"Could the photos you take for fun actually be worth something? Many amateur snappers are now making money by selling their shots online. In fact it's getting so popular the professionals are starting to complain. Dan Simmons looks at some new shortcuts to cashing in."
@staciehighland If you don't mind me asking...about how much can you make per photo from istock? I looked into possibly joining the site but wasn't sure if my stuff was good enough or worth the energy...however, if they pay 'well' then I might go that route.
@mamur I joined in 2003 when the site was young, at the time we only made 10 cents per photo (they sold the photo's for 25 cents a piece back then). A lot of my photo's are from back then, in fact all of them, and shot with a 4 mega pixel camera (that was the best you could buy back then) so most of mine are on the low resolution scale. That being said, I don't really make much per photo, however I do make 25 percent on each photo sold. Anyhow, what im trying to say is, you make what you put into it. Some people, real active pro photographers can make 100k to 150k per year. I have made a total of about 2k, and that is by doing absolutely nothing in 7 years. I just uploaded about 40 random photos, some of them vintage photo's that I have rights to. I like taking photo's as a hobby, thats about it, so making that much money doing nothing is kinda cool in my book. I used the money to buy a new DSLR for christmas. I do know that now its much harder to become a contributor on istock than when I joined, so pick your absolute best when submitting!
I want one! A GF2 that is, what an awesome camera, there are times being a "camera virgin" when the camera and lens (as much as I love it) makes me feel a bit of a fraud. I got up last Sunday morning at 5am for the sunrise, got to the jetty and there were also three other phtographers set up with tripods and everything, I felt... well a fraud, intimidated, went off round the park and missed the sunrise! I know the issue is mine but honestly a "snap snap" would have made me feel that it was less obvious that I had no clue as to what I was doing!
I dont think its easy money.. the price of pictures in publications has nose-dived in the UK. For example, a stock pic in the Times used less than 10 square inches (which is most of them) is £54. This used to be much more.
And this was a message from a fellow press photographer who uses a library "a new low from this months library sales report. A picture used in some Russian publication earned me, after everyone had taken their cut, the princely sum of £1.29."
As long as nobody expects a fortune, lol...
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Makes me want a GF2 though!
Thanks for the link! very interesting!
http://www.veer.com/
And this was a message from a fellow press photographer who uses a library "a new low from this months library sales report. A picture used in some Russian publication earned me, after everyone had taken their cut, the princely sum of £1.29."
As long as nobody expects a fortune, lol...