Author Topic: What's your advice to somebody new to Stock Photography? (Read 10885 times)

leaf · « **Reply #51 on:** January 20, 2016, 01:49 »

Focus on something you are good at and enjoy. Then do searches on the stock site and see if you can do better or if perhaps you can find a 'hole'. Use 2-3 search terms together and see how many results come up. If your images wont' show up either because there are better ones out there or because there are so few images for that search term - they have to show up... then find another idea.

If you have good images then estimate 50cents per image per month. Anything from 25 cents - $2 is within reason but 50 cents might be a good starting point.

Perry · « **Reply #52 on:** January 20, 2016, 07:25 »

My advice:

"Don't"

50% · « **Reply #53 on:** January 20, 2016, 07:37 »

Quit your day job you need a lot of time on your side doing this to make any decent income. Stay hungry and get used to it.

PhotoWorkout · « **Reply #54 on:** January 25, 2016, 13:25 »

MicroStock Photography has so far had some positive effects on me:

I end up organizing my picture folders (systemize, delete bad pictures, categorize, rate and keyword them
I became more attentive to what marketing agencies and companies want (understanding of marketing and consumer behaviour)
I learnt about resolution, how to avoid noise in images, image composition and more tips and tricks on how to make good images
There is a certain "feel good factor" when uploaded pictures are being approved, but this satisfaction may not last long without an extrinsic motivation (getting paid first $ for the uploaded images. So far it is $0)

Few thoughts on the economics of Microstocks:

So far it has been very time consuming to add keywords, descriptions and upload images (even just a few)
There seem to be "super professional" stock agencies out there (e.g. Yuri Arcurs having a staff of 100+ people in South Africa) - they have made good money and are now diversifying (e.g. audio production, owning their own image distribution platforms etc.)
It seems to be a 4% / 96% industry, where 4% of the Photographers make 96% of the sales. Based on Pareto's 80/20 Rule.
It is probably not worth your time unless you can go full time, invest in a studio, models, assistants, equipment so that you can break into the 4% of top performers to reap a chunk of the 96% sales.

If I am wrong and there are hobby photographers out there who started recently and are making few hundred bucks a month (and have fun doing it), please let me know. I still like the idea of submitting some 200-300 images a year and reaching some point where the images can finance new photography gear (I am not expecting a full time income).

Thanks for all the great comments and feedbacks so far! This forum has been really helpful!

Pauws99 · « **Reply #55 on:** January 26, 2016, 02:34 »

You are probably about right for me I shoot stuff I enjoy shooting anyway and don't invest any money so I put time in on keywording and more post processing than I would do for my own needs. I make a little but revised down my earning expectations a long time back.....I'm the kind of person that the "Pros" hate!!!!

Benozaur · « **Reply #56 on:** January 26, 2016, 05:57 »

To me microstock is just a hobby and I enjoy doing it. I do footage only and find stills photography way too tedious but thats a biased opinion seeing as I work in post production for video and film anyway.

My advice - Don't do it for the money. Do it as a hobby (something other than playing video games or slouching on the couch watching TV). To me its a motivator to learn more, achieve something tangible with my free time. I treat the money as a bonus not a goal...

Microstockphoto · « **Reply #57 on:** January 26, 2016, 06:32 »

ill say it again: GTFO

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Author Topic: What's your advice to somebody new to Stock Photography? (Read 10885 times)

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