would produce more.

But, why not have both?
--
**** Thornton
 
Which macro stock site are you on?

Which micro stock sites are you on?

Have you noticed any differences in acceptances/rejections??
Richard Thornton said:
I've been running a "test".

On one hand I have about 4000 images on a mid-range stock site —
images sell for about $90 to $225, depending on resolution.

Later, I started on a micro-stock site to see how it compared. I
only have about 600 files on it.

So far, each site is producing about the same revenue each month (a
lot more than $50, by the way). If I had the same amount of images
on each site, I'm sure the micro-stock site would produce more.

But, why not have both?
--
**** Thornton
Click to expand...
--
My blog on Micro-stock photography:
http://blog.myspace.com/cj_photo
 
Alamy for your best work; that's were editorial RM images sell the best, and you get a very good share of the sales. But don't expect many sales, especially for the first months.

Then all the micros; They are focused on RF market and tackle a different customer base. You can submit the same pictures to all micro sites, and you can usually make more than $1 per picture per month. But just be smart with what you upload with micros. I personnaly use micro for pictures that could not have met the technical requirements from Alamy. Subscription model usually works best because designer buy pictures that they did not even need, just to meet the max dowload per day.

Shutterstock
Istock
StockXPert
Dreamstime
Fotolia
LuckyOliver

Those are my favorite.

Email me and I can give you advice for each of these sites.

Best,
-Christophe
http://ctesti.blogspot.com
 
Which macro stock site are you on? Absolute Stock Photos.

Which micro stock sites are you on? Shutterstock.

Absolute is new and more accepting. Shutterstock is actually very picky — didn't like ANy film-based images, even from my Leicas. Grain is noise to them.

I now have a Sony A100 and a Canon 5D — no problems with noise or artifacts on either one, but I keep the ASA/ISO low.

--
**** Thornton
 
What I do with my film-based images is run them once or twice through NeatImage with sharpen option on, then resize picture to minimum required size (2.5MP)... No more noise!

The pictures have an ugly plastic look but that's good enough for micros ;-)
Richard Thornton said:
Absolute is new and more accepting. Shutterstock is actually very
picky — didn't like ANy film-based images, even from my Leicas.
Grain is noise to them.
Click to expand...
Member said:
--
**** Thornton
Click to expand...
--
-Christophe
http://ctesti.blogspot.com
 
Shutterstock is the best site for new joiners as the subsription model encourages DL. If you want to keep up the microstock, it is best to join up to multiple sites.

I will have a look at Absolute stock.
Richard Thornton said:
Which macro stock site are you on? Absolute Stock Photos.

Which micro stock sites are you on? Shutterstock.
Click to expand...
--
My blog on Micro-stock photography:
http://blog.myspace.com/cj_photo
 
Could you give a little more info on your experience with Absolute? What kind of volumes do you see?

I looked around their site, and while they do have some great pictures on there, they seem to have a very limited selection and a good deal of the pics look rather un-impressive.

-Suntan
 
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