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01/25/2012 12:50:03 PM · #1 |
I've publishe dmy inicial toughts about stock photography in a thread in th eend of last year, and I'm consolidating mytoughts as I'm writting this new one.
I planned to end 2011 after 3 month in stock business with 100 photos on sale in my major interest sites (Shutterstock, Fotolia and Dreamstime). I had some problems with the model release Î was using and Dreamstime put out a lot of my inicial photos, but I managed to get 90 files in, and almout doubled my objective in the other two.
My secondary objective was to do at lesast 10$ in my second month of stock (I know... is not much but I was starting... and it's good to put some objectives to achieve). I could also beat this (in November) but in December I guess the buying of photos slow down doe to Christmas and th eend of the year and also the sales, so big demotivation in december.
In the end of th eyear I had files over Dreamstime, Fotolia, 123RF, Pixmac, CanStockPhoto, Depositphotos, alamy and Photokore.
in terms of downloads Shutterstock is the best one, with about 10 times more downloads than the second one. The second was Folotia, but recently Dreamstime is catching up.
I think i have a special portfolio, not very stock related but "sellable", som I'm gessing I need mode files to do the same money as a more stock oriented photographer. But right know I'm really start to wonder if I should go exclusive with Shutterstock.
My objective for this year is to put 3 files online per day in average, meaning more or less 90 files per month, but I have no ideia if this is a good number or not. My goal is to beat 100$ per month in shutterstock by June, but I gess this means more targueted photography for stock. At that time I will decide if I will take the plundge of exclusivity.
Please share your thoughts and your personal objectives in stock photography for this year.
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01/25/2012 01:00:04 PM · #2 |
| One of my main goals is to become proficient enough in photography to be accepted as a contributor at Shutterstock. That means I need to come up with 10 stock photos, 7 of which pass the review process. |
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01/25/2012 02:06:42 PM · #3 |
I have just started in stock so far I have been accepted at shutterstock, alamy, dreamstime, canstock, and deposit photos. I am working on getting images up on a few other sites but it is a lot of time just in entering a few photos everyday. I only have 30 images up so far, and the only downloads I have gotten are from shutterstock, I have made $2.25 but that is only after 1 week and most of the time I've only had around 15 images up. I don't expect to be making a lot of money until I have hundreds or even a couple thousand images up.
My thoughts so far on stock is:
1. very time consuming, even if you don't have to do a lot of editing it still takes hours just to submit and add keywords and titles to all your images.
2. Not a ton of money to be made unless you have really good quality images that are suitable for stock. You must invest a lot of time in the beginning to see a payoff after a year or so of consistently putting new images up.
3. You must be able to put up at least 10 images per week on a number of sites to build up your portfolio and start to seeing any return.
My goals for the end of the year are to have at least 500 images up on at least 6-10 different sites and hopefully by then I can start to see some kind of return. I have low expectations of around $200-500 a month by the end of the year. I would be pleasantly surprised if it was more than that, and a bit disappointed if it was lower than $200.
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01/25/2012 02:32:55 PM · #4 |
| Those figures sound worse than I had thought... wouldn't spending the same time trying to sell prints leave you better off? It seems like selling just one print a year would be on par with taking, processing and uploading several hundred images to stock sites. |
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01/25/2012 02:45:23 PM · #5 |
Hawkins you have got a point there.
But I think stock is something you work for on th elong run. most of the full time stock photographers had been poart time for several years for what I've seen.
500$ a month is not bad for a part time, but certainly not something you can live upon.
My objective for this year is 90 images per month in average, 100$ in the end of Q2 and at least 350$ in the end of Q4 to pay for a leasing of a new camera and lens.
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01/25/2012 07:03:16 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by HawkinsT:
Those figures sound worse than I had thought... wouldn't spending the same time trying to sell prints leave you better off? It seems like selling just one print a year would be on par with taking, processing and uploading several hundred images to stock sites. |
I think that most of the work comes in the beginning then once you get a good stock of photos build up you don't have to work at it quite as hard, just add a few new things to your portfolio here and there.
I know there are some people who are really good at it that can live off of it, others who just make a little side money. I am a stay at home mom and while it's been time consuming getting started I am hoping that by spending a couple hours a day here and there at it I will see some return. Plus I get to be at home and I get to do something I really like. If I don't see a return after a year then I will give it up, but you never know.
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01/26/2012 01:46:31 PM · #7 |
Stock is certainly a competitive market. The last couple years a lot of pros have been getting involved in microstock, so people who are dabbling in it will have a harder time getting sales. If quality is top notch and your images are the best for whatever topic you are shooting, then you will see sales and it will be worth your time - finding a niche where you are not competing with 10,000's other photos is the tough part.
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01/26/2012 01:55:47 PM · #8 |
| sjhuls, it was a post you made at shutterstock that actually led me to DPC, so thanks for that! |
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01/26/2012 03:01:19 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by leaf:
Stock is certainly a competitive market. The last couple years a lot of pros have been getting involved in microstock, so people who are dabbling in it will have a harder time getting sales. If quality is top notch and your images are the best for whatever topic you are shooting, then you will see sales and it will be worth your time - finding a niche where you are not competing with 10,000's other photos is the tough part. |
Shutterstock now claims something like 17 million photos available, about 200 of which are mine; I seem to average $8-15/month with that (including commissions from referred photographers) ... I've had a hard time getting around to uploading more. I must have a couple of fairly unique images though, because they do get downloaded on a fairly regular basis.
And every once in a while I get one of those "extended license" downloads which pays $28.00 -- my favorite of those was just recently, for a stalk of Brussels Sprouts I took years ago with my Olympus P&S ... |
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02/07/2012 11:08:04 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by sjhuls:
I have just started in stock so far I have been accepted at shutterstock, alamy, dreamstime, canstock, and deposit photos. I am working on getting images up on a few other sites but it is a lot of time just in entering a few photos everyday. I only have 30 images up so far, and the only downloads I have gotten are from shutterstock, I have made $2.25 but that is only after 1 week and most of the time I've only had around 15 images up. I don't expect to be making a lot of money until I have hundreds or even a couple thousand images up.
My thoughts so far on stock is:
1. very time consuming, even if you don't have to do a lot of editing it still takes hours just to submit and add keywords and titles to all your images.
2. Not a ton of money to be made unless you have really good quality images that are suitable for stock. You must invest a lot of time in the beginning to see a payoff after a year or so of consistently putting new images up.
3. You must be able to put up at least 10 images per week on a number of sites to build up your portfolio and start to seeing any return.
My goals for the end of the year are to have at least 500 images up on at least 6-10 different sites and hopefully by then I can start to see some kind of return. I have low expectations of around $200-500 a month by the end of the year. I would be pleasantly surprised if it was more than that, and a bit disappointed if it was lower than $200. |
hello jhuls,
i saw your thread and messages in shutterstock forum. Even i was trying in shutterstock test and succeeded last week. I have just 30 photos there and have earned about 3 $ till now. I have yet not decided any weekly or monthly target but will try to submit photos in regular interval. Lets see. :-) |
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