How Stock Photography websites can help earn a passive income?
Stock photography websites are a great way to showcase your photographs and make some passive money. It is definitely not a quick way to make money. There are millions of contributors and photographs to compete with on these sites. If you are a beginner or freelance photographer and not yet in the professional business of portraits and wedding photography, selling photos online is a great option to look into. In the long run with quality and creative work that stands out , there is a good chance of getting many downloads , become popular and thereby make some quick bucks.
How do Stock Photography sites work?
Stock photography sites have a large customer base and can help sell your photos to clients. As there are many photos that you compete with, they usually have strict guidelines and rules that they follow. Your images will be accepted only if you meet their specific requirements. If your photos are popular and get downloaded by customers, you get a royalty for them, that is you get a percentage of the sale.
The advantages of using stock photography sites are they do all the work for you. Just upload photos and share your profile. These sites are usually non-exclusive which is a great plus. This means you can add and use the same photographs that you uploaded on their site to any other stock photography sites .You do not have to be bound exclusively to their site.
Using non-stock photography sites to sell your photos may help you earn better . However, you have to take care of shipping and printing. As always one of the best places to sell your photos online is your own website. It is pretty straightforward to create your own website. This way you have control of everything be it the layout, look, or the images. In addition, you also get the full 100% profit from your sale. The drawback is as a beginner you may not have a big customer base when you start off as most customers want to work with agencies that have millions of photos. It may take a while to build up that audience and customer base.
What images are popular and trending?
If your main goal is to make money with your images it is good to do some research. Before uploading your photos to these sites, check what images are trending in the current market. One of the most popular categories is people in general from all around the world. It could be men, women, kids, people in workplaces, working on laptops, computers, or in a business meeting.
There is also a great demand for food photos and any kind of food photography. Travel destinations, modes of transport, cities, people on the commute, street hawkers, crowded markets, skyscrapers, nature, waterfall, hiking trails, beaches, sunrise, sunsets flowers, and so on. Even tools like hammers, nuts, bolts, screws, saw, construction-related photos, gadgets, and electronic goods are very popular. There are so many varieties to choose from and as a photographer, you can choose whatever interests you.
I had heard of stock photography long ago but have not yet used it yet for uploading photos. After researching about it from many resources online, it seems like a good option for passionate photographers who want to showcase their work and in return make a small passive income. This way you keep your passion alive and get a great sense of satisfaction to see your images being loved and used for a purpose. Some of the sites mentioned below are very popular among many photographers, contributors, and customers.
Most popular stock photography sites in 2022
Adobe Stock
This was earlier known as Fotolia and was purchased by Adobe. Here royalties are between 20 and 40% sometimes up to 60%. The plus is you get royalties immediately. There is no need to reach a financial threshold or wait 30 days etc like some other sites. It has a customer base of over 4 million users which makes it a great place to showcase your photos. Not only photos you can also have access to or upload vectors, videos, templates, illustrations, and audio tracks. It is very easy to set up an account and they don't require that you give them exclusivity which means you can upload and sell the same on other sites as well.
Shutter Stock
Another great site to upload and sell photos. You will find the best quality images and quite a variety of selections of vectors, videos, templates, illustrations, and audio tracks. Depending on the popularity of your images you can earn 15%-40%. They have been having great growth. Here as well you have the copyright to your photos and can still sell the same images on other sites.
istock
istock is a popular site and is owned by Getty images. They have many forums and resources to help you sell photos online. The royalty is 15% per download and if your photographs get popular then it can increase up to 45%. One of the best ways to make money is to check out what are the trending photos and use your creativity to make them stand out.
Alamy
It is popularly known for paying well than its competitors. It is the largest photo website with 60 million photos and videos. You get a 50% royalty payment for every sale. To enroll you need to fill out a form and pass their quality control test. They can reject your photos for many reasons and have very strict rules. They don't have any long-term contracts for their contributors to tie them. They may not be big players like Shutterstock or Adobe Stock but definitely a great place to start and earn money for beginner photographers.
Stocksy
This stock photography site is known for its fairness to pay the artist and contributors. 50% to 70% of licenses go to contributors' pockets. This has caused the community and members to feel a great sense of ownership. Naturally, the best images of the highest quality and creativity are bound to be found here. They promote authenticity, new perspectives, and inspiration and creativity from the artists.
Getty Images
Getty Images and istock have a great customer base of around 1.5 million customers and are industry leaders. Customers can purchase a license for the images they like and use for personal or commercial purposes depending on the license agreement. Contributors earn a royalty for each license a customer purchases.
Other than these sites there are also many others that you can try out and explore 500p px, CanStock Photo, Dreams time, Crestock, 123RF. They are very simple for any beginners to create an account, share your profile and upload photos. If the community loves your work you can earn money by selling them and maybe even get hired for custom photography projects.
Hope this post on Stock photography was informative and that you like it.If you have anything to add that I missed please do so in the comments below.
Disclaimer: I am not a photography tutor or professional .This is only an effort to share the tips I learnt and compile my experiences and findings.
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P.S . All Image credits Pexels.com , Modified using Adobe Photoshop CC: Inspiresn
Never knew about Stock photography before. Will definitely dhare your article with some of my photography enthusiastic friends.
Thank you so much dear Deeksha for the kind comments ! Good to know you will share it with your friends.
Oh wow, Nisha. I am familiar with stock photography but didn't realize it was such a great way for budding photographers to make a little extra income. That's awesome! Thank you for sharing these links. It will make someone trying to make it in their photography career a whole lot easier, even if the climb is slow!
Sending love to you and your family, as always. I hope you are well. ❤️
So good to hear from you Holly . Your comments always cheers me up , appreciate it! Yes indeed it's a great way for beginners to put a foot in , get noticed and make some quick bucks even if a little slow. Hope you have been doing well, still to catch up on a lot .Taking up a full time job has slowed down my blogging activities but will be back soon now that I have adjusted a bit to the new schedule . Love to you and your family as well Holly. Take care!
I never knew this! You are so informative, thank you!
Thank you so much Diane , glad this helps.