I minored in Photography and did some work as a photojournalist in the late 90's.  It's been about ten years since I last did any serious photography.  I'm interested in getting back into things a bit again.  Couple really basic questions:

1) I have a mid range (3MP, several years old) "advanced" point and shoot digital camera and a analogue (i.e. film) Canon SLR with some VERY nice glass.  If I shot some slow film and had it scanned would the images be marketable.  What about if I picked up a medium format used on ebay?  (Yes, I know that I could buy a new digital SLR with the money saved from a couple months of not shooting with film.)

2) What photo types sell well as microstock?  I'm seeing a lot of portfolio's with very high concentrations of studio work. 

3) Will the stock site down sample a large image file into a buyers requested resolution or do I need to upload multiples of each file?

1.  Standards on micro are 4MP, so the 3MP would likely be unusable, as most agencies discourage or prohibit upsizing beyond a certain percentage (Shutterstock upsize limit is 5%).

As micro can be a volume game, a medium format film choice would be unwise. The cost of film and cost or time investment in scanning would seriously compromise your bottom line earnings. Also, scans are hard to get by review. The reviewers on services such as Shutterstock will find every dust speck that is not retouched, so there will be a frustration factor as well when trying to submit scanned. Your best bet is digital SLR and shoot raw files.

2. Model released people, business, food all sell. Pick a site like Dreamstime or Stockxpert and do a sales analysis. Search on a subject you like to shoot, and see what the sales are. On DT and StockXpert, you can readily see how many times a file has been downloaded. One of the good selling subjects across all agencies will be "woman shopping" as an example.

3. You only need to submit one size that will meet the agency guidelines. They will be resized for tiered sales by the agency and appropriate credits assigned.

1) I have a mid range (3MP, several years old) "advanced" point and shoot digital camera and a analogue (i.e. film) Canon SLR with some VERY nice glass.  If I shot some slow film and had it scanned would the images be marketable.  What about if I picked up a medium format used on ebay?  (Yes, I know that I could buy a new digital SLR with the money saved from a couple months of not shooting with film.)

Some agencies require >=4MP so you cannot submit to all of them with a 3MP camera. When you have the a film developed, have them also create a image CD. Then scan the photos and see what creates a better result. Scanning can create noise in an image.

2) What photo types sell well as microstock?  I'm seeing a lot of portfolio's with very high concentrations of studio work.

This is a good question but not easily to answer as the type of images needed changes throughout the year. But here is a list you can start with:

business concepts and tools, business people, emotions, young adults, babies, adults, senior citizens, isolated objects, illustrations symbols and signs, sports, medicine, ...

Find the top list at the different agencies. (List of different agencies with referral links)

3) Will the stock site down sample a large image file into a buyers requested resolution or do I need to upload multiples of each file?

You upload your highest resolution, the rest is done by the agencies.

Stock photography is all about making commercial images. You will not have much success selling fine art images (e.g. East Texas landscapes) in the commercial stock marketplace. Given your location you'd do well to keep your eyes open for such iconic things as cowboys on the range, oil derricks, longhorn cattle, and armadillos.

If you are serious about this you'd also do well to forget about film. Film is now only useful in making fine art images, which is not what you want to be doing if you intend to make money here. Instead of getting a new entry level camera (e.g. Canon Rebel), the better route might be to buy a used mid or pro-level one (e.g. 1Ds MkII, 5D, 30D, 20D).

You'll also have to be at least moderately familiar with Photoshop to make competitive images. Straight-out-of-the-camera stuff, for the most part, just doesn't cut it commercially.


... good luck!