How to Work with Stock Photo Sites?

You can upload your photos to one or multiple stock sites at the same time, maximizing your reach. On microstocks, the most popular themes are business, people, emotions, technology, computers – essentially anything that’s frequently used in print media, advertising, and websites. You can browse the “most popular” images section on stock sites to see trends and decide what to focus on.

When uploading, make sure to add proper titles, descriptions, and keywords (tags). Keywords are essential, since buyers will find your photos by searching through them. For example, if you shoot computer processors, you might use: overclocking, technology, accessories, frequency, etc. You should also assign categories (preferably more than one). For instance: Computers → Processors.

Once submitted, your images go through a review process. Stock site reviewers check the quality. If there are issues like noise, lack of focus, or artifacts, the files get rejected and you receive an email explaining the reasons. If you fix the issues, you can resubmit the photos. When images are approved, you’ll also receive a notification.

From there, it depends on whether someone decides to buy your photos through a stock agency. When a buyer purchases them, you earn royalties. Typically, contributors get around 50%. Note that stock agencies generate multiple resolution versions of your images. The larger the size a buyer downloads, the higher the price.

Once your earnings reach the payout threshold (commonly $100), you can withdraw them. Options include Skrill (Moneybookers) or PayPal for fast transfers to your bank account, or receiving a check by mail, which can then be cashed at your local bank.

Most sales happen under a Royalty-Free (RF) license, which allows the same image to be sold many times. A strong-selling photo can be licensed hundreds of times per year. Prices for buyers usually range from $1 to $10 and higher, depending on resolution, which means contributors typically earn between $0.25 and several dollars per sale. Multiply that by hundreds or even thousands of downloads, and you can see the long-term potential.

More and more advertising agencies prefer buying stock photos instead of hiring photographers directly, since the RF license lets them use the image in unlimited projects, for an unlimited duration, and across any region – practically without restrictions.