Author Topic: Earnings of a wedding photographer in stock market (Read 5183 times)

AllWedStock · « **on:** September 16, 2018, 02:56 »

Hello friends
I'm following this forum for a while now and I'm learning many things about selling on stock market (thanks to all)
I've been in wedding and fashion photography for about 5 years (professionally), I'm thinking about selling some of my works (it needs time to get model releases)
My first upload to POND5 has approved already (I'm waiting for the other 7 agencies) and you can see them here:
www.pond5.com/artist/allwedstock [nofollow]
I have 500-600 these like photos, my question is if I be able to obtain the model releases and upload the photos to top 10 agencies and uploading 50-100 new photos every month, what is your prediction about my future earnings?. I'd be happy if you share your experience
Thanks

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #1 on:** September 16, 2018, 07:03 »

Well, those are more fine art than “wedding”. Not what I was expecting. I don’t think they’ll have much use for wedding advertising. How would you see them being used? How are you going to get releases from people who have already compensated you for you work?

AllWedStock · « **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2018, 09:50 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on September 16, 2018, 07:03

Well, those are more fine art than “wedding”. Not what I was expecting. I don’t think they’ll have much use for wedding advertising. How would you see them being used? How are you going to get releases from people who have already compensated you for you work?

Well, not all of my works are like these, these somehow heavy edited works, I can provide more normal works (like others), honestly I don't have any clue if they're gonna be useful for any industry or not, that's why I asked the question
and about releases, that's anoher story, I'm working on it and I got releases from some of them already
Thanks for your comment

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2018, 13:22 »

This isn't a criticism of your photos, only an assessment of their likely usefulness as stock images, but I can't think of many uses for these types of portraits (which is essentially what they are).

I'd suggest you do searches on Shutterstock to see what you're up against in terms of the market for photos (looking at what's popular) and supply - looking at how many images are already there. This is a competitive and well-supplied area. If you look at bride there are over 1.2 million items and wedding over 5 million. family wedding has less than 300K and more variation in the results (clearly releases are are bigger issue the larger the group).

I'd look for some niche areas that you might have a good supply of images for, many of which might not need releases. wedding venue has about 20K; wedding cake has about 19K. Even wedding dress detail, which has about 7K items has things that get used a lot for backgrounds.

For the people shots, try and figure out what message or mood or story the picture could tell as a stock image. Pretty brides are a dime a dozen, but a family hug, or a jilted bride or someone holding a little kid's hand could be a good topic for stock.

So, no home runs where you get to clean up with any of this, but there are potentially some solid items (particularly good where they sell long term as there's nothing trendy about the subject)

Good luck

DallasP · « **Reply #4 on:** September 16, 2018, 14:23 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on September 16, 2018, 07:03

Well, those are more fine art than “wedding”. Not what I was expecting. I don’t think they’ll have much use for wedding advertising. How would you see them being used? How are you going to get releases from people who have already compensated you for you work?

I legit was expecting event photos. lol. Thinking "Who would really want their wedding sold as stock" bahhaha

DallasP · « **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2018, 14:25 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on September 16, 2018, 13:22

This isn't a criticism of your photos, only an assessment of their likely usefulness as stock images, but I can't think of many uses for these types of portraits (which is essentially what they are).

I'd suggest you do searches on Shutterstock to see what you're up against in terms of the market for photos (looking at what's popular) and supply - looking at how many images are already there. This is a competitive and well-supplied area. If you look at bride there are over 1.2 million items and wedding over 5 million. family wedding has less than 300K and more variation in the results (clearly releases are are bigger issue the larger the group).

I'd look for some niche areas that you might have a good supply of images for, many of which might not need releases. wedding venue has about 20K; wedding cake has about 19K. Even wedding dress detail, which has about 7K items has things that get used a lot for backgrounds.

For the people shots, try and figure out what message or mood or story the picture could tell as a stock image. Pretty brides are a dime a dozen, but a family hug, or a jilted bride or someone holding a little kid's hand could be a good topic for stock.

So, no home runs where you get to clean up with any of this, but there are potentially some solid items (particularly good where they sell long term as there's nothing trendy about the subject)

Good luck

Summarized ... great photos but, maybe not good stock.

nobody · « **Reply #6 on:** September 16, 2018, 16:29 »

considering moving to Microstock business from wedding photography gig is like leaving a good corporate job (i.e. Boeing) and going to work for Walmart as a greeter at the door...

AllWedStock · « **Reply #7 on:** September 16, 2018, 23:24 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on September 16, 2018, 13:22

This isn't a criticism of your photos, only an assessment of their likely usefulness as stock images, but I can't think of many uses for these types of portraits (which is essentially what they are).

I'd suggest you do searches on Shutterstock to see what you're up against in terms of the market for photos (looking at what's popular) and supply - looking at how many images are already there. This is a competitive and well-supplied area. If you look at bride there are over 1.2 million items and wedding over 5 million. family wedding has less than 300K and more variation in the results (clearly releases are are bigger issue the larger the group).

I'd look for some niche areas that you might have a good supply of images for, many of which might not need releases. wedding venue has about 20K; wedding cake has about 19K. Even wedding dress detail, which has about 7K items has things that get used a lot for backgrounds.

For the people shots, try and figure out what message or mood or story the picture could tell as a stock image. Pretty brides are a dime a dozen, but a family hug, or a jilted bride or someone holding a little kid's hand could be a good topic for stock.

So, no home runs where you get to clean up with any of this, but there are potentially some solid items (particularly good where they sell long term as there's nothing trendy about the subject)

Good luck

Thank you for your very comprehensive answer, these photos are what clients expected and they've been created specially for them
you're right, from now on I should seek new subjects to shoot, like the ones you mentioned

AllWedStock · « **Reply #8 on:** September 16, 2018, 23:25 »

Quote from: DallasP on September 16, 2018, 14:23

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on September 16, 2018, 07:03
Well, those are more fine art than “wedding”. Not what I was expecting. I don’t think they’ll have much use for wedding advertising. How would you see them being used? How are you going to get releases from people who have already compensated you for you work?

I legit was expecting event photos. lol. Thinking "Who would really want their wedding sold as stock" bahhaha

some people do, for a lower contract

AllWedStock · « **Reply #9 on:** September 16, 2018, 23:29 »

Quote from: nobody on September 16, 2018, 16:29

considering moving to Microstock business from wedding photography gig is like leaving a good corporate job (i.e. Boeing) and going to work for Walmart as a greeter at the door...

But I'm not moving anywhere

, I do my everyday work, besides I upload some of works to stock market, if they make money I continue, otherwise I'll quit