How to Sell Photos to Stock Agencies

Many people have found that photography is an enjoyable hobby, that they enjoy spending time taking pictures and that they have also become proficient at it. If you find yourself in this position, you may want to consider trying to make some money from your photos. One of the ways to earn money from your photography work is to sell your photos to stock agencies. In the past there were only a few stock agencies with exceedingly high standards, and they only worked with a few high-profile photographers. Digital photography and the Internet have spurred the growth of microstock agencies that are much more easily available to the photographer just starting to sell his work. Being accepted is much easier and they pay you a commission on all sales of your photos.

Instructions

1. Take your photos in a digital format rather than film. This will make it easy to transfer your images to you computer and upload them to the stock agency web site.

2. Look through the list of available microstock agencies, go to their website, and read through their policies for photographers. Look for payment terms, application procedures, and what it takes to have your work accepted. Select which agencies you might like to work with. The beauty of this method is that you are not limited to just one, you can be associated with as many as you like (although some agencies will give financial incentives to make your work exclusively for sale through them).

3. Compile a small portfolio of your best work in digital format for submittal to the agencies. Load the portfolio on your computer for easy uploading.

4. Return to the websites of the agencies you have previously selected and complete the online application process. This is a relatively simple process of providing you personal information and uploading your portfolio of photos for review.

5. Make more money by taking more photos and uploading them to the agency site. There are literally million of images for shoppers to choose from, so the more photos you have available the more likely you are to have some of your work purchased.

6. Here is a list of a few Stock Agencies and Their Payment Terms. For a more extensive list, see the link in the resources section.

   http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php
   Charges $1-$27 per image and pays 20-40 royalty to photographers

   http://www.bigstockphoto.com/forphotographer.html
   Charges $1 and up per image and pays $2.50-$3.00 royalty to photographers

   http://www.microstockphoto.com/
   Charges $.080 and up per image and pays 35% royalty to photographers

Tips & Warnings

• By U.S. law, you are automatically granted copyright to any picture that is your original work, meaning that you took the photo.

References

• Stock Photography

Resources

• List of Photo Stock Agencies