Author Topic: How to Earn $500/Month with Stock Photography - blog post (Read 18516 times)

jonbull · « **Reply #50 on:** November 08, 2018, 12:40 »

Quote from: Chichikov on November 08, 2018, 11:15

Quote from: jonbull on November 08, 2018, 08:53
Quote from: Chichikov on November 08, 2018, 02:03
Quote from: jonbull on November 06, 2018, 11:46
Quote from: jonbull on November 06, 2018, 11:36
Quote from: qunamax on November 05, 2018, 13:40
Depends where you live, here in Serbia a middle class man has around 300euros (outside Belgrade where cost and wages are higher), now if you are alone without yourown place it is a problem but still doable, but if you have your place and are living with a partner that also has 300euros it's actually very decent and no we are not living in the tent, we have modern cars (thou buying used ones), computers (not the latest and greatest), phones, fast internet, we go on holidays to seaside etc etc.
Also, I don't think anyone in South-east or just generally Europe would write off 500$ a month, that's one nice lens every month or 10 day all-inclussive holiday in hotel in Egypt or used Ford Fiesta in 5-6 months, especially if all your dayjob money is going to things you mentioned.

If you managed here to somehow pull out about $1000 monthly from stock, you'd be the king of the world all while doing what you love the most.

thats why nowadays 80 % of content are produced in eastern europe...russian and ukraine contributor are uploading the bulk...there are thousand of contributor some loading thousand of images a week...new come out everyday...you know why? because outside moscow in russsia u can live with 7 800 dollar...and in ukraine the median salary is you know how much? 150 dollar att he moment...teache at public school earn 150 dollar...mcdonald worker 100...sale shop 200.....so you understand that even earning 400 dollar is a lot more and you are doing a funny job...take into account that model are cheap as hell...girl are beautiful and they love be photographed for penny same teenager...that's why you see thousand of people shots....sure there are creative studio and some are best one...i think miles studio and see other in stocksy...or some studio in kiev and moscow...but first of all they have ridiculous cost...i shoot in kiev often and model cost from nothing to 10dollar hours...full studio with concept setup come at 1

just to say in kiev cigarette 0,8 cent package taxi 0,8 cent one ride in center.....pizza and coke in good restaurant...4 dollar....renting is the only thing that cost but outside the center is cheap as hell....imagine earning 600 dollar...200 for rent, 50 for electricity gas mobile phone and all, the rest for going out and eat or buy some stuff. then ty can do some photo work to add some more money... so what seems unsustainable in europe become a great job in kiev compared to many other 8 hours day job...that's why you see thousand of contributor from ukraine serbbia russia hungary.

i love food photography but cooking has become super expensive were i live....think of raspberry 2,4 euro 100 gram where i live...in kiev i buy raspberry in the street from old woman, half kilo 1 euro. just to emphasize who you and e are competing against.

I don't know from where, and from when you got these figures…
Your numbers are closer to those of 2006 than to the one of 2018.
Since Euro Maidan the prices have grown a lot in Ukraine… A lot a lot.

To retake your examples:
A pack of cigarette costs from $1 to $2 (Marlboro $1.25)
A simple taxi ride cost no less than 150 uah ($5) today
A bad pizza (Celentano restaurant) cost from $6.80. If you go to Napulé restaurant (the best pizza in Kiev) you will pay 2 3 times more.
Renting a 1 room flat (40 sqm) in an external district costs minimum $250 for a descent "Euro-remont" flat. Downtown you will pay $800 - $1000 for a simple "Euro-remont" flat.

Electricity, Gas etc.
Last month the price of gas has grown 60%.
Cost of transports has grown 1600% during the last 10 years - in 2008 a metro ticket costed 0.5 uah, today it costs 8 uah.
In 2018 the official average salary in Ukraine is $300 a month (march 2018). In Kiev it is $480 (march 2018).
The cost of everything grows very fast, but not the salaries.
In Kiev you don't live with less than $500 a month if you have to pay for the rent of a flat…

Also consider that if you want to buy "foreign" goods they cost 20% more (as minimum)
Cars cost more, cameras cost more, computers cost more, etc. (to buy an enough good computer and an average photo camera with a good lens you need 4 - 6 months of full salary…)

The only true thing that you wrote is about red fruits like raspberry, strawberry, etc. Yes they cost very little $1/kg during the season… and they are so tasty.

https://blogs.elenasmodels.com/en/wages-and-salaries-in-ukraine-2018/

Grivna converter here:
http://www.viaggiatori.net/pagine/monete/UAH.php

well i not go kiev in a year but your prices are incorrect...taxi fare minimum 150 gryvna? u dreaming...in center is one dollar 30 40 gryvna...cigarette cost 24 gryvna package less than a euro...pizza napule is more expensive but nothing compared to west..and nail is a premium pizzeria one who goes those with only...cheaper pizzeria cost 100 gryva for a good pizza...va piano in arena cost much less....and we are talking about going in very center of capital city...consider the rest of country we are talking about much less money...
i repeat even earning 400 dollar is a lot compared to 90% of works in ukraine that's why there are literally thousand of people shooting the same stuff, copycat, late factory who use many photographer producing photos...production cost are ridiculous.

I live and work in Kiev since 2006…
I think that I know enough well what are the real prices here…
Taxi, yes and no: I never told about a "minimum" fare, but about a "simple" one. You should know that very few normal Ukrainian people use the taxi for short distances. Only fat foreigners and rich Ukrainians will take a taxi to go from Maidan to Besarabka… Ukrainians walk (a lot), and they use metro and marshrutka (a lot). Only if they need to move on a longer distance they take a taxi.

Here a (good) statistic about the cost of life in Kiev.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Kiev
You can set it in $ or € if you want.
For my personal experience I can tell that many prices are a little undervalued (5 - 20%)
For example the utilities are higher, specially after the last growth of the gas and electricity prices.

$400 is not a lot compared to the average salary in Kiev - $384.43 (the only one you should refer to). It is a normal salary.
(I don't tell about Ukraine, but about Kiev, because most of the photographers works in Kiev)
Yes production costs are still not very high at the moment, but it is changing, and the equipment cost like everywhere else, and very often more.

"you say with 500 dollar you cant live...so how can live millions of people in kiev considering they earn much less than 500 dollar?"
Well it is enough easy to answer to that. After the fall of Soviet union all the people living there (so in Ukraine too) have became owners of the flat where they lived. So not having to pay for the rent of the flat they can effectively live with less money. But things are changing, the population is growing and today not everybody is owner of the flat where he lives.
If you are not owner of your flat, and have to pay a rent, it is not so easy to live decently with $500 a month.
Try to live in Kiev with $500 a month, then you will tell me

i told cost of production are practically near zero...living cost are practically near zero...compared to west...that's why most contributor come from russia an dukraine...outside kiev you can easily live with 6 700 dollar even renting apartment....sure you don't change camera eery day....cost off equipment is getting so cheaper...or do you think that most ukraine producer buy the last gear to shoot flat lay tabletop? as you told people in kiev don't live like tourist...so they can easily live with 600 700 dollar. outside kiev the cost of living is even lower...and ukraine people like in any part of world on't go to eat pizza eery day. so ys 500 600 let you live in kiev, survive at least, while in any part of the world 500 let you sleep under a bridge.
ùù

jonbull · « **Reply #51 on:** November 08, 2018, 12:44 »

Quote from: Chichikov on November 08, 2018, 11:15

Quote from: jonbull on November 08, 2018, 08:53
Quote from: Chichikov on November 08, 2018, 02:03
Quote from: jonbull on November 06, 2018, 11:46
Quote from: jonbull on November 06, 2018, 11:36
Quote from: qunamax on November 05, 2018, 13:40
Depends where you live, here in Serbia a middle class man has around 300euros (outside Belgrade where cost and wages are higher), now if you are alone without yourown place it is a problem but still doable, but if you have your place and are living with a partner that also has 300euros it's actually very decent and no we are not living in the tent, we have modern cars (thou buying used ones), computers (not the latest and greatest), phones, fast internet, we go on holidays to seaside etc etc.
Also, I don't think anyone in South-east or just generally Europe would write off 500$ a month, that's one nice lens every month or 10 day all-inclussive holiday in hotel in Egypt or used Ford Fiesta in 5-6 months, especially if all your dayjob money is going to things you mentioned.

If you managed here to somehow pull out about $1000 monthly from stock, you'd be the king of the world all while doing what you love the most.

thats why nowadays 80 % of content are produced in eastern europe...russian and ukraine contributor are uploading the bulk...there are thousand of contributor some loading thousand of images a week...new come out everyday...you know why? because outside moscow in russsia u can live with 7 800 dollar...and in ukraine the median salary is you know how much? 150 dollar att he moment...teache at public school earn 150 dollar...mcdonald worker 100...sale shop 200.....so you understand that even earning 400 dollar is a lot more and you are doing a funny job...take into account that model are cheap as hell...girl are beautiful and they love be photographed for penny same teenager...that's why you see thousand of people shots....sure there are creative studio and some are best one...i think miles studio and see other in stocksy...or some studio in kiev and moscow...but first of all they have ridiculous cost...i shoot in kiev often and model cost from nothing to 10dollar hours...full studio with concept setup come at 1

just to say in kiev cigarette 0,8 cent package taxi 0,8 cent one ride in center.....pizza and coke in good restaurant...4 dollar....renting is the only thing that cost but outside the center is cheap as hell....imagine earning 600 dollar...200 for rent, 50 for electricity gas mobile phone and all, the rest for going out and eat or buy some stuff. then ty can do some photo work to add some more money... so what seems unsustainable in europe become a great job in kiev compared to many other 8 hours day job...that's why you see thousand of contributor from ukraine serbbia russia hungary.

