stock photography (an e-book by v.h.belvadi)

STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY V.H.BELVADI

All rights reserved © 2009 Venkatram Harish Belvadi. Reselling or modifying this e-book is PROHIBITED!

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TABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS

Sl.no. CONTENT PAGE

1 INTRODUCTION 2

2 WHAT IS STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY? 3

3 WHAT WILL A STOCK PHOTOGRAPHER NEED? 4

4 WHAT WILL A STOCK PHOTOGRAPHER NOT NEED? 7

5 TIPS TO BOOST YOUR EARNINGS 8

6 A LIST OF STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY WEBSITES 10

7 PRICING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS AND HAVING YOUR MONEY DELIVERED 13

8 HOW MUCH WILL I EARN? 15

9 REFERENCES 16



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CHAPTER 1CHAPTER 1CHAPTER 1CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION

The – get up at seven, dash out at nine, and stagger back home at five – routine really gets on peoples' nerves. All week long, people struggle at their office only to find that they are utterly discontented at their salary. Of course they want more money; but there's a catch - they want to earn more money, and do less work! If we were still in the 19th or probably the early, and mid 20th centuries, I would have had to ask you to get up and start working NOW! (I know you wouldn't be on the computer if this was the 19th century - but I had to give you a good example!)

However – cheer up – this isn't the 21st century for nothing! Let me tell you, that quite a few of the basic principles of yore have been turned head-over-heels presently; and one of them is quick, easy, and guaranteed ways to earn money (by doing much less work!). The internet plays a major role in that, insofar as the work you do. Sit back - lazily - at home, on your favourite chair, with your computer before you; do, at the most, a couple of hours work every day, and earn lots more than you would, if you were employed in an eight-hour-a-day job!

One such means is stock photography - as good for a person who is handling a camera for the first time, as for a professional (how ironic!). Here's all I can tell you about it (which is just about all that exists).



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WHAT IS STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY?WHAT IS STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY?WHAT IS STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY?WHAT IS STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY?

As I already mentioned, ‘Stock Photography’ is a quick, easy, (quite) cheap*, and guaranteed way to earn big bucks.

Apart from the necessity to earn in the above mentioned ways, there are two other theories as to why stock photography might have been given rise to: One – the passion for people to take photographs, whether to keep in memory, as a hobby, to show off, or just for the sake of using a camera they own; either way, it aimed at taking photography a step higher, and, at the same time, closer to the people (profit-wise).

The second theory is, in simple terms, the influence of the internet. The world has become a global village – one where you can guarantee that at least a thousand people are around to back up an apparently silly idea. So, when you live in such a place, why not make use of it and earn money. In other words, even the worst idea will sell very well; after all, one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure! But, seriously, when you are talking about the internet, you can be quite sure that you can make quite a satisfactory amount of success even with that with which you have no hopes. Isn’t that wonderful? Well, at least in stock photography, this element plays a huge role.

Now that you know what stock photography is all about; have you started considering taking it up? Read on.



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WHAT WILL A STOCK WHAT WILL A STOCK WHAT WILL A STOCK WHAT WILL A STOCK PHOTOGRAPHER NEEED?PHOTOGRAPHER NEEED?PHOTOGRAPHER NEEED?PHOTOGRAPHER NEEED?

Now, the reason why I’ve added the next two chapters, is to tell you, not only how you need to get equipped, but also, to tell you what the advantages of stock photography are (no one has come up, yet, with any general disadvantages). Apart from a computer and the ability to handle a mouse, here are those extremely necessary items, for stock photography:

1. A CAMERA

Were you expecting to do anything without a camera? Well, you can use a camera of your choice, so long as:

i. It can connect to your computer ii. It can take photographs

So, have you got one? Great!

[*P.S.: In simple words, use a digital camera]

2. INTERNET CONNECTION

Does this need any explanation? After all that I told you in the second chapter?

This is how it goes – no internet, no stock photography! So, if you don’t have a convenient connection at home, get one!



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3. E-MAIL ADDRESS

This is how you’ll be contacted, by all stock photography websites, so make sure you have one; and, my personal suggestion is, that you make one exclusively for stock photography. Believe me, you’ll need it.

4. AN ACCOUNT

Alright, let me get this straight: you want quick cash, but you have no account to put it in?

