Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Microstock Photography Sites

I have over 600 images for sell in 8 microstock websites, and a total of 147 downloads during the past 2 months.

1. Shutterstock - 98% of my sales are from Shutterstock, sales come pretty quick, and even though most downloads are $0.25, earnings build up fast. I got approved on my second try, you need to upload 10 images for review, and 7 out of 10 needs to be approved. If you don't pass, you need to wait 30 days to try again, but it is worth it. I love the webiste features with the map showing where your images were sold around the world.  I have a portfolio with 119 images, and 137 downloads. My only complaint is that we are not able to see the image views.

2. Fotolia - It was the first site I signed up for, and very slow sales since I started on March. They reject a lot of pictures that are good sellers at Shutterstock. They seem to have preference for people images. Landscape, flowers, travel images are often rejected, and they usually get rejected for overabundance. 108 images on my portfolio, and only 5 downloads.

3. Deposit Photo - promising microstock site, and they accept most images. I have been on the site for about 5 weeks, and I have the biggest portfolio with  221 images. Sales are slow for now with 3 downloads so far.

4. Dreamstime - I joined Dreamstime 2 months ago, and I only got 25 images on my portfolio, and my acceptance ratio is very low. They are very inconsistent with the image reviews , they reject a lot of  good pictures ,and also have a limit of how many pictures you can dowload per week which I don't like. Once, I uploaded some images ,and they got rejected, I resubmitted the same images ,and they got accepted with no edits. Some photographers seem to like this site ,but I'm not a fan. Got 2 downloads so far.

5. Can Stock Photo - interesting site, love the keyword helper, graphics, statistics, etc, but no sales. Even image views are low also. Their reasons for rejecting images don't make much sense. Everything seems to have noise for them, and the images they reject are my best sellers at Shutterstock. I would not recommend this site, and I'm not uploading anymore. 53 images, no sales.

6. Graphic Leftovers - nice website, like the design, and features. They are new on selling images. It is the site I have the most views with 25 images on my portfolio only, but no sales. I have not uploaded any images lately.

7. Big Stock Photo- slow site, no sales, and very few image views. Shutterstock acquired this site not too long ago. I have a high acceptance ratio, but not a profitable site. 42 images, no sales.

8. 123 RF -  I only have 10 images on my portfolio, recently sold two images. Rejections reasons are still inconsistent.
If you are interested on selling your images, I would try Shutterstock first. They have a very active forum, and the community is very helpful. I find it very entertaining.

Some photographers recommend to start with the other sites, since you get accepted faster, but on the other hand, sales are slower for most of us. I wasted a lot of time uploading, keywording, etc, and I don't see much of a return for all the time spent.  Try to put together 10 of your best pictures, and upload to Shutterstock. Hope you can get accepted on your first try.



Monday, June 6, 2011

My Experience with Microstock Photography

I found out about Microstock Photography last March, and I have uploaded 584 images to 8 microstock websites. 
Shutterstock is the best site so far with sales everyday. It has been only 5 weeks since I signed up as contributor on the site, and I already got 121 downloads with 101 images. You need to get 7 out 10 images accepted in order to start uploading. If you are not accepted , you have to wait 30 days to try again. I got in on my second attempt, and it was worth it the wait.

6/6/2011
1. Deposit Photo2202$0.60
2. Fotolia1085$1.35
3. Shutterstock101121$39.52
4. Can Stock Photo53
5. Big Stock Photo42
6. Graphic Leftovers25
7. Dreamstime252$0.56
8. 123 RF10
584130$42.03


584 images
130 downloads

My shutterstock gallery: