Make Money with Stock Photography

Want to make money with stock photography, but you don't know how to get started? Here's a brief overview of what you'll need to get started in the stock and microstock photography industries.

Equipement

First, you'll need the right equipment. Standards used to be a bit looser in microstock and it was easy for a photographer to get started there with mininumal equipement, but even their standards have tightened up recently. More and more people are trying to earn money with stock photography.

Camera

You'll need to have a DSLR. The quality of photos taken with a DSLR is much better than most compact cameras. Pictures taken with DSLR cameras have much more depth and clarity. That's what they're looking for at these stock photography agencies. You'll also need a camera that is at least 10 megapixels. That's pretty easy to come by these days.

You'll need a flash gun so you can bounce your flash when taking flash photography. A bounced flash gives a better image than a flash used straight on.

Lights

If you're going to take pictures indoors you should have a good lighting setup. If you look at photographs on stock sites, you'll notice that many popular photos of people are taken in a studio setting on a white backdrop. Taking this type of picture requires lighting.

Tripod

You'll need a steady camera to take high quality pictures. A tripod is a useful investment to do just that. Get a high quality tripod that you can use anywhere.

Research

Look at some popular stock and microstock sites to find out what kinds of photos sell well. How do they compare with the type of photos you want to take?

If you're primarily interested in art photography and don't feel like you'd be happy taking stock-like photos this business probably isn't for you.

Many stock photos are business related. They involve things like two business men shaking hands or a business woman in front of a computer. If you feel like taking these types of pictures is somehow stunting your creativity than you should look into making money with photography in some other way.

Look at the top stock and microstock sites to find out what you'll need to submit. I suggest having accounts with multiple companies. That way'll you get more milage out of one picture.

The most popular stock photography sites include:

• Fotolia
• Dreams Time
• iStock
• BigStockPhoto
• Shutter Stock
• StockXpert
• 123 Royalty Free
• Can Stock Photo
• FeaturePics
• PhotoStockPlus

Most of these sites offer a 50% commission to the phtographer for photos sold. With the photos selling for an average of $1, you'll have to have a lot of pictures that people like up to earn a useful amount of money. Once the photo is up though it can be bought and downloaded by an unlimited number of people. It could continue to earn you money for a long time. I think the secret to help you make money with stock photography is volumn. If you have enough photos up you'll make money from them.

Getting Started

Now that you've choosen which site you want to try to make money with stock photography with, it's time to get started taking pictures. When you take pictures for sites like these try to get inside the head of the buyer. Do your pictures convey a message that a business might want to get across? Those are the pictures that sell best. Brainstorm some ideas before you get started so you know what direction you're headed.

The pictures have to be high quality. Shoot in the largest sized RAW files your camera can produce. Try your best to get the lightling and details of the photo perfect.

If you're taking pictures of models, including yourself, you'll need to have a signed model release form for every person that appears in the photograph.

Submit a bunch of your best photos to the sites and wait for approval. The pictures will be reviewed by staff members and accepted or rejected. If your photographs get rejected, don't loose heart. Learn from the experience and try again.

Can You Really Make Money with Stock Photography?

Digital photography has made photography acessible to more people. In the stock industry, this means there are more opportunities, but there is also a lot more competition. Many agencies are harder to get inot than they once were and once you're in there are a lot more pictures to compete with. So what's an aspiring stock photographer to do?

Get create. Can you think of a new twist on a standard stock photography idea? Are their business ideas that are still under represented in stock? What hole in the industry can you fill?

Finding and filling that hole could be the difference and will help determine whether you can make money with stock photography.

If you liked these tips on making money with stock photography helped you, you should check out some of my other articles on digital photography careers. .