You’ll need an account, simply because no website anywhere on the internet hands you cash directly – it’s too risky.



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So, by-and-large, you’ll need an account with a trusted service which handles your online transactions, and/or a bank which accepts banking with you in terms of US dollars (if

you live away from the West, because most sites pay you in dollars)

[You’ll read more about this in Chapter 8]

5. TIME

And, finally, the greatest difficulty for most people – time! Well, at this point, if you’d want to close this e-book, I wouldn’t be very surprised. However, I urge you to read on.

First of all, let me clear up one major misconception: you don’t need to dedicate more than one hour a day to have at least ten to twelve photographs in the market – and that is, really, adequate.

Basically, you don’t even have to look for something to click a photograph of! Take a snap-shot of a torn piece of paper, laid on a broken chair, leaning onto a cracked wall, and you’ll have over imaginative people buying it from you, just to use it as their wallpaper; yes, you may earn up to $5 or $7 even for that!

Changed your mind about the ‘time factor’ already?



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WHAT WILL A STOCK WHAT WILL A STOCK WHAT WILL A STOCK WHAT WILL A STOCK PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHER NOT NEEED?NOT NEEED?NOT NEEED?NOT NEEED?

1. A CAMERA

So, here’s what you don’t need:

i. You don’t need a camera with a preset, say, ‘x’

mega pixels. Anything will do – so long as people

can make out the difference between a bird, a

plane, and a superman statue in your

photograph!

ii. You don’t need a professional photography

camera – the kind that is so humungous, and

uncomfortable to carry, that you’ll start to dread

photography for the rest of your life – and you

don’t even think of a photography studio…your

room wall will do just fine.

2. INTERNET CONNECTION

Well, let’s just leave this one bit to itself.

You decide on what broadband stuff you’d like. Only,

don’t have one which comes with an automatic-

disconnection-every-two-minutes offer; your dream of

stock photography will come crashing down!



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TIPS TO BOOSTTIPS TO BOOSTTIPS TO BOOSTTIPS TO BOOST

YOUR EARNINGS! YOUR EARNINGS! YOUR EARNINGS! YOUR EARNINGS!

In this chapter – since it is no use hosting photographs that don’t even get recognition, I’ll give you a couple of tips to…well, to ‘boost your earnings’ – even with your worst photograph! As a standard example through out this chapter, let us keep the following picture as an example (your photograph need not be taken so strenuously)

CATEGORY: Once you upload your picture, you will be asked, in almost all sites, to select a category to which your picture belongs.

Consider our example picture; (it is of the Denver skyline)



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If your category were to be cities>>Denver, or twilight>>city, or urban>>dusk, you may expect a considerable response; but not for scenery, or evening or some such thing, as people are least likely to search for these.

KEYWORDS: Nearly all stock photography sites request you to provide keywords or tags for your pictures, using which buyers can get what they searched for. Always separate keywords/tags using commas.

In our example, possible keywords are: Denver, city, skyline, twilight, dusk, urban, urban life, skyscrapers.

Now, when someone searches for, say, ‘Denver city skyscrapers’, the tags Denver, city and skyscrapers match his ‘search criteria’ and your image is displayed among the search results (pretty much like in search engines)

PICTURES: Now, read this section only if you have a couple of extra minutes to spare for every picture you download. But, it really pays off.

Try editing you image, adding effects or correcting your images with a photo editing software like Adobe Photoshop. And, for those who can’t buy that due to any reason, try an equally good software called ‘gimp’ (from project GNU), which is free and may be found at www.gimp.org to download (for free, too!)

http://www.gimp.org/



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A LIST OF STOCK A LIST OF STOCK A LIST OF STOCK A LIST OF STOCK PHOTGRAPHY WEBSITESPHOTGRAPHY WEBSITESPHOTGRAPHY WEBSITESPHOTGRAPHY WEBSITES

Here is a list of stock photography websites that you may try signing up with. Go ahead, and become a member in more than one, and you’ll earn faster and more that way!

BigStockPhoto - Pays 50 cents to $3.00 per image download,

and up to $60 per download for “Special Licensing” sales.

