How to Work with Stock Photo Banks?

You take photographs and upload them to stock photo banks (you can upload to several at once, thus using multiple image stocks). First of all, the most sought-after subjects on stock photo sites include: business, people, emotions, computers — in a word, everything that is most commonly used in print publications, advertising, on websites, etc. There is an option to view the most popular images and decide what to focus on.

When writing titles and descriptions, don’t forget about keywords. It’s worth including as many as possible, since buyers will find images based on these keywords. If you are photographing processors, for instance, include options like: overclocking, technologies, accessories, frequency, etc. After that, you should also determine categories (preferably more than one). For example: Computers —> Processors.

After queuing for review, your photos are examined by inspectors, and if they find something unsatisfactory (noise, lack of focus, artifacts, etc.), they will reject them, sending a notification with the reasons for rejection to your email. If you can correct the deficiency, you can submit it again. If the photograph passes, you will receive another notification via email.

What happens next depends on who is planning to purchase images through the stock photo bank. If they buy it, you earn a commission. Typically, this is 50%, and keep in mind that stock photo banks interpolate your images, offering them in various resolutions. The larger the image the buyer acquires, the more expensive it will be.

As your earnings accumulate to a certain amount (usually $100), you will have the option to cash it out in several ways. This can be done via payment systems like Skrill (Moneybookers) or PayPal, quickly transferring the money to your bank account, or by ordering a personal check that will arrive by mail, which you can cash at the nearest bank within a month, etc.

The royalty-free license under which sales are made on such sites allows the same image to be sold multiple times. A good photograph can sell five hundred times a year, with prices for buyers ranging from a dollar to ten or more, depending on size. Thus, a photographer earns from 25 cents to several dollars, and this can happen from one to thousands of times. More and more advertising agencies are choosing to purchase images through stock photo banks, preferring this method over ordering directly from photographers, because under the license they can use the image for any duration, in any of their projects, and in any territory — almost without restrictions.