i love food photography but cooking has become super expensive were i live....think of raspberry 2,4 euro 100 gram where i live...in kiev i buy raspberry in the street from old woman, half kilo 1 euro. just to emphasize who you and e are competing against.

I don't know from where, and from when you got these figures…
Your numbers are closer to those of 2006 than to the one of 2018.
Since Euro Maidan the prices have grown a lot in Ukraine… A lot a lot.

To retake your examples:
A pack of cigarette costs from $1 to $2 (Marlboro $1.25)
A simple taxi ride cost no less than 150 uah ($5) today
A bad pizza (Celentano restaurant) cost from $6.80. If you go to Napulé restaurant (the best pizza in Kiev) you will pay 2 3 times more.
Renting a 1 room flat (40 sqm) in an external district costs minimum $250 for a descent "Euro-remont" flat. Downtown you will pay $800 - $1000 for a simple "Euro-remont" flat.

Electricity, Gas etc.
Last month the price of gas has grown 60%.
Cost of transports has grown 1600% during the last 10 years - in 2008 a metro ticket costed 0.5 uah, today it costs 8 uah.
In 2018 the official average salary in Ukraine is $300 a month (march 2018). In Kiev it is $480 (march 2018).
The cost of everything grows very fast, but not the salaries.
In Kiev you don't live with less than $500 a month if you have to pay for the rent of a flat…

Also consider that if you want to buy "foreign" goods they cost 20% more (as minimum)
Cars cost more, cameras cost more, computers cost more, etc. (to buy an enough good computer and an average photo camera with a good lens you need 4 - 6 months of full salary…)

The only true thing that you wrote is about red fruits like raspberry, strawberry, etc. Yes they cost very little $1/kg during the season… and they are so tasty.

https://blogs.elenasmodels.com/en/wages-and-salaries-in-ukraine-2018/

Grivna converter here:
http://www.viaggiatori.net/pagine/monete/UAH.php

well i not go kiev in a year but your prices are incorrect...taxi fare minimum 150 gryvna? u dreaming...in center is one dollar 30 40 gryvna...cigarette cost 24 gryvna package less than a euro...pizza napule is more expensive but nothing compared to west..and nail is a premium pizzeria one who goes those with only...cheaper pizzeria cost 100 gryva for a good pizza...va piano in arena cost much less....and we are talking about going in very center of capital city...consider the rest of country we are talking about much less money...
i repeat even earning 400 dollar is a lot compared to 90% of works in ukraine that's why there are literally thousand of people shooting the same stuff, copycat, late factory who use many photographer producing photos...production cost are ridiculous.

I live and work in Kiev since 2006…
I think that I know enough well what are the real prices here…
Taxi, yes and no: I never told about a "minimum" fare, but about a "simple" one. You should know that very few normal Ukrainian people use the taxi for short distances. Only fat foreigners and rich Ukrainians will take a taxi to go from Maidan to Besarabka… Ukrainians walk (a lot), and they use metro and marshrutka (a lot). Only if they need to move on a longer distance they take a taxi.

Here a (good) statistic about the cost of life in Kiev.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Kiev
You can set it in $ or € if you want.
For my personal experience I can tell that many prices are a little undervalued (5 - 20%)
For example the utilities are higher, specially after the last growth of the gas and electricity prices.

$400 is not a lot compared to the average salary in Kiev - $384.43 (the only one you should refer to). It is a normal salary.
(I don't tell about Ukraine, but about Kiev, because most of the photographers works in Kiev)
Yes production costs are still not very high at the moment, but it is changing, and the equipment cost like everywhere else, and very often more.

