If someone want me to show him something, i just ask him to show me his ten best pictures.

Then I show him his pics defects and what he need to remove. Most of the time, the Photoshop part is the most discouraging.. 

First thing i do is send them this link

http://arenacreative.com/blog/photography/microstock-related/can-you-really-make-a-living-selling-microstock-photography/

They never ask again for some reason 

Another thing would be to show them all the great pics which get accepted but don't get sold (much) on micro, either because they're not really what stock buyers are looking for or because they just get swamped by the competition. I saw one only this week by a poster here which I thought was fantastic and really useful, yet it had only sold a handful of times - and I can hardly imagine the two reasons above applied.

Wow, you guys are really nice people.  I don't bother tutoring people to take my job.  In fact, I am kind of insulted when some relative or acquaintance assumes that just because I make money in microstock, it's super easy and they can do it with their new digicam or entry level plastic DSLR.  I don't assume that just because my cousin is a successful chef that I can do it because I get compliments on my spaghetti sauce  

The rare occasions that people in the real world express interest in getting into stock photography, I suggest they try Shutterstock, Istockphoto, and Alamy.  I tell them to submit their very best work.  Beyond that, they are on their own.  The few that have bothered to apply have all been rejected.  They see it's not as easy as they thought and give up.

Early on, on Istockphoto, I used to give advice to newbies on my creative network.  Unfortunately, several of them began using my portfolio as their personal source of inspiration.  About the third time that happened, I stopped my "mentoring" activities.  

Quote from: aeonf on January 07, 2012, 11:58
Give them a 10K shopping list.

yeah, that cuts their interest short pretty quickly. and if it doesn't, the few family members and friends who have thrown a few photos up on iStock lost interest when their first five files didn't garner sales. people don't realize how much work it takes to establish yourself.

you could offer to submit their work for them and take a sustainable 85% of the earnings.

I've discussed stock with those who seemed to be interested in selling their work. They're usually shocked to hear that their sunsets over the ocean vacation snapshots would never sell. I give them the IS web site and ask them to study the categories and let me know which ones they wanted to focus on. I say that they could probably make some money if they could do better, more creative photography in those areas and do it for $1 payments. No, I've never had a second discussion with any of them.

Quote from: louoates on January 11, 2012, 05:03
I've discussed stock with those who seemed to be interested in selling their work. They're usually shocked to hear that their sunsets over the ocean vacation snapshots would never sell. I give them the IS web site and ask them to study the categories and let me know which ones they wanted to focus on. I say that they could probably make some money if they could do better, more creative photography in those areas and do it for $1 payments. No, I've never had a second discussion with any of them.

Perfect Lou!  I'm gonna try your method next time

Quote from: lisafx on January 11, 2012, 15:28

Quote from: louoates on January 11, 2012, 05:03
I've discussed stock with those who seemed to be interested in selling their work. They're usually shocked to hear that their sunsets over the ocean vacation snapshots would never sell. I give them the IS web site and ask them to study the categories and let me know which ones they wanted to focus on. I say that they could probably make some money if they could do better, more creative photography in those areas and do it for $1 payments. No, I've never had a second discussion with any of them.

Perfect Lou!  I'm gonna try your method next time

On the other hand, they might check for themselves and think, "I could do that!", in Pollyanna mode.
http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/sunset%20ocean/source/basic#1e3066eb
http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?searchterm=ocean+sunset&x=9&y=13&search_group=&lang=en&search_source=search_form

Speaking as an microstock illustrator who also works for microstock photographers on the post-production/submission side, I'd tell them it's grueling, takes a full-time amount of attention and you better adjust your lifestyle to very low standards. However, the reward of full control and the reward of not being at the mercy of 1 client for your projects, is almost worth it. 

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on January 07, 2012, 11:46
This ever happen to you?

They see your work. They find out micro is open to anyone. They take pictures too. They can be a stock photographer!

Then they start asking questions. A lot of questions. About where you sell your images. What kind of DSLR to buy. How to use a DSLR. How to use Photoshop. What sells/doesn't.

What do you normally do?

I thought this had some interesting points and wondered what people think a few years later, so thought I'd revive this old topic rather than start a new one.

I've had several people I know via Fine Art America, professional photographers and advance amateurs from photo groups I belong to, as well as family members ask me about stock photography. I've written up a two-page summary of the different sites, trying to be encouraging while managing their expectations, and have offered to review their first 10 for shutterstock and first 4 for Alamy. I also suggest that they check out fotolia/Adobe and dreamstime. And I give them a link to this forum so they can get a broader perspective and appreciate the downside.

I don't send them to the low earners but all of these people are good photographers and should be able to get accepted, though whether they will keep up the hard work to actually make any money at it is a different story. All of them are looking to do it on the side and not as a main source of income. I don't think I'd encourage anyone to try and do this full-time.

Some of these same people have gone out of their way to help me with pricing and advising me what to offer clients when I do portraits and parties - I started out shooting for local magazines so taking on portrait work was a change for me. And many people in various forums have shared great advice about stock photography, so I'm more than happy to help. There's so much competition out there with 70 million photos that I don't get hung up on whether they'll be shooting the same type of work as I am.

Anyway, curious what you all have to say. At Easter I'll be reviewing some photos with my sister-in-law who is finally poised to take the plunge, so when I saw this old thread it piqued my interest.

Nobody I know has ever expressed any interest in doing stock photography.  Friends or family.

Hahahaha. I'd just show them my earnings for 2015 on iS compared to previous years. Not much more to say - people were generally shocked to hear of what I earned on iS even when it was E+ and Vetta etc; no one is interested in stupid 25c subs.
We must be mad.

The camera manufacturers must be including information in the box.  "This camera will pay for itself!"

You see people on the FAA forums posting three crummy photos and then asking "How can I increase my sales?"

Recommend the classes you took/school you attended or whatever else you did to learn how to be a photographer. For me as an illustrator, 4 years of college studying art history, color theory, design, illustration, photography, sculpture, life drawing, painting, cartooning, then night classes after graduation in humorous illustration and cartooning...and of course, being"artsy" from childhood and taking lots of art classes in high school to prepare for college acceptance. Then investing in a Mac, software, taking more classes to learn Illustrator, reading and taking the "test" at iStock to be accepted, studying keywording, staying on top of design and color trends....it's a long, boring list. I'm sure their eyes will glaze over, as my sister's did when she asked me to teach her how to "do advertising."

Or you could just show them this post.

Oh jeez. Just realized this thread is from 2012. And here I am responding to the op.