Sell your photographs

The following list will cover all the major companies in the Micro Stock photography industry. From my experience submitting to these sites will be a great way to begin selling your photos. Micro sites sells royalty free images anywhere from $1 to $5 per image. As the photographer you will only receive a percentage of the sale price. Earning as low as $0.20 cents per image may not seem like a lot; however a large quality portfolio of images will be key. One high quality image can sell hundreds of times.

The following is a list of Micro Sites with a description of each of them.

Shutterstock

I find Shutterstock to be the top paying site for my images. Shutterstock sells their images on a subscription basis, where the image buyer can download as many images as their subscription allows. Regardless of file size the photographer will receive $0.25 per image. Other sites sell their images based on size and will give you a larger payout depending on the size bought. The large volume of downloads by the buyers make up for the small payout.

The minimum photo requirements is that the image be 4 mega pixels or higher. Some sites have smaller mega pixel requirements, however with the low cost of Digital SLR cameras shooting at 8 mega pixels or higher shouldn't be a problem for most.

In order to join any micro site you will need to submit images in order to be approved. Some sites are stricter than others in their approval process. Shutterstock will require an initial 10 sample submission. If you pass their approval then you can begin to upload images. They don't have a limit on the number of images that you can upload once you're approved. The turn around time for them to review them and accept or reject them is only a couple of days. Sometimes it can be up to a week, but recently they have been very fast. Shutterstock puts a large emphasis on noise, so make sure the images you submit have very little noise.

Shutterstock also accepts editorial shots, which most of the other sites do not. This site is on the more difficult site to join, but not impossible. Only submit your best photos when trying to gain acceptance to micro sites. They typically give you another chance to join again, but make you wait at least a month.

In addition to photographs, Shutterstock also accept vector images and even video footage.

istockphoto

Istockphoto is an industry leader in micro stock images. Recently bought by Getty Images, it has a big backer and great place to earn income on your images. Like most stock sites it sells it's images based on image size. The photographer will receive 20% per photo sale. Once you reach 500 download istock will also you to become an "exclusive" photographer. Which means getting a higher payout percentage along with other perks. There are many photographers who are exclusive with istockphoto.

The initial approval process is tough and I would always send in your best images when trying to get approved on any stock site. Once approved, istock does have a limitation on how many images you can upload in a week. The number is based on the number of downloads you have from your portfolio. As you reach a high download threshold, your upload ability increases. If find that istock doesn't accept very many abstract images. I've uploaded abstract blur images to them always getting rejected, however sites like Shutterstock accepts them.

The image quality at istockphoto is very high and its a great site to submit to. They also have a very large forum community and its a great place to learn and interact with others.

Dreamstime

Shutterstock and Istock are my top 2 sites and Dreamstime comes in at a distant 3rd. Dreamstime pay out 50% per photo sale, which is a larger payout per image than the top 2 sites. The daily upload limit is very high, around 100 images per day. Recently their inspection process has been a bit slow. It can take up to a week for them to review your images.

Again like any of these sites, submit your best work in order to get approved initially. I mean always submit your best work, but make sure at first they aren't borderline images. In this industry have a large portfolio with great, however the quality of your images will win out over quantity. I see submitters with small portfolios have higher downloads then people with 4 times the amount.

Stockpert

I have only discovered Stockpert in the last couple of months. There is a 50 image upload max per day. The great feature about this site is that you don't have to keyword your images before uploading. They will review them without any descriptions or keywords which is great. Of course if the images are accepted you will have to go back to the site to input your information.

In a very short period of time Stockpert has been in my top 5 of earners. They are not the easiest place to be accepted into. Another thing I have noticed is that they don't allow you to re-submit rejected images.

Fotolia

Fotolia is more of an International company then the other sites. I find that their review times are very quick, however I do find their interface tedious to work with. When I first joined Fotolia, they didn't accept many of my images and so I stopped submitting. I recently started submitting again to them and have found my acceptance and downloads increasing.

They don't have a requirement to submit images for initial acceptance. You just upload your images and they just accept or reject them. As a new contributor I would start out submitting here. Are good feature that Fotolia has is that you can see who actually purchased your images. Whereas with other sites you just no idea unless the buyer contacts you.

Big Stock Photo

Big Stock is one of the easiest sites to have your images accepted at. I have a very high acceptance ratio there. Their sales are very slow so its not a top producer. Their approval turnaround is about average.

They have a low payout threshold of just $30 where most other sites you have to reach $100 worth of downloads before you can cash out. I would put this site on the top of your list of your starting out to begin submitting to.

Featurepics

Featurepics hasn't been around for very long and what makes them different than other sites is that you can set your own prices. As a photographer your percentage per sale is 70% which is very high. I have only recently began submitting to them, so my sales are slow.

They do accept editorial images and they don't have an upload cap. Just upload as many as you can when you can. I always try to limit my upload to 50 per day. I'm lucky if I can upload 50 per week anywhere, but if your first starting to submit you may have a large portfolio, you're trying to get online. I like to limit it, so the the reviewers are seeing a ton of images from you all at once. I would also begin her first as a place to start submitting to if your new to the industry.

Lucky Oliver

Lucky Oliver is very new to the Micro Stock industry and I only recently began uploading. From what I've read from other users the sales there are very slow. They have a very unique web site and seem to be very responsive. They also love to give you feedback on your images and are trying to do something different from other sites. Time will tell if this site will move further up on my list of places to submit to.

123rf

I've seen very small sales on 123rf with the same portfolio size as I have on other sites. The thing I love the most about this site is that you don't have to put your images into categories when you upload. Just upload the images and they review them and that's it. So since the sales are slow, the fact that I can easily upload images keeps me submitting to them. There is no cap on the number of images you can upload in a day. Their review times are very slow and at first it took them almost a month to review my images.