Summary
- Stock photographers earn $0.02 per month per photo, while professionals earn $0.05–$0.25/month per photo.
- You can earn $0.10–$2.24/image for subscription-based purchases and up to $99.50 for on-demand.
- Stock photo agencies pay $0.32 per sale of a royalty-free license.
Can you really make money selling stock photography?
The average image can be sold to make you an average of $0.10 to $2.00 per sale depending on the license the buyer chooses, or which stock photo agency its sold on. The quality of your image will inherently affect the amount of sales you get, also buyers may opt to purchase a more expensive license for your image.
How many images do you need to sell a photo?
Mar 12, 2021 · How Much Do You Make Selling Stock Photos? 1. Per image sale. The stock photography industry is by its nature transactional. Stock photographers and digital... 2. Additional formats. Depending on the image type, you have the opportunity to upload additional formats. These could... 3. Extended ...
How much do you sell your photos for on 500px?
Feb 06, 2020 · Macrostock photography, also referred to as traditional stock photography describes agencies selling high-valued and exclusive images. These will license the individual photographs directly to a client and sell them for between $30-3000 annually. The owner of the photographs earns royalties from the images sold.
How much are your Instagram photos selling for?
Apr 29, 2022 · Best Places to Sell Your Photos Online. 1. Adobe Stock. Sell your photos online with Adobe Stock. Adobe Stock has the credibility of being the maker of the most popular photo editing ... 2. Shutterstock. 3. Foap. 4. Alamy. 5. iStock Photo (by Getty Images)
How much money can I make from stock photos?
How much should I sell stock photos for?
Is it worth selling photos on Shutterstock?
What photos sell the most?
- Single Photos Sell Better than Group Shots. This one really surprised us. ...
- Candid Photos Sell Better than Posed Shots. ...
- Wide Shots Sell Better than Closeups. ...
- Looking Away is Better than Facing the Camera. ...
- Unidentified Subjects Sell Better.
Pssst!
Want to dive even deeper? If you’ve read my monthly income reports then you already know that I haven’t added a single clip or photo to my portfolio since January this year, and yet I’m still making hundreds of dollars each and every month from photo and video sales. It’s the easiest money I’ve ever made.
Total Income from Photo Sales (in 2019 so far)
I’ll get right to it. Here’s what I have made so far this year from stock photography sales alone.
Stock Photo Sales in 2019
In case it’s hard to see, here are the total numbers for the year so far from each site:
Strategies to sell more stock photos
The short answer is both! Obviously, the more photos you have available for download, the better your odds are for success. Especially when you consider how many millions of stock photos are already out there. And there are some pretty good ones, I might add.
Best Selling Stock Photos
I thought it could be interesting to share a few of my best selling photos and how much they’ve each earned over the long haul.
Stock photography : Is it worth it?
Now that we’ve taken a thorough look at exactly how much money I make selling stock photos, let’s talk about whether or not it’s worth the time and energy.
Conclusions
If you don’t have the capacity to take stock video clips or if you have an abundance of great photos to upload, I don’t want to discourage you in any way. It’s all about what makes the most sense for you! If you can upload 1000+ photos and are happy with an extra $100 bucks from it each month then I say go for it.
What is stock photography?
Remember, stock photos are not meant to be an artistic expression. They are photos that are (usually) used to fill a commercial need. They're often used to portray a specific point or emotion, or to focus on a specific subject. Always keep this in mind when your camera is in your hands.
Does James make money from stock photos?
Yes, James started earning a small amount of income within a month of submitting stock photographs. But if you want to earn enough to make a dent, you're going to need to invest some time and energy.
Is stock photography passive income?
But don't be fooled: selling stock photography is not passive income . Unfortunately, you can't just keep uploading more and more photos, and see your income increase in line with your submissions. This is because, as more people upload competing photos to stock sites, you'll start to see your sales fall.
Is stock photography a competitive business?
Stock photography is a very competitive business with its rules, requirements, and style, so you have to take it seriously if you want to be successful. You will have to use a variety of instruments like in any other business.
What is a model release?
A standard model release is a legally enforceable document that passes all rights to the images from the model to the photographer and also passes on the right to modify any images that s/he appears in during the shoot.
What is pond5 video?
Pond5. Pond5 became the largest video footage seller by offering outstanding features to both contributors and sellers, e.g. contributors can set their own price and the payout is always 50% (that’s a pretty good cut). Pond5 is a great option to start earning money with your photos (and videos).
What is Michal's course?
This course helps you build a passive income with photos. Michal teaches you how to find profitable images and helps you navigate the dos and don’ts of selling photos online.
What is rights free image?
Rights-free images denote images that are free to be downloaded from a micro-stock website and used in any form deemed fit by the buyer. These images, however, have a non-exclusivity claus e and usually does not have a time limit for use.
What is photoworkout team?
The PhotoWorkout Team is always curious about the latest photography gear, post-processing software, up & coming photographers, and innovative ways to print your photos.
What is rights managed?
Rights-managed incorporates an exclusivity clause. These images are licensed based on a number of parameters, including but not limited to the type of use, geographical area, the number of print copies for the run and timeframe. These images are, however, not fit for unlimited usage.
Residual Income from Stock Photography!
Doing some initial work one time, can enable you to collect monthly payments for many years