So I'm looking into sending some of my photos in to stock photography sites such as http://www.istockphoto.com/ and was wondering if anyone else here has/does done/do this.
If anyone does, do they have any tips or advice? Do you make a living out of it, and if so, how much of your time do you put into it? If you only do it casually, do you see much of a return? Where are the best sites to submit to?
I spent ages last night reading iStock's quality guidelines, and I'm not even sure any of my photos are actually up to scratch, but I might try anyway.
The price of photography in mags and newspapers has gone down so low now.. But of course the more photo's you send in, and the better they are, the more they will sell. It can add up - It will never bring a vast fortune, but could be an added bonus for sure.
Tips I would say if you do go ahead, is while you are taking nice arty images, is not to think things too small to photograph - even things like your local hospital, a clear, crisp photo might sell one day - all it needs is for a news story to break there, and it would be in many papers - its cheaper to use stock than sending out their own photographer. This is happening more often now too as all papers are cutting back.
You do have to watch out for model release tho if you photograph people close-up, they have to sign a paper to say they are happy for you to sell their image.
Oh and Getty images are one of the larger stock sources out there, a lot of the media go there.
I have friends who stock their press photo's, and I nearly did it once with my gig photo's, they really liked them, but I never sent them in full-size. I realised that the gigs I had covered were of old punk bands and the likelyhood of them ever being used often were slim unless they started snuffing it with old age! I should do people like Kylie, but my ears dont like it!!
I do think its a great idea tho, if you have the time to do so. I actually thought for a fleeting moment that everyone at 365 should do something like this, and advertise the photo's to the media. Everything is already on one site, and some are tagged so easily found - but I think it would be a full-time job collecting and sending money out, plus there is the size issue of the images here.
Ever thought of doing your own website?
Thanks for that Freida, nice information :) "Doing websites" is kinda what I do, and I do have a gallery section on my blog-style site, but do you mean have I ever thought of making a photography-specific site? If you do then, I've entertained the idea but never really figured I had enough material to make one interesting enough
Gahh. Just had their reply. Pretty annoying, but at least I can try again...
Dear Stephen,
Thank you for taking the time to apply as a contributor with iStockphoto.com.
The iStock administrators have asked that you upload new samples based on the feedback provided below. You're welcome to return in 3 days, upload some new samples and we'll re-process your application.
If you viewed the image at full crop (which I've no idea why you'd ever do, it'd be huge) @staciehighland there was some fine purple outlining to the bright light... which as far as I know is just a side effect of having bright light and unavoidable for this type of photo, so I've no idea what they expected me to do about it.
I was looking and wondering too and though maybe it's my eyes as couldn't see the fringing ... kudos for trying ... now get back to it and put some more of your brill pix there....
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Tips I would say if you do go ahead, is while you are taking nice arty images, is not to think things too small to photograph - even things like your local hospital, a clear, crisp photo might sell one day - all it needs is for a news story to break there, and it would be in many papers - its cheaper to use stock than sending out their own photographer. This is happening more often now too as all papers are cutting back.
You do have to watch out for model release tho if you photograph people close-up, they have to sign a paper to say they are happy for you to sell their image.
Oh and Getty images are one of the larger stock sources out there, a lot of the media go there.
I have friends who stock their press photo's, and I nearly did it once with my gig photo's, they really liked them, but I never sent them in full-size. I realised that the gigs I had covered were of old punk bands and the likelyhood of them ever being used often were slim unless they started snuffing it with old age! I should do people like Kylie, but my ears dont like it!!
I do think its a great idea tho, if you have the time to do so. I actually thought for a fleeting moment that everyone at 365 should do something like this, and advertise the photo's to the media. Everything is already on one site, and some are tagged so easily found - but I think it would be a full-time job collecting and sending money out, plus there is the size issue of the images here.
Ever thought of doing your own website?
Thanks for that Freida, nice information :) "Doing websites" is kinda what I do, and I do have a gallery section on my blog-style site, but do you mean have I ever thought of making a photography-specific site? If you do then, I've entertained the idea but never really figured I had enough material to make one interesting enough
http://365project.org/eyebrows/365/2010-06-20 http://365project.org/eyebrows/365/2010-05-03 http://365project.org/eyebrows/365/2010-02-12
Dear Stephen,
Thank you for taking the time to apply as a contributor with iStockphoto.com.
The iStock administrators have asked that you upload new samples based on the feedback provided below. You're welcome to return in 3 days, upload some new samples and we'll re-process your application.