Some Thoughts on Microstock Photography

I have started contributing some images to iStockphoto and a few other microstock photography agencies.  For those of you who don’t know, the microstock industry sells images for a relatively low price ($1-$10 range, it varies).  The business model suggests that if you sell images at a low price, the amount of images that will sell will be significant … so it is possible (theoretically) to earn money based on many (low priced) sales of the same image over time.  The target market for microstock includes web designers, advertising agencies, independent bloggers … really anyone who might want a low-priced image for some purpose.  These are not “artsy” photographs, for the most part … they are generally used for more commercial purposes.

I decided to try it out for a few reasons.  I take pictures every day.  I love taking pictures, no matter what the subject.  I take pictures of lots of random stuff around my house, I use my light tent to set up still life shots, and I carry my camera with me all over town.  I am amassing quite a pile of images that are not really fine art type images (and if we are really being honest here, there are a lot that fall not in the “fine art” classification, not in the “commercial” classification, not even in the “snapshot” classification — but right square in the “crap” classification.  But that is not what we are discussing here.)  They are of things, items, stuff.  I started browsing the files at iStockphoto, and thought, “hey, I can do that!”  Plus I think that if I put some time and effort into taking photos today … I could potentially earn money on them for years to come.

So I submitted a few images to iStock and waited to see what would happen.

There are quite a few sites out there that are giving specific information about their experiences with microstock. I am probably a little too lazy to go into quite so much detail, but I thought I would tell you how things are going for me so far, and I will try to keep everyone up-to-date if you are interested.

So (as I said before I got sidetracked) I started with iStockphoto.  You have to go through their registration process, read their guidelines and answer a little quiz, and then submit 3 images for them to review.  If they think your images are of the appropriate type/quality, then you are accepted.  I was accepted with my first submission (I have heard that many people have to try more than once before they are accepted – so I was super excited! YAY!  See my head growing bigger?)  You then have to submit your images again for specific approval into their database.  They accepted 2 out of my first 3 … I had over sharpened the 3rd, so I fixed that, resubmitted, and that one was accepted too.  YAY me!  I have since submitted 2 more that were accepted, a couple that were flat out rejected (my head got a bit smaller) and some that have been rejected, but after I fix what they don’t like I can resubmit.  You can see all my files here.

So … then last week I had my first download!  YAY!!!! Someone bought an image!  I have no idea who, or what for … but it is exciting nonetheless!

So, with this good start, I decided to branch out to other microstock agencies.  Shutterstock – you have to go through their registration process, then submit 10 initial images.  They review your images, and if they like/accept 7 out of the 10, then you are good to go!  Ummm … yeah.  They only liked 1 of my images out of my first 10.  So now I have to wait 30 days before I can try again (head completely deflated back to normal now!)

I also tried Dreamstime.  At Dreamstime you just register and start uploading right away … but they still review and approve each image.  So I signed up and started submitting … and I am about a 50/50 acceptance rate.  Some that were approved at iStock were rejected here, but then they also accepted some that iStock didn’t want. (my Dreamstime portfolio is here)

I am interested to see how this hobby continues to develop … I will keep you posted!  Has anyone else tried selling via microstock?  What have your experiences been?