Stock photography

Col_M

Col_M

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I've been thinking about this for a while now so I had a look on Alamy to get an idea of what's required and although there are some superb images on there (rightly so) there are some complete duds too which made me think "I can do that". I don't profess to be a great photographer but i'm sure with a little work i could get a respectable gallery together and possibly earn a little money to contribute towards my hobby :)

What would be a reasonable sized gallery and how much could a gallery of that size earn you on a lets say monthly basis with an agency like Alamy?

Also what sort of money do you get per image sold? i know it depends on the size, rights, licence etc but i'm just looking for a ball park average

I suppose what i'm asking is what can i expect to get from it :woot: i'm not expecting to be able to give up my job or retire on it but it's better to make a little money from my hobby than nothing at all, it could also give me some inspiration to get snapping more often :)

Ta :D
Col
 
I've often wondered what sort of return you could realistically expect from stock agencys too.
 
if you shop around... you can get 50-50 which isn't too bad al all. Others wont offer anything like that so shop around...
 
Col

It is worth noting that some stock agencies will not accept images on any thing other than high end cameras such as Mark II, Mark II n's and D2X's.

Badge snobbery apparently. :(

Pete.
 
Alamy do a 60/40 split with 60% going to the photographer.

Alamy reckon that the images on their site make on average £7 per year per image. Quite how they arrive at that, I don't know - it could be the average from all images which actually sold, or the average of all images on the site - I don't know.

Their requirements are a minimum 48mb image which means upsizing the images to meet that criteria. It isn't difficult with a full frame image, but if any degree of cropping is required, which is often the case with bird shots, then it needs to be a very good image to be able to still meet the criteria. Alamy also insist on no sharpening, and no over-processoing though quite what they mean by the latter I'm not sure.

There are some pretty naff images on there which get through the net, but they do periodic spot checks and if they reject one image in a submission they reject the lot.
 
Alamy only do one type of contract.

Alamy Blue
Alamy commission 35% (For sales through www.alamy.com)

Alamy distributor commission 55% (For sales through their distributors)

Storage fee nil (Charge per image per month)

Submission fee nil (Charge per image submitted)

If you go this route and submit poor quality images, don't expect them to be picked up by any publishing department.

Also don't be tempted to submit your images to these low paying agencies, they're making a lot of money from your hard work.
 
Indeed! Agencies which pay you 50p for an image are seriously taking the ****! ;)
 
Thanks guys, although the information you've given me is great i'd looked around and done a fair bit of research, and was always planning on going for the bigger non-microstock agencies (Alamy etc.) and had a good idea of their comission percentages :) (was once a scout you know ;) be prepared and all that :p)

I was really hoping for how much i could earn in real terms, the problem is i know there are other variables other than the quantity of images like quality, subject, your reputation or ranking and just the type of images that are popular.

But if anyone couild go out on a limb and give approximate earnings from experience it would be great :)

Thanks for the tip Pete, I've got a 5D so although not a pro camera it does have the advantage of a fairly large image size.
 
Diego Garcia said:
It is worth noting that some stock agencies will not accept images on any thing other than high end cameras such as Mark II, Mark II n's and D2X's.
Click to expand...

So long as the shots are up to the required quality and size, which would be reasonable criteria, would they know if you fake the EXIF?

Michael.
 
A photographer I do PP work for and also his Alamy and corbis stock imagery has over 18000 on Alamy and last year sold around 250.
You have to put a lot of hard work in to get the images working for you.

Typical workflow for Alamy images is

1. Sort and Star rate all images (custom rating system 3 or above go to alamy)
2. Key word and add a description to the image
3. Apply Camera Raw Adjustments
4. Save files as .psd 16 bit
5. Spot images and apply any Photoshop adjustments (highlight shadow etc)
6. Run actions for resizing and converting to desired output for Alamy
7. Burn to disc and post to alamy

this is a rough out line of a workflow to alamy.
A main point and something which takes time is Keywords and Descriptions as this is what sells your image, if some one serching alamy doesnt find your image how are they going to buy it.

You will be supprised what sells on Alamy and you will be supprised what doesnt.

Dont expect to make loads of money.

cheers

Mark
 
Cool thanks mark, interesting reading :)

To be honest i'm not planning or even expecting to make loads or to earn a living, just the odd few quid here and there :) If i can sell one or two images a month then it'll be a sucess for me.

I've kind of laid out a plan to get about 1000 images in the next year that are worthy. I've already searched alamy and made note of some keywords that i consider a potential market that aren't well catered for. So i'm getting there, it's just a start but i do know that it'll take a lot of work :)

Your photogrpaher friend sold 250/12= ~21 per month, given that my aim is a 1000 image gallery (250/18)/12= ~1.2 per month assuming my images are of similar quality (not saying they will be but just for simplicity), i think by this time next year if i can sell 1 per month i'll be happy.

On another note, i've heard that big agencies don't like it if you use microstock sites too, i assume that is for selling identical images but would they have a problem if i put images i don't deem good enough for alamy on somewhere like istockphoto?
 
Alamy arnt bothered with what you do with your images you can even put the ones on alamy else where. they just deal with what you have with them.

I have only submitted to Alamy, Corbis and Getty. And a few private agencys, I wont put any images onto the "micropayment agencys".

All i can say is keep the images nice and clean and you wont have any problems with returned sales from dirty images (i mean clean no dust blobs marks etc).

good luck with your venrure. if you need any info drop me a pm.
 
Just be careful with the keywording - I'm not suggesting that you are contemplating it, but Alamy will remove photos where keywording has been copied wholesale from another photographer's image. I believe that some photographer's pay for their keywording so they are naturally a wee bit protective of it. I've successfully upscaled images from my old 300D (6mp) to Alamy's satisfaction.

I have about 100 with Alamy and it's a numbers game but....you never know, your second image might be that top seller!! I have a few with http://www.trevillion.com/ which is the sort of work I'm trying to achieve. Best of luck!
 
Cool thanks milou :)
I'm finding keywording the most tricky thing at the moment, but i'd never rip off anyone elses :)

This is my first try at a stock image, any good?
I don't have a light tent, or anything other than my camera, 430ex and some paper on my desk at the moment but here we go :)

0003small.jpg
 
One of the major things with most agencies is that it's a numbers game. With Alamy expect to have at least a 1000 images on file before you make any regular sales, and the more you have after that the more likely you are to sell.

Also if you want a rough idea of how much a picture can sell for, make a 'dummy' purchase. When you've registered an account you can pick an image and go through the process of making a purchase (obviously not the last stage where you part with your money). When it gives you a price you would then get the relevant percentage of that sale.
 
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