"you say with 500 dollar you cant live...so how can live millions of people in kiev considering they earn much less than 500 dollar?"
Well it is enough easy to answer to that. After the fall of Soviet union all the people living there (so in Ukraine too) have became owners of the flat where they lived. So not having to pay for the rent of the flat they can effectively live with less money. But things are changing, the population is growing and today not everybody is owner of the flat where he lives.
If you are not owner of your flat, and have to pay a rent, it is not so easy to live decently with $500 a month.
Try to live in Kiev with $500 a month, then you will tell me

i own my apartment in western europe try to live with 500 dollar....you not even eat pizza once in month....dont know why ukraine or eastern contributor got upset about this question...ukraine outside the center of kiev is 3 4 times cheaper than any part of the world i lived on...when i go kiev i can easily eat three meals in restaurant and take 4 taxi a day, shooting model in studio for the price of a meal in a good restaurant in my city.....ligthtfield studio are very good and rent 550 per hour, even a lot compared to other stain, i shoot model and even in agency i can rent model , not the best but by far better than any amateur i can in my country, for 10 dollar hour...so one hour shooting is 25 dollar...if you don't shoot friend in ay wester country you need 60 8 dollar for renting a studio one hour...and model from agency with model released signed cost a lot of money

oooo · « **Reply #52 on:** November 08, 2018, 13:56 »

Reading this, maybe there will be a freelancer-refugees flood
heading south and east soon.
But looking at the numbers in general one have to be prepared to move from east to far east in not too long.

christiano · « **Reply #53 on:** November 15, 2018, 11:38 »

Quote from: silveandalu on November 06, 2018, 06:55

Quote from: TommyBoy on November 05, 2018, 20:54

Oh I’m a video novice too, as I said I’ve only got around twenty 4k timelapses I captured with my Canon 6D. Some encouraging sales though for such a small amount.

Next step is to get a full-frame mirrorless camera that can do normal 4k video, looking at getting either a Sony A7 III or Canon EOS R.

Switching systems will be expensive but has to be done really, think mirrorless will take over now.

I also just got an iPhone XR which does reasonable 4k video, handy for places that I can’t use a big camera for some 4k editorial video.

Go for the Panasocin GH5, for video is the best in my expirence, I had the sony a7sII, and it was amazing, but the GH5 has 4K 60 p, and 180 fps in 1080... For stock it works (Panasonic doesnt pay me hehehehehe)

Good article brasilnuts, I saw that you visit Spain (Seville) I live near, in Cádiz

I have the pana g85, my 4k videos are amazing!

Nice post Brasilnuts

[email protected] · « **Reply #54 on:** November 18, 2018, 02:17 »

I personally think that if you have 5,000 pictures online, you should be able to stabilize at 500 knives a month. However, in the following time, you can slowly and occasionally pass the map gradually. You don't need to be tired. Preconditions must be There are 5000 good pictures, can't be the same picture!

TG1112 · « **Reply #55 on:** November 18, 2018, 02:48 »

My challenge is to earn at least $ 5,000 a month on stockphoto so I can live on that income.

A liter of gasoline costs about $ 2 in my part of the world.

ShadySue · « **Reply #56 on:** November 18, 2018, 07:07 »

Quote from: [email protected] on November 18, 2018, 02:17

I personally think that if you have 5,000 pictures online, you should be able to stabilize at 500 knives a month. However, in the following time, you can slowly and occasionally pass the map gradually. You don't need to be tired. Preconditions must be There are 5000 good pictures, can't be the same picture!

There really is no predicting what will happen.
Back in the day, I was earning >$500 pm with c3000 non-commerical images on iS alone. Nowadays, to earn that amount of money, you'd need to expend much more than that.
I'm currently earning about 1/3 of what I was then with c4000 images, but I haven't submitted there for 2.5 years. I keep reading that new files get little action (only one person disagreeing), so I'm not sure keeping uploading there would make much difference, though I may relent and resubmit one of my categories (which seldom even gets viewed on Alamy) there in the new year, still thinking about it.

From what I'm reading in various places, exclusives offering highly commercial multi-model and location-released images are selling well, but their expenses are also very high.

My point is you can't make any predictions/projections based on what's happening today. I made a steady increase on iS for five years, one rapid fall, then a steady decrease since (avarage rpd less than a quarter of what it was in 2011/2). (Couldn't have predicted back then that iS would introduce subs, far less extremely low paying PA. Until that bombshell, iS had been working to increase prices.)

Now we see the once-loved SS being lambasted all over.

We allowed ourselves to be so indoctrinated to accepting SS's low prices that people are cheering that Adobe has set a minimum payout of 33c (although some prices there are still much lower than that).
It's our fault: we conditioned buyers to think the value of an image is extremely low, where in fact that's only likely to be profitable for a small selection of high-selling images.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #57 on:** November 18, 2018, 07:32 »

No ones fault really - look at any other digital market. Music for example. Sadly inevitable. But totally agree anyone who thinks they can predict income from images not even submitted yet is being optimistic to put it mildly.