Well I read a topic about this on SkyscraperPage and thought it was pretty neat. A couple people over there have done it and made some extra cash doing it.

There are 2 different websites:

Shutterstock (http://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=86808) - The busier of the two, according to people on SSP they make a lot more money off of this one. But there are harsher restrictions. Your first 10 photos have to be 5 megapixels each (about 2250x2250), and from then on 4 megapixels each. They pay $.25+ per download, depending on the size they download.

Click Here (http://submit.shutterstock.com/top50.mhtml?filter=all) to see the most downloaded photos to get an idea of what is popular.



Fotolia (http://www.fotolia.com/partner/236434) - Not quite as busy (about the same traffic as SSC). Not quite as many restrictions. Don't need 10 photos to start. Takes awhile to get a photo verified though. You get paid more per download here though. $.33+ or $.50+ depending on whether you make it exclusive to their site, and depending on what size they download.
Click Here (http://www.fotolia.com/most/index.php?period=0) to see the most downloaded photos to get an idea of what is popular.

Hmm.... I think I'll look into this... if nothing else then to see my pics be put to good use... :)

Hmm. I found another site that is easier and has less restrictions.
Dreamstime (http://www.dreamstime.com/res265720)
Their minimum is only 3 megapixels so thats good for those who only have 4-5 Megapixel cameras. (like me)

This is great! Thanks!

Hmm... I've tried something like that(forgot the site) But my photo got 0 hits, lol. I guess its not that easy to find a pic(yours) over the millions that are already there.

Hmm... I've tried something like that(forgot the site) But my photo got 0 hits, lol. I guess its not that easy to find a pic(yours) over the millions that are already there.

Well I'm not sure everything i've uploaded is still waiting to be validated. Someone on SSP said he gets 4+ downloads a day and he just started a week or so ago.

I'll have to look into this more as well.

I've been looking, so far Fotolia.com looks like the best bet...Shutterstock looks decent. I dunno about Dreamstime or istockphoto.com, I'll get one of these soon.

Note for when/if you decide to use Shutterstock:
Make your first 10 (you must upload 10 for validation) are the absolute best and are almost sure to be accepted. You must get at least 7/10 accepted or you will be declined and have to wait 30 days till you can retry.
I only got 5/10 so now I have to wait 30 days before I can try again.

The minimum image resolution on Fotolia is only 2megapixels, which really helps me since I only have a 5megapixel camera.

Hmm... I've tried something like that(forgot the site) But my photo got 0 hits, lol. I guess its not that easy to find a pic(yours) over the millions that are already there.

It really depends on what kind of pictures you put up there, and most importantly, how you keyword your photo's. I've sold about $40 worth of pictures, which is about 180 downloads. I only have 21 images in my gallery though, and most of them are holiday shots. Some people can make a decent living out of stock images, because they shoot images purely for sales, so they take pictures of pens, paper, stuff like that, that certain agencies may need for whatever purpose they see fit.

I dont wanna sell some of my best images for 25 cents, so I would more likely add my midgrade stuff on there and see where that takes it.

After having looked around for a while - it seems you have to heavily edit your pics to get the "public pamflet" look and use models...

And to be honest 50 cents is nothing.. especially not if one has to work for hours just to make one pic perfect....

I need to sell 47+ pics just to hit my normal hour wage... like that will happen... so meh I'll pass...

The thing is though, once you spend a couple days/weeks putting up all your best shots. It is free money from then on. Don't have to do anything except collect the cash. It will add up over time.

its a tough call...but I would consider mid grade photos on there, thats it.

50 cents a photo...even enough to buy a new camera or lens in time would be worth the effort.

I imagine it takes time.

Ok, you have to be careful with these places. One thing to keep in mind, is that they are quite limited for urban photography, as you cannot have any recognisable faces, corporate logos, or licence plates in the photo (in other words, if you have a street scene, every person in that photo must sign a model release form before they will accept the photo. Now, imagine a typical street scene......

So, obviously, you need street scenes without people. You then have to clone out all of the corporate logo's. Which is every shop name, every corporate name on every building, etc etc. And remember, all for starting at 25cents a photo.

You are also restricted by what you can shoot in a city. Many buildings have copywrite protection, so these are out. In other words, shoot the London Eye, nope. Shoot the communications tower at Montjuic in Barcelona, nope. And some are very confusing. They will accept shots of the Eiffel tower in the day time (as that is too old for copywrite protection) but after dark the lights are protected... so, nope, no nights shots there. In fact, even some public places have protections on them. Bondi Beach in Sydney is another.

Public Art (or any art for that matter, unless you created it) will not be accepted. So if there is a sculpture in clear view within your photo... nope.

There are a lot of restrictions, but that doesn't mean you can't make money if you know how to use it. And this is typical of any Royalty Free photographs up for sale.

I sell a lot of my work these days. Between traditional agencies (managed rights), microstock agencies (like the ones above) for Royalty Free, Commissioned work requested directly by customers, and through my own online gallery. Traditional agencies and Managed Rights are where you can sell your street photos with normal people's faces and corporate logo's. They pay a lot more, because there is certain amounts of management that have to be processed (why they're called managed rights photography), such as checking what the final uses are for, legalities and regional/time based contracts)

Despite all these restrictions, Microstock, like shutterstock, dreamstime, fotolia, istock etc account for a good percentage of my final income still. I've made several thousand dollars last year in microstock, through 5 different agencies.

That said. Where I sell a photo for 25cents at Shutterstock, and may sell dozens, if not a hundred a day (different photos). I may sell 3 photos on traditional stock agencies a month, but for $800 each or so. Same with my commission work and private sales.

Microstock is a great place to start. The restrictions really do hamper an urban photographer, but restrictions are a good way to learn.


Gotcha: Keep in mind, that even though you may only get 25cents from one of your photos, these guys still want absolute top notch quality. No noise what so ever (and I mean absolutely none, or you'll see a lot of rejections) excellent composition, proper white balance. And tack sharp images.

now it may change from country to country...but in the USA many of the restrictions we see on these sites are infact legal to sell yourself, like sculptures, buildings, street scenes and landmarks...some nations laws do not allow this...so to make it simple I'm sure that they are simply covering all bases here.

If there was a US only site I might bother...but I'm not gonna do a weeks worth of uploading and tagging to see this come around and see half my effort denied.

laws are different and it kinda sucks when they group everything together to avoid lawsuits. lol

now it may change from country to country...but in the USA many of the restrictions we see on these sites are infact legal to sell yourself, like sculptures, buildings, street scenes and landmarks...some nations laws do not allow this...so to make it simple I'm sure that they are simply covering all bases here.



That depends on entirely how you sell it. Even in the US, you can't privately sell any photo with other people on as Royalty Free (in other words, for any use by any company).

However, you could sell it as Editorial (for news content) or as pure art. There was a case not that long ago in NY, where an artist photographed people walking down a busy NY street, then hung them in a gallery for sale. A Jewish man saw his face and promptly sued the photographer as he said it was an affront to his religion. However, he lost the case, as there is a right to sell as "art".

That would be totally different if the same shot ended up in a advertisement or corporate brochure. Or a corporate website.

When selling privately, it is very important to have legal insurance just in case this sort of thing happens. And it is more common than one may think.

yea you are right, I'm used to reading up on the Art selling laws...although there are other clauses in there as well...like if the person was the main subject of the photo or just happened to be passing thru...but in which area that applies I dunno.

Finally getting my photos approved from the sites and got my first sale today on fotolia.
I plan on writing a beginners guide for all of the major stock photo sites once I learn enough about all of them.

Interesting thread. This would be a cool idea, but unfortunately, I only have a 5MP camera, and so when I edit, I optimize all of my pictures for max of 1000px.

Plus, I don't know if my photos are actually something people would want to buy. I guess I could find/take some though.

I should visit this forum more often, looks like there's some good stuff in here. I've been really into photography lately. You can see some of my shots on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sergei24/

Interesting thread. This would be a cool idea, but unfortunately, I only have a 5MP camera, and so when I edit, I optimize all of my pictures for max of 1000px.

Plus, I don't know if my photos are actually something people would want to buy. I guess I could find/take some though.

I should visit this forum more often, looks like there's some good stuff in here. I've been really into photography lately. You can see some of my shots on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sergei24/

I have the same problem with my camera. That's why most of my submissions have been computer generated. However, Fotolia only requires 2 megapixels. Thats a little less than 1450x1450, you should (or at least I'm able to) be able to get some quality at that size. And actually, the pictures you have on Flickr do seem pretty good.

I have the same problem with my camera. That's why most of my submissions have been computer generated. However, Fotolia only requires 2 megapixels. Thats a little less than 1450x1450, you should (or at least I'm able to) be able to get some quality at that size. And actually, the pictures you have on Flickr do seem pretty good.
Thanks for the compliment.

I guess I "could" meet the size requirements, but I just mean that all of my old photos were optimized and edited for a smaller size. I keep all my unedited photos on my computer, but that means that I would have to edit the photos again, and try to achieve the same effect. That would take way too long.

looks cool
doubt i can start off right now

Ill try to make an account there, evan if I would get only 20USD I'd be happy cos I'm just a child.

Update on how I've been doing:
I got my first sale on Fotolia not too long ago, have 21 images on there at the moment with 16 in queue. Fotolia takes about 1-2 days to approve/reject a photo. Istockphoto is taking ages to approve/reject my illustrations application. I have 6 images approved on Dreamstime with no sales and about 10 views. They take longer to get approved and are a bit more strict on quality than Fotolia.
Shutterstock.. I'm waiting my 30 days till I can apply again.

I have also registered on another site, Bigstockphoto.com (http://www.bigstockphoto.com/?refid=i7Umr26PV0)
They are not as busy as Shutterstock/Fotolia/Dreamstime and Istockphoto, but I figured what the hell. They have accepted everything I have put up there so far. They take typically 2-3 days to approve/decline a photo.

I kinda started on Fotolia, but I have to tackle it again after I clear up some other projects. congrats on the first sale. :)

Why do they want a photo of my ID when i register? Is it safe to give it to them?

Why do they want a photo of my ID when i register? Is it safe give it to them?

On Istockphoto?
I dunno why they want it but I gave it to them. Dunno what harm it could cause.

screw that.