Selling Stock Photography - How To

Is selling stock photography really a lucrative business? A lot depends on the quality of the photos you take, and the need in the marketplace for those photos too...

You could say that a really good photograph is basically too expensive for businesses to achieve in terms of quality, time scale and equipment. Companies are often so busy maintaining their business they cannot afford the time to take their own photographs. This is where the potential of selling stock photography is revealed.

Defining Stock Photography

Stock photography or stock photos are pictures you have already taken (or plan to take) and are in your 'stockpile.' (No we're not talking about nuclear weapons here!) These might be high quality photographs of lifestyle, culture, landmarks, architecture, nature, events/situations, or even people that can be sold and used and reused for certain commercial or design purposes.

The photographer (or in some cases, the distributor) has ownership over the photos taken. These photographs can be sold to commercial designers (or the general public) who are given limited usage of the photos.

In the case of selling stock photography, anyone can obtain professional photographs in a cost-effective way without the need to directly hire professional photographers, thus saving HEAPS of time and effort. The stock photos can be under several distribution methods including photos, computer generated graphics, clip art, vector graphics and movies as well. The photos can also be purchased through a subscription and sometimes, as a CD-ROM or DVD collection.

Photographs worthy of a stock library need to be well composed. Ie. Clean, well exposed photos with a suitably high resolution. But most importantly, the photos need to be what the buyer is looking for! No matter what your experience level is, or whether you are a professional shooter or newbie, you can always start if you have a feel for what makes a good photo.

Getting Started

Before you start selling stock photography, you have to decide where to sell your photos, whether in micro or macro photography sites. Micro stock sites sell pictures for as low as a dollar for a small-sized picture (low resolution) and pay a lot more for photos that come with exclusive license. The catch being that you cannot sell these exclusive photos elsewhere anymore. Check the details and the arrangement you make with the stock photography agency.

With macro stock sites, generally speaking, you earn significantly more per picture. (However you may sell lesser quantities!) Many amateur photographers start out on micro sites then evolve towards having their best pictures to macro sites. Always do your due diligence - some sites won't do business with photographers who sell pictures on micro sites. :) So be sure to read site policies before uploading pictures to avoid any potential conflict.

When uploading photos, only upload 2-10 photos of your best images under the same theme. Some stock photo sites do not accept more than 3 photos of the same theme. So remember to take the pictures quite differently, not just a slight variation on that last image you took!

The bottom line when it comes to selling stock photography is perhaps that it is better to have high quality photographs than collect a hundred or more poor quality photos. By doing so, you'll build a great name for yourself. Although it may take years to collect a good portfolio of stock images, always remember to keep your eyes peeled for good images and to take your camera everywhere! Then get submitting your best work!