Are you searching for information on stock photography business? Then, read on….
Many people have started to earn money selling pictures, as many companies are interested in using stock photos on websites taken by freelance photographers.
The stock photography business is increasing in popularity due to an increasing number of ebooks, blogs and so on, that need stock photographs.
Due to this demand, there are several free stock photos or free stock images available on the Internet.
In addition, there are a number of microstock sites that now offer images to companies, bloggers, designers and others with options of licenses for the buyers.
These sites purchase images from artists and offer them a commission on the sale. Though conventional photography licenses can be pretty expensive, the microstock ones are cheaper and sell for around $1 to around $5 an image.
Learning Points
- How to start a stock photography business
- How to make money selling photos online
- Stock photography business trends
How Does Stock Photography Business Work?
- Photographers interested in freelance photography take pictures and send them to agencies.
- Agencies like Getty Images select and buy images and then host the pictures in their collection after protecting it with a watermark.
- Individuals and companies needing these photographs who wish to purchase pictures for business can download these photographs but they come at a price.
- The stock photography agency sells the images to buyers.
- They keep a percentage of the sales and pay a commission to the photographers.
- Some agencies also buyout images by paying a lump sum to the photographer and get the copyright for the images, so that they don’t have to pay a royalty to the photographer. Once the payment is made, they get access to free to use images.
- Some companies prefer to make use of free images for commercial use. They go to free stock photography sites and access free stock images for commercial use.
Stock Photography: Types of Photography Business
If you have a passion for photography, you can try your hand at stock photography photo business and start selling photos or stock of landmarks; events; people etc. on a royalty free basis through your stock photos site.
- The first option is to set up your own studio or microstock website and start locating buyers for your stock photographs. This is more rewarding financially, but could be more time consuming as well.
- Another option is to join websites selling stock photographs. However traditional microstock sites might take up about 70% of the sale and give you a commission of only 30%. Instead, you could set your own prices and sell your photographs online to sites where they allow you to keep 100% of your profits.
Your Target Customers
Many businesses, blogs and websites, marketers, graphic designers, teachers, programmers, web designers and so on use stock photos for marketing and design aspects.
Some, of course, take their own photos, but this is more a rarity than a norm, as it is more time consuming.
Content creators use appropriate stock photos that express the message they wish to convey through the content they are publishing.
Selecting Your Niche: A Style or a Subject
It is important to select a niche. There are more chances of your photos being accepted by sites if you submit top quality images of one specific subject rather than mediocre images of several subjects.
Remember your picture is supposed to promote a business, so it should clearly represent or communicate a message to viewers.
- The subject could be anything under the sun. You can virtually take a picture of anything and market it, so long as there is a demand for it. It could be faces, sports, such as biking; hiking; business related like banking or e-commerce; emotions like loneliness, joy, stress; food; health; relationships like a happy couple; technology; a specific profession, like doctors or engineers and so on.
(Image: dreamstime.com)
- The microstock market is a challenging one, but there are several themes that are successful. Images connected with the economy; landscapes; and social behavior are much sought after.
- Look out for a niche that is not too well represented or rare. This could be somewhere in your local area or a great view that you have easy access to.
- Take original, seasonal images. For instance, Christmas images. Be sure to upload them a month in advance.
- Niches are more personal and the content gets better exposure without getting lost in a sea of free photos or free pictures.
- Check out the most popular or most downloaded images from regular stock sites to know which kind of images are in demand.
How to Get Started With Stock Photography
- Create a website to showcase your stock photographs. You must know about web designing, creating an online gallery and about shopping carts.
Tip: You can also hire a web designer through freelancer.com and other sites.
- Get a mode for accepting payments. PayPal is the number one option.
- Build a stock photograph portfolio. Start uploading photos to your microsostock website. You can also specialize in two or more genres.
Tip: Do some research regarding what are the latest stock photography trends, such as breathtaking landscapes or filtered photographs, so that you can synchronize with the market demand.
- Keep photographs organized in different categories. You could categorize them in different ways. For instance, by size or by types, like Flowers; Emotions; Professions; and so on.
- Fix your pricing model for the copyright free images and other categories.
Stock photos can be offered at different prices for different resolutions. If you’re considering joining a stock photography agency, start by joining a free stock photography site and uploading your stock. You can set the price on some sites or earn a percentage of the sale on others. As a stock photography agency, you can sell different types of licenses to buyers, such as royalty-free images or rights-managed images. Marketing your stock photography business is important, so identify your target market, post ads online, start a blog, and build contacts with potential buyers. Protecting your work from theft is crucial, so consider copyright claims, disabling right-click on your photographs, and adding watermarks. Lastly, consider creating your own niche stock photography site to stand out in the competitive market. We hope you find the articles on eMoneyIndeed.com enjoyable. Thank you for visiting our site!