Check out their list of photos they need to increase chances of

making sales. Site adds about 2,000 photos per day.

iStockPhoto - Pays 20-40% on prices ranging from $1 to $20 (for

photos) — pays more if you offer them an exclusive on your

work. Minimum of 19 cents per download on subscription

downloads. Also sells videos, illustrations, flash, and audio.

Over 3.5 million photos on site.

Dreamstime - 3.6 million photos from 44,000 photographers.

Dreamstime pays 35 cents to $8.40 per image, with more for

exclusives, and additional payouts for special rights (such as

print usage). Also does illustrations, and pays extra for sales of

RAW and vector art.

Shutterstock - 4.4 million images from 116,000 photographers.

Sells on subscription and pays 25 cents per download. Also has

a referral system — earn 3 cents per photo sold by

http://www.shutterstock.com/

http://www.dreamstime.com/

http://www.istockphoto.com/

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/core.php?showpage=photoneeds

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/



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photographers you refer. Does illustrations and now video as

well.

StockXpert - Pay site from the people behind the free

stock.xchng stock photo sharing site. Pays 50% with prices at

$1 to $10 per photo.

123 Royalty Free - Pays 50% and 36 cents per subscription

download. Also has a referral program (10% per photo sold for

referred photographers). 2.8 million photos. Photographers can

offer some images for free to boost traffic to their portfolio.

CanStockPhoto - 700,000 images from 6,500 photographers

selling for $1 each. Contributors get 50% and 25 cents per

subscription download.

Fotolia - 4 million photos online selling from $1 to $3 each.

Fotolia pays out between 33% and 64% of the sale price to

photographers.

Shutterpoint - Super high 70% or 85% payout rates (based on

which royalty free license you sell under). Also seems to power

Keen Images, which is more or less an identical system. Check

out the What’s Selling page to see what sort of photos people

like to buy.

Photo Stock Plus - Pays an 85% commission minus a 3.25%

processing fee, and photographers set their own pricing. Good

deal, but less exposure than at other sites. Stats showing how

views convert to sales are helpful for planning what to shoot

next.

CreStock - Pays a 30% commission on sales, with pricing at $5

to $15 per images. You first 100 sales are at 20% commission,

http://www.crestock.com/

http://www.photostockplus.com/

http://www.shutterpoint.com/Photos-Current.cfm

http://www.keenimages.com/

http://www.shutterpoint.com/

http://www.fotolia.com/

http://www.canstockphoto.com/

http://www.123rf.com/freeimages.php

http://www.123rf.com/

http://www.sxc.hu/

http://www.stockxpert.com/



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however. Subscription downloads pay out at a 25 cents per sale

flat fee. Check out the best images page, and peruse the worst

images archive, as well. Both have very helpful comments about

what makes the images good or bad.

SnapVillage - Pricing from $1 to $50 per image (photographer’s

choice) and a royalty rate of 30%. Pays 30 cents on subscription

downloads.

Nature Photo Index - Despite the name, not strictly for nature

photos — they also have categories for “technology” and

“architecture,” for example. A small site, with just a few

thousand photos, but they claim to give 99% of the sale price

back to photographers.

Scoopt - For news and public interest photos, Scoopt lets you

sell photos to newspapers and media outlets. The site says they

negotiate with photo editors to get the best price possible, and

pays photographers a 40% royalty. The hottest “scoops” go

straight into the Getty Images catalog.

Citizenside - Another site that also sells photos to the news

media. Not much on how it works but commissions for

photographers are “up to 75%.”

Bonus: Flickr - Flickr isn’t really a place to sell digital photos,

but via a partnership with Getty announced in July, some lucky

Flickr photographers are getting their photos sourced into the

Getty catalog. For now, it’s an invite only program for the site’s

most talented users.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/09/web20.digitalmedia

http://www.flickr.com/

http://www.citizenside.com/

http://www.scoopt.com/

http://www.naturephotoindex.com/

http://snapvillage.com/

http://www.crestock.com/worst-image-archive.aspx

http://www.crestock.com/worst-image-archive.aspx

http://www.crestock.com/best-image-archive.aspx



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PRIPRIPRIPRICING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS AND CING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS AND CING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS AND CING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS AND HAVING YOUR MONEY DELIVEREDHAVING YOUR MONEY DELIVEREDHAVING YOUR MONEY DELIVEREDHAVING YOUR MONEY DELIVERED

1. PRICING:

The major reason why people earn very little through stock photography, despite having excellent photographs, is because they either price their pictures too high (no one buys them) or too low (quite a few people buy them, but you hardly get much money out of it). So a key aspect is pricing your photographs. Basically, since the price for each photograph varies, it is difficult to generalize this important point. However, below are a few tips you may consider:

i. Try not to determine the price yourself. Ask a friend or relative, who is unaware of why you are asking them, to guess how much worth a (your) picture might be, then, play around with the figures and state your offer.

ii. Change the prices regularly (about once a week). This will help you come across a price better than the one you originally stated; but don’t vary it too much from the original.

iii. If, after step two, you find that a lower price attracted more buyers, then fix that (lower) price. After all, thirty sales of a $3 photograph are better than twelve sales of a $5 photograph.

2. HAVING YOUR MONEY DELIVERED:

As I have already said, no one will hand you what you are owed, in cash. It is risky. So, how will your money reach you? There are two ways:



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i. The cheque method ii. The electronic method

The cheque method isn’t as safe as the electronic one, nor preferred by payer (website) often. However, it is the only comparatively trusty method if you don’t have a credit card.

The electronic method is the safest method, presently. It involves the website paying your earnings (sometimes on a preset day) not to you, but to your financial representative, online. For this, you’ll need to open an account (mostly free) with an online financial assistant website. My personal recommendation to you is PayPal – at www.paypal.com. This is how it’ll work: your money from ‘xyz.com’ – your stock photography website – is sent to your online financial assistant account at abc.com, which has trusted access to your bank account, through your credit card. From abc.com, your xyz.com earnings have landed in your bank!

For a moment, let us just rewind, back to your earning process. Once a buyer pays for your picture, some sites convert that money into ‘credits’ (the name varies, depending upon the stock photography site) in your account there. So now you’ll have the freedom to convert these credits into cash, in the ways stated above, whenever you want. Some sites, though, don’t offer this method for its stock photographers.

http://www.paypal.com/



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HOW MUCH WILL I EARN?HOW MUCH WILL I EARN?HOW MUCH WILL I EARN?HOW MUCH WILL I EARN?

I have been asked this question over a hundred times, and have seen people worrying about it even more. So, what is the answer anyway?

Get this right – it depends on you. To be more precise, it is a kind of a chain of events, which goes thus: The more work you do (photographing, editing etc.), the more photographs you will have, to upload, then, more of your photographs will be available for buyers, and more buyers will buy from you, which means that more chances of getting good prices for your pictures, and finally, the more you earn.

Another question? How much is more? Well, it is something like this: if you have really good photographs (like the Denver skyline one that we considered as an example earlier) and if you have the ratio of good photographs to bad photographs as 3:1, or around that, then you may expect to get anywhere between $3 10 even $10+ per photograph! Though this is just a theory involving assumed figures, it is nearest to the truth.

Thirdly, don’t expect to start earning with your very first photograph. Give it some time. Most probably, you can have hopes only after your tenth or twentieth picture; and if you’ve uploaded twenty or more photographs the very first time, then be patient for at least a month. Yes, a month. It sounds like a long, long time right now, but, really, one month is nothing, compared to how you’ll start earning for the rest of your life! Oh, by the way, there’s no need to retire!



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REFERENCESREFERENCESREFERENCESREFERENCES

Below are some good reference sites for information regarding stock photography, and include those which I, myself referred. However, I cannot guarantee that the sites named under, still host the information I had seen myself. Since some are also blogs, try searching their archives if you don’t find them posted presently.

www.vhbsays.vox.com

http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2008/09/03/15-places-to-sell-your-photos/

www.cameras.about.com/od/professionals/tp/stockphoto.htm

www.microstockforum.com

www.dreamstime.com

www.stockphotoexpert.com/sell_images/uploading.html

www.dphotojournal.com/sell-photos-online

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_photography

www.eugenef.com/sell-stock-photography.html

http://www.eugenef.com/sell-stock-photography.html

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_photography

http://www.dphotojournal.com/sell-photos-online

http://www.stockphotoexpert.com/sell_images/uploading.html

http://www.dreamstime.com/

http://www.microstockforum.com/

http://www.cameras.about.com/od/professionals/tp/stockphoto.htm



http://www.vhbsays.vox.com/

stock photography (an e-book by v.h.belvadi)

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