Stock Photography

Do not be disappointed if what you think is some of your best work gets rejected by stock agencies. When you do get photos rejected, they will usually give you a reason. Do not be disheartened by this, use it as constructive criticism to either improve your work or to pivot to other genres of stock imagery.

Stock photography agencies

Some examples of stock photography agencies are:

• BigStockPhoto
• Shutterstock
• iStock
• Dreamstime
• 123RF
• Adobe Stock
• Getty Images
• Creative Market

Stock photography subscribers

Subscribers to stock photo agencies will purchase images either in bulk and one-offs for their private or commercial use. Depending on their subscription the subscribers may pay anywhere from 50c per image up to hundreds of dollars per image. The price paid usually varies according to the end-use.

For example, the purchase of one stock photo for use as a background for a corporate presentation may only be $1, however the purchase of a stock photo or use in a television advertisement that is to be broadcast to hundreds of thousands of viewers may attract hundreds of dollars per download.

Earn an income from stock photography

Although good passive income can be generated through selling stock photography (and videos), it is generally getting harder as time goes by. In the 1990’s when stock photography was just taking off, artists could easily earn a full-time income, however as more and more stock photos are being uploaded to stock agencies the earning potential is being diluted by the sheer volume and quality of competitor’s work.

Once approved stock photos will be available online with agencies indefinitely. They can become a permanent passive income stream. Your successful images could be purchased by large numbers of subscribers and earn commissions sales again and again. But do remember that there is very stiff competition, and with so many images available your market share may dwindle over time if you don’t keep uploading new content.

Manual stock photo pricing

Some agencies will allow you to set a price per image download. However, this setting is becoming more and more outdated. It is mainly due to the sheer volume of images out there for sale that the prices paid to the artist are dictated by the bigger stock agencies.

You can set your own price usually on the smaller marketplaces such as Envato, Deviantart and Etsy, but buyers are usually there for other purchases. Stock photography is not the focus of those marketplaces, so your audience is much lower and as a result so will be the number of sales.

Emerging trends

To earn a successful income, you must always keep up to date with new and emerging trends and provide excellent quality images of those. Look for changes in social, cultural, and advertising trends then focus your efforts on those types of images. By keeping yourself up to date you will be able to pivot your stock photography skills into the genre of the day, be at the forefront of new trends and keep ahead of other stock photography artists.

This is the secret of earning-potential in the stock photography genre today. These subjects are always a developing niche with less competition and more demand. One needs to plan shoots accordingly and cover upcoming products and services in stock images.

Payment to stock photo artists
Payment to artists varies between agencies and can be anywhere from a commission per image sold to dollars per image downloaded.

Find what is hot right now

Gone are the days when stock photography agencies would accept thousands of photos of the same backyard flowers by thousands of photographers. If you are planning of entering this genre, take your time to visit any of the stock photo agencies listed above and look for information on the type of imagery that is hot right now, then focus your efforts on those styles.

Places to try stock photography out

Stock photography is a wide umbrella. Subscribers may search for anything and everything online. Stock photographers need to understand the demand and plan shoots around the same. Here are a few ideas on places you can start your stock photography.

Candids

Capturing original and raw images of people in a coffee shop or an office setting could be a great start. These photos are very commonly found on the Internet but are also the most demanded ones. You can start with candids of people, places and animals in any setting. Remember though, if you capture images of people then you will need a signed model release from each participant. Your stock photos will likely be rejected without a model release.

Events

Stay updated on the upcoming seasons and events in your city. For example, a Halloween parade, festival for any deity, famous shopping market sales, etc. Capturing live and real events also counts as a great stock image.

Concepts

You are not restricted to just photography. You can create compositions that include elements of both photography, digital creation or just complete digital creations. Concept images are always stock photography best sellers.

Tips for stock photography

This field is full of competitors, so here are a few tips and tricks to help you jump start your stock photography.

Save some space

Remember that your stock photos might not be used as just images. People require these images for magazine cover pages, website covers, or advertisements. So, remember to keep some space in your pictures so that people can add titles or other required details in the image. Saving some extra space on all sides gives a creative edge to your images. Also, keep in mind to not apply any logos or additional text in the images. Let your customers apply their creativity to the image.

Keyword your photos

A crucial way to promote your pictures and help them in reaching a wide audience is by adding relevant keywords to your photos when submitting stock photos. The ideal number of keywords to add to images is around 20-25. However, keep in mind that these keywords need to be relevant to your images and not be too broad. While choosing keywords, you need to think from the perspective of a buyer.

Ask yourself questions while looking for keywords such as: “What would a buyer usually search for?” Or “Does my image represent that quality or trend?”

Upload your customers’ favourites

You need to think from the point of view of your customers while doing this entire process of creating and post-processing images. Try to add different presets and create different versions of a single picture, but don’t overdo it! You don’t want potential buyers to see twenty versions of every photo in your portfolio.

Getting a second opinion from someone as an audience will always help you to choose the best stock images to upload.

Study the market

Studying the market will help you get more mileage, and therefore more income out of your stock images. Apart from the demand and supply of the market requirements, you should also search for specific images.

Research your competitors’ images and find out what gets more reach and what doesn’t. You should also study the images that are rejected. This will help you in critically analysing what is going wrong in the rejected images and will give you the advice to improve on your next stock photography shoot.

Stock photography portfolio

The best way to display stock photography images is via portfolio directly assigned to you by the stock photography agencies at their websites. You can also build a website portfolio of your stock images as a display for potential product photography clients. Social media accounts at TikTok, Facebook and Instagram are another portfolio display avenue you can look into for your stock photos.

Stock photography is a great genre

Stock images are a great way to earn some income. No matter which genre you are specialized in, even if you are already familiar with different genres, stock photography can act as a good side income for you. Now that you know how to turn your passion into a profession, it’s your turn to start with stock photography!