May 20, 2012

Popularity of Microstock Photography

Microstock photography has grown dramatically during the last few years and not without controversy. Many traditional stock photographers has cursed microstock photography for undercutting prices now when you can buy an image for under a dollar.

Why has microstock photography become so popular?

I think it’s because it enabled the hobby photographer to enter the scene without having a massive portfolio of images and expensive equipment.

Here’s the main advantages with microstock photography seen from a hobby photographer.

Inexpensive equipment

You can use fairly inexpensive entry level camera equipment and still sell your images through microstock agencies.

Easy submission requirements

The submission requirements are fairly easy compared to many traditional stock agencies, especially the high end stock agencies.

Fast results

In traditional stock photography it takes months or even years to see any noticeable results as it can take a long time before your first sale. In microstock photography you can see almost instant result because of the low price and frequent sales.

Fast feedback

Microstock photography also give you a chance to quickly see if the images you submit are sellable because of the cheap price and frequent sales.  You can quickly analyze the result and change the type of images you submit based on the result.

Now to the question, should you sell through microstock agencies or through traditional stock agencies?

My answer is: BOTH!

I don’t see any reasons to limit your market reach by only selling through one or the other. I market my images through both microstock agencies and traditional stock agencies without any issues.

Increase your market reach and submit your images to as many agencies as is practical and your sales will increase.

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The Three Reasons For Failed Image Submissions

There are only three reasons your photo submissions might be rejected by the stock agencies

1. Commercial reasons

Your images might be rejected because there is no commercial use for your images. Why would a stock agency try to sell images no one want’s to buy.

2. Technical reasons

The second reason for rejected photo submissions of technical nature. Images are often rejected because they are poorly focused, badly exposed, have artifacts or other technical reasons.

3. Legal reasons

The third and final reason for rejected image submissions is legal issues. Typical examples of legal issues are no property or model release and trademarks or logos in royalty free images.

So next time you submit your images you should screen out images that have technical, commercial and legal issues.

Good luck with your image submissions.

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Where to sell microstock?

I often get the question “Which is the best microstock agency to sell my images?”.

While it depends on the type of images you sell which microstock agency is the best for you, I typically suggest you try out the “Big 4″ agencies for a natural reason, they have the largest number of buyers.

The “Big 4″ in my view is:

  1. http://www.istockphoto.com/
  2. http://www.shutterstock.com/
  3. http://www.dreamstime.com/
  4. http://us.fotolia.com/

iStockPhoto can be a bit picky with your submission so don’t panic if they reject your first submission. You can check out PhotoSubmissionSecrets if you need tips how to get your image submissions approved easily. Also remember that they will be extra tough with your first submission.

In addition I also got some good result selling through the following agencies:

I don’t recommend you sign up exclusively for one agency even though they might pay a little higher commission. I recommend you submit to several agencies to maximize your revenue.

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Successful Stock Photo Submissions

The four key ingredients of successfully getting your photo submission approved by the stock agencies QC controllers are:

1. Technically good photographs

First, do not confuse this with having the most fancy camera you can buy, it’s NOT because you can simply get by with a cheap 6 Mega Pixel DSLR camera.

Taking good photos from a technical perspective is to 95% related to camera handling and photo editing and only 5% related to the camera you use.

Proof: Not many photographers come even close to Ansel Adams photographs despite he used a bulky old film camera compared to the technical marvels used today.

You need to make sure that you photos are correctly focused, use the right file format, is correctly exposed and doesn’t contain nasty color casts etc.

2. Commercially useful photos

The biggest mistake beginner stock photographers do is to first take images and then hope and pray someone will buy the images. BIG, BIG mistake.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful or artistic a photo is if it’s not commercially useful.

You must first find a good niche and then take and sell photos for that niche.

3. Legally correct photos

No one want’s trouble with the law and that is also true for stock agencies, publishers and photographers. You will have a hard time selling stock photos with big logos in them and images with no model release for commercials.

Be sure to know the law not only to stay out of trouble but also to sell much better.

4. Speed and accuracy of execution

Taking, preparing, submitting and getting image submissions approved is repetitive work and must be done in the right order. Messing up the order things are done will not only increase the risk for rejected submissions but will also cost valuable time and time is money as we all know.

To ensure you work effectively you need a checklist that ensure you make everything in the correct and most time effective way. Making sure you don’t forget to fix technical issues, avoid legal problems and only submit commercially useful photographs.

Download a free checklist from this link now.

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Start A Big Profit Microstock Photography Business

Maybe I’m confused (I hope I’m OK :-) but I decided to release my new special report “Start A Big Profit Microstock Photography Business – 12 Steps To Sell & Resell Your Images” for free.

16 pages of pure content.

No email address required, no jumping through hoops…

… just download the report from this link.

I need to know what you think about the report. Drop me a mail or make a comment below.

Over and out.

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