If you’re anything like me you have spent a great deal of time learning about various aspects of photography, you have spent a great deal of time making photographs and you have spent a great deal of money buying photography equipment, books, magazines and imaging software for your computer such as Photoshop and Lightroom . At some point the quality of the images you are producing has reached a certain standard and you slowly start thinking to yourself something along the lines:

“Hmmm…it would be nice to do something with all these images, perhaps make some money from them, I wonder how I could do this?”

There are many ways of making money from your photos, but probably the single most popular way to make money from your images is called microstock.

This market has expanded rapidly in recent years with the advent of digital photography and in particular with the advent of affordable prosumer level DLSR camera models. However even entry level DLSRs like the Canon EOS Rebel T1i or the Nikon D90 are easily capable of producing image files perfectly suitable for stock submissions.

So what is microstock?

In brief microstock is based on the concept of selling stock photos for a low price (usually just a few dollars) with the expectation that if the images are cheaper then more people will also buy them. This is in contrast to the more traditional stock photography market where images are typically licensed at much higher prices. What is particularly interesting about the microstock market is that it has opened up some interesting opportunities for serious amateur photographers to make money from their images by uploading their work and sell it to a large audience of buyers. Some will even say the microstock market allows the amateur photographer to compete directly against the professional photographer.

So can you really make money from microstock?

Well, first of all I must be absolutely clear and state that I’m not currently participating in the microstock market myself, so I have no personal experience with microstock, but I do follow the developments within the microstock market and I think it’s fair to say that there are definitely a lot of photographers making money in microstock. Of course the amount of money you can make will depend on your input. As with almost anything what you get out of microstock will depend on what you put in.

Take my fellow Dane Yuri Arcurs as an example - he is widely reported on the internet as one of the world’s top selling microstock photographers with sales of more than one million individual licenses per year which is impressive to say the least! Clearly this would earn him a decent annual income. To reach that level of success you will obviously have to be both very effecient and very dedicated with regards to your input, but it proves that it’s possible to make good money in the microstock market. 

Of course the average amateur photographer will not make as much money in the microstock market as Yuri Arcurs, but if you’re consistent with your input you will also get some output and you can earn some money which can help cover some of the cost of your photography equipment etc.

Here are five quick tips that might help you succeed in the microstock market:

1. Shoot Lots of Pictures

The more you shoot the better you will get at creating your images and the more ‘keepers’ you will ultimately have.

2. Be Ruthless When You Edit Your Own Images

Just because the images are being sold at lower prices doesn’t mean you can compromise on quality. If you take a look at some of the work on the microstock sites mentioned below you will notice that the images on these sites are all of high quality.

3. You Don’t Need the Latest and Greatest Camera

As mentioned above entry level DSLRs like the Canon EOS Rebel T1i or the Nikon D90 are just fine for microstock photos. You don’t have to have the latest and greatest camera or lens. Instead focus on being creative with your ideas and concepts and execute these to a high standard with the gear that you have.

4. Stock Photography is Different

Stock photography is different than shooting fine art or just personal work. You have to think commercially and in concepts. How will your photograph be used? In a web page, a magazine spread, or an advertisement etc? Will negative space be required for text? Your image should convey a clear message.

5. Know Your Competition

Know your competition (other photographers) and look at what type of images are already on the microstock site you sign up with. Are there concepts you can illustrate better or differently? Are there concepts you have in mind but cannot see being represented very well or at all?I’m not really for or against microstock (and this can be a really heated debate). As mentioned I’m not currently uploading my work to any microstock websites although I’m considering it. One thing seems certain though, microstock is here to stay. The market for selling and buying images has changed dramatically in recent years and the price for stock photos has been driven down as a result of this significant market shift. My prediction is that this trend will continue in the years ahead.

So if you want to make some money from your images why not consider getting involved with the microstock market now and see where it takes you? If you’re really good you could end up selling over one million licenses per year! Give it a go…

Here are some microstock websites you might consider joining as a contributor:

Shutterstock

Dreamstime

Pixmac

BigStockPhoto

and if you join multiple microstock agencies you might also want to take a look at ProStockMaster which allows you to post stock images and entire folders to multiple agencies, in one click!

Good luck sellling your images!

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