Microstock Photography
A Crash Course in Selling Images Online

Those vacation photos from your trip to the mountains: dusty memories or top-selling images? A simple set of web icons: just a give-away or extra cash in your pocket each month? Ever wonder if your photography hobby might develop into a job some day? Have you ever wondered if that digital camera you bought really has the potential to take professional-quality photographs? Maybe even photos worth selling?

If you have ever considered any of these questions, you might find an answer in microstock photography.

Microstock, or micro payment stock photography, has become an attractive option for both professional photographers and hobbyists alike. Pros who have sold images through traditional stock agencies in the past are finding great earnings potential in microstock, while hobbyists are discovering that their hobby may be a cash cow they never knew they had.

Microstock is defined as low-cost royalty-free images. Typically microstock images are priced starting at $1 and range up to $50 for more expanded licenses and complex images. Commissions are paid to the photographer for each image downloaded, with commissions at the top sites ranging from 20% to 50% of the sale price. While traditional stock photographers rely on high prices to make money, microstock photographers rely on high numbers of image sales at lower prices. The earnings potential is just about even, and how much you make in microstock or traditional stock is really a matter of how good your images are, how many you offer up for sale, and how useful they are. Twenty percent of a $1.00 image sale may not be much, but if your images are downloaded 100 times per day, you start to see the possibilities in microstock. Also factor in the non-exclusivity of most microstock sites, allowing you to submit the same image to multiple sites, and you can quickly multiple your earnings.

Sound tempting? Of course it does. So how do you get started?

Starting a side job, hobby, or even professional career as a microstock photographer begins with an initial batch of images that will be used to get you accepted into some of the top microstock agengies. Most require you to fill out an application and submit a few sample images so that their staff can assess your abilities and decide if you fit their requirements. In most cases, this sounds worse than it is. Microstock agencies are typically much more open to having inexperienced and hobbyist artists in their ranks. Also note that the people reviewing applications tend to be more strict about acceptances, so if you get through the application process, everything else should be a breeze.

After you are approved, it is time to start making money. Some sites will automatically add the sample images you submitted with your application to the site, and they will immediately be available for purchase. Other sites will require that you upload those images again, along with any other images you wish to submit at this time. Images must be saved in the specified formats, and include an accurate set of keywords that will be used to help buyers search for your images. Keywords can be added through the misroctock websites after they are uploaded, or you can embed keywords into the images prior to uploading. It is highly recommended that you keyword images before uploading, so that you only have to enter the keywords once. Most sites are able to read the keyword information embedded within the image, and the uploading process is much faster and easier if you keyword images ahead of time.

Once uploaded, a review process will begin in which a staff member of the agency will look over your images. They will either be accepted into the agency’s library, or rejected. Unfortunately, rejections are a fact of life no matter how good you are, so be prepared to receive a few rejections and don’t take it to heart. Often a rejection notice will include a reason as to why the image was rejected, and sometimes you can easily correct the problem and resubmit the image.

From this point, how far you go is entirely up to you. Perhaps you are content with the small collection of images you have online and will just leave them to collect a small income each month. Maybe you have higher ambitions and will produce new images regularly and watch your income rise. Whatever you choose, you will always benefit from passive nature of your microstock income. Should you not upload any new images in a particular month, your other images will continue to sell, and you will still get paid at the end of the month without having put any effort forth.

So where to now?

Visit some of the following microstock sites and browse the collections:

BigStockPhoto Dreamstime 123RF

This will give you some ideas about what sells and how your images compare to the usual microstock images out there. Then sign up and consider applying as a contributing artists. After that, you will soon be cashing your earnings checks and enjoying a new income.