Should I Sell My Pictures As Stock Photography
Thinking it time you started selling your pictures as stock photography? Stock photography is big and everyone seems to be doing it, sadly though, the majority are going about it the wrong way.
The first thing you have to do is to decide where you wish to finish up ...
Do you want a full time business? Do you dream about throwing in the day job and becoming a full time photographer? Or do you simply need some more cash from your photography? Perhaps you'd be content to buy a new lens every now and then from your profits?
If you need the first option, you are looking at joining a particularly tough industry and that is going to take serious time, effort and you're going to have to invest real money to make it happen.
For stock photography you want to assess every element of your photography the standard of your work, the commercial potential of the subjects you shoot, how many images you have on file and how often you add to them. Quality, Content & Volume to achieve success in stock photography you need to have each of those aspects totally covered.
If you happen to feel you may need to work on any of those areas, I'd counsel you take your time to work on them first. Take a short course to improve your photography technique, buy some stock photography books to find more commercial subjects, and then shoot constantly to build your volume.
Stock is competitive and sure to suck the joy right out of your photography if you try to start selling your photos before you're prepared.
If you aren't out for a major life-change though, you really have other more options.
Plenty of amateur photographers place their images with the cheap royalty free libraries and hope to make a bit of extra change every year but I really believe this is about the worst of your options.
A number of these stock photo sites are selling photos for a greenback or less each, royalty free, so the photographers gets a few pennies for the sale, and the purchaser gets free usage of the image, for evermore. This doesn't worry lots of amateurs, but it has a huge impact on the industry. If that does not concern you, it probably should.
If things change and you decide one day to sell your photos seriously, every $1 sale you make is going to make it that much harder for you to earn a living. And to make matters worse, you won't be able to sell and of those photos to high-end photo buyers, because you will not have any idea where they have been published before or where they might turn up next.
Generally you will find a better option for the hobbyist is to use your photosphotos as content instead of product, and publish them on your own simple photography internet sites promoting affiliate products. For most photographers this will lead directly to much better returns without giving your photos away for peanuts, and if you one day decide to get serious about selling your photos, they're still totally yours to sell.
The first thing you have to do is to decide where you wish to finish up ...
Do you want a full time business? Do you dream about throwing in the day job and becoming a full time photographer? Or do you simply need some more cash from your photography? Perhaps you'd be content to buy a new lens every now and then from your profits?
If you need the first option, you are looking at joining a particularly tough industry and that is going to take serious time, effort and you're going to have to invest real money to make it happen.
For stock photography you want to assess every element of your photography the standard of your work, the commercial potential of the subjects you shoot, how many images you have on file and how often you add to them. Quality, Content & Volume to achieve success in stock photography you need to have each of those aspects totally covered.
If you happen to feel you may need to work on any of those areas, I'd counsel you take your time to work on them first. Take a short course to improve your photography technique, buy some stock photography books to find more commercial subjects, and then shoot constantly to build your volume.
Stock is competitive and sure to suck the joy right out of your photography if you try to start selling your photos before you're prepared.
If you aren't out for a major life-change though, you really have other more options.
Plenty of amateur photographers place their images with the cheap royalty free libraries and hope to make a bit of extra change every year but I really believe this is about the worst of your options.
A number of these stock photo sites are selling photos for a greenback or less each, royalty free, so the photographers gets a few pennies for the sale, and the purchaser gets free usage of the image, for evermore. This doesn't worry lots of amateurs, but it has a huge impact on the industry. If that does not concern you, it probably should.
If things change and you decide one day to sell your photos seriously, every $1 sale you make is going to make it that much harder for you to earn a living. And to make matters worse, you won't be able to sell and of those photos to high-end photo buyers, because you will not have any idea where they have been published before or where they might turn up next.
Generally you will find a better option for the hobbyist is to use your photosphotos as content instead of product, and publish them on your own simple photography internet sites promoting affiliate products. For most photographers this will lead directly to much better returns without giving your photos away for peanuts, and if you one day decide to get serious about selling your photos, they're still totally yours to sell.
About the Author:
Brad Stephens contributes digital stock photographyto the GlobalEye library and publishes instant affiliatephoto web sites in his free time
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