Stock Photography??

leighroy

leighroy

Suspended / Banned
Messages
14
Name
Will Thomas
Edit My Images
Yes
What do you guys think of this?? Ive read quite a few stories of people who make a decent liveing from this.
 
Yep people have been known to make a living from stock photography. Bear in mind that it's not alot, most people selling photos on stock photography sites don't earn alot. It also takes alot of work.

You do generally need to be taking and uploading hundreds of new, original photos that will need to sell well to earn a living from stock photography.

Stock photography is a good way to earn some cash on the side, but it's unlikely that you will earn a living from it (i'm not saying it's impossible, it's just not easy, there are easier and more entertaining ways of earning a living through photography).
 
Where do you do it?

What sites are trusted and reliable? like not a fake one?
 
I was just looking at them :lol:

How do they pay you though? It seems abit like "I'll buy this photo off of you for 3 brownie points" :lol:
 
I have not read the site but im sure that you have to put your bank details in and they buy it and goes in to your bank? :shrug:
 
I've heard alot of bad things about iStockphoto. They don't pay very highly amoungst other bad points...

There's a few other stock sites which will give you a much bigger percentage of sales than iStockphoto.
 
Forbiddenbiker said:
Not forgetting stock sites make loads of money out of your talent, whilst you get naf all.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an opportunity for a consortium of like minded photographers to get together and sell their own work on their own stock site... cut out the middle man!
 
Flashman said:
Sounds like an opportunity for a consortium of like minded photographers to get together and sell their own work on their own stock site... cut out the middle man!
Click to expand...
What a great idea!
 
It seems like a bit of a con doesnt it. I mean we all know how hard it is to find a good shot and i suppose it would be a real kick in the teeth when you sold them and only got a small percentage out of it.
 
Flashman said:
Sounds like an opportunity for a consortium of like minded photographers to get together and sell their own work on their own stock site... cut out the middle man!
Click to expand...

Mercury said:
What a great idea!
Click to expand...

I suggested this a few months ago, a talk photography photo bank kind of thing :)
 
Alamy isnt bad, you wont become a millionaire from it but its not too bad. :)
 
Flashman said:
Sounds like an opportunity for a consortium of like minded photographers to get together and sell their own work on their own stock site... cut out the middle man!
Click to expand...


I think that is something like how Istock originally started. Do not forget just how much advertising is required to really get a stock site off the ground, at least three that I know of have already crashed this year (one travel, one nature and one all-rounder) and a few other newish ones are not doing anything (sales or visible advertising) and many of us that do stock do not expect them to survive. Other expenses would be hosting, hardware, software (although you can buy ready made software) paying reviewers unless you are going to do it yourselves etc etc

Oaten - you set up a Paypal or Moneybookers account and get paid into that :)
 
Another vote for Alamy here! They sell their images at pretty much the going rate depending on the usage.

I do it because it make sense from my images to be sitting somewhere where they might sell, rather than just on my hard disk where no one can see them...
 
Flashman said:
Sounds like an opportunity for a consortium of like minded photographers to get together and sell their own work on their own stock site... cut out the middle man!
Click to expand...

There are a few groups who've done this, I can't think of them off the top of my head so I couldn't tell you how well it went.

Back to the original point, I believe it used to be a much more lucrative market before the internet came along and spoilt the party. One of my uni lecturers used to make his living solely from stock photography (slides not digi) up until the mid-late nineties. Then, the internet rocked up, and both of his main libraries were too slow off the mark with the new tech and were left behind as a result.

He was telling me about one of his mates the other day.. This guy was a serious stock photographer, his main income came from one three week trip each year to the Maldives, he'd take 4 models (2 male, 2 female) and pay for all their flights, accom, expenses whilst there. Shoot 16 hours a day for 21 days, then come home, edit the slides and send them off to his libraries. He was making crazy money from this, even 5 years after he quit, he made $600,000 (Aussie dollars) from stock sales. Not bad for not doing a days work all year.

Some of the top contributors still make a lot of money from stock sites, but I'd imagine its very hard to break into in any serious way these days.

Cheers,

Jamie.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top