Author Topic: Oppinions about how your hobby landscape photo portfolio does these days (Read 1684 times)

pilifida · « **on:** January 11, 2024, 05:31 »

Hello all, it's gonna be a longer story so here it how it is:

i've always enjoyed taking photos, and i kinda view myself as above-average regarding this subject. And when pandemic came, out of boredom, and having huge piles of photos stacked in my laptop, i said, why not uploading them. in 2021 the sales on SS were on pair with my uploading numbers, but on AS my sales were and are still low. Since then i continuously uploaded and managed to get aprox 2k photos on AS and 1.6k on SS. Having a few 30$ sales on SS motivated me to keep it going. But last year, despite my portfolio increasing in size, no proportional sales were made.

i know it's landscape photography, i know everyone does that, i know the market is full, but still i am not expecting wonders, just to get about 50 sales/month which i don't

. An reading forums i've seen contributors with this saturated kind of photography doing quite well. I mean my "dream" would be managing each year to earn enough either for a new lens/camera/drone. Not making a living. [i won't start shooting stuff

So to sum up, my question, just like in the title, you, the landscape photography contributors, how are you doing on microstock sites? Is it worthy that i continue uploading, as i am getting pretty demotivated right now. I thought that when i reach the 2k photos mark the sales will be a little but higher.

Also i started uploading drone videos, any idea if is a market for this?

This is my portfolio, feel free to criticize it: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/AlexandruV89 [nofollow]

Roscoe · « **Reply #1 on:** January 12, 2024, 16:39 »

From what I can see after having a quick look: good enough shots (with some really good ones) and locations included in the description and metadata. Two prerequisites to get landscapes sold. Not much more you can do. The possible issue might be diversification. A lot of your shots are landscapes from roughly the same location, Romanian nature, and sadly enough (despite being a beautiful country) Romania is not a top tier tourist destination. So you have a lot of shots in a low demand niche with a lot of competition.

What you can do to get more sales is diversify. I understand that traveling abroad or further away to other travel destinations is not easy, but you can take shots on the way to your regular travel locations or hangouts. Start including editorials. Include local landmarks. Include local storefronts with brand names. Include interesting city or town locations, city nameplates, public transport, civil services, certain situations like traffic jams or weather conditions... Take some closeups of your car, your hiking gear, your drinks, your food. Take some shots of the people with you, doing things, and ask them to sign a model release.

In other words, start journaling your trips through photography. It will not only improve or expand your photography skills, it will also get you more shots to upload and more (occasional) sales.

mike123 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 12, 2024, 17:02 »

You can do pretty well with landscape/travel photos on microstock. But you need to be better than most of your competition and you need to cover spots that are in high demand. That's the problem with microstock - even the best photo of a low demand location will bring you just a few sales and a thus only a few dollars/euros. These kind of photos don't belong on microstock, if you want to make money with them. Microstock mostly makes sense with landscape/travel photos of very famous destinations with high sales volume - but these locations are difficult due to very high competition.

You live in Romania, right? Check the most popular photos of touristy locations in Romania and try to deliver similar quality or even better ones. Then you will see increased sales

.

pilifida · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2024, 04:45 »

Thank you for your advice. So i will diversify a bit. Editorial shot seems like a great idea

zastavkin · « **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2024, 05:38 »

Quote from: pilifida on January 11, 2024, 05:31

landscape photography contributors, how are you doing on microstock sites?

Landscape photography, in my opinion, does not sell very well. But I love traveling and taking photographs because I enjoy it. However, the cost of each trip pays off over time, but the bulk of my income comes from studio photography.
And listen carefully to Roscoe's advice - it is very valuable.

DaLiu · « **Reply #5 on:** January 13, 2024, 06:42 »

Im doing 90% landscape and travel photos, i have ~18k images in my portofolio and I can't complain, i'm doing pretty good sales, I could quit my day job and living from it on a decent level, so it can happen and I only started in 2015 with the microstock and photography in general, many will say its way too late.

pilifida · « **Reply #6 on:** January 13, 2024, 13:33 »

@DaLiu, i imagine that with a portfolio of 18k photos you can t do otherwise than at least decent. That was also my plan initially - get at least 2500 photos and see how it will go. So far, besides 1st year, it becomes disappointing. I have material for about 5k photos and several hundred videos - good ones, and maybe another 2k photos - filler. I hope i ll rediscover my motovation to keep uploading. Thank youfor your advice

PigsInSpace · « **Reply #7 on:** January 13, 2024, 14:54 »

These are really nice. I’ll admit I was expecting average snapshots, but these are great. As others have said, landscapes are tough. I have two landscapes that sell well. One is a total fluke (pine trees and a stream) and the other is a recognizable but somehow not over saturated on microstock vista in the United States.

I agree with others on getting more landmarks and images from travels to larger cities. Don’t take trips just for stock; go places you want to go anyway and bring your camera,

mike123 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 13, 2024, 17:43 »

Quote from: pilifida on January 13, 2024, 13:33

@DaLiu, i imagine that with a portfolio of 18k photos you can t do otherwise than at least decent. That was also my plan initially - get at least 2500 photos and see how it will go. So far, besides 1st year, it becomes disappointing. I have material for about 5k photos and several hundred videos - good ones, and maybe another 2k photos - filler. I hope i ll rediscover my motovation to keep uploading. Thank youfor your advice

You should probably do what's more fun to you personally. You can earn well with a large portfolio or you can earn well with a small high quality portfolio. Just to give you an idea: before I left Shutterstock in 2020, my best travel photo (a famous landmark in a large touristy city) sold 3605 times on Shutterstock. That photo alone totally paid for the whole trip

. Maybe that will motivate you

.

zastavkin · « **Reply #9 on:** January 14, 2024, 04:04 »

Quote from: mike123 on January 13, 2024, 17:43

my best travel photo (a famous landmark in a large touristy city) sold 3605 times on Shutterstock. That photo alone totally paid for the whole trip

The same. On many of my trips, one successful photo or video financially pays for the entire trip.
Unfortunately, now sales are not as good as before and such cases are becoming rare.
Now a flood of AI images has poured into photo stocks. Therefore, it is not abstract landscapes are in great demand, but specific locations with good descriptions and keywords.

pilifida · « **Reply #10 on:** January 14, 2024, 07:53 »

Quote from: PigsInSpace on January 13, 2024, 14:54

These are really nice. I’ll admit I was expecting average snapshots, but these are great. As others have said, landscapes are tough. I have two landscapes that sell well. One is a total fluke (pine trees and a stream) and the other is a recognizable but somehow not over saturated on microstock vista in the United States.

I agree with others on getting more landmarks and images from travels to larger cities. Don’t take trips just for stock; go places you want to go anyway and bring your camera,

Thank you for your appreciation.

It.s exactly the opposite: i do not shot for stock. I go places i like and bring my camera & drone. And that.s why i started uploading on stock: i have a huge pile of photos in my laptop just sitting there doing nothing [tens of thousands]

pilifida · « **Reply #11 on:** January 14, 2024, 08:10 »

Can someone give me a full walkthrough about editorial photos on AS, SS, and IS? Sorry about being noob, but i.ve read a bit about them and it.s kinda confusing about the requests in order to upload one. And i do not want my profile being banned as i ve read some horror stories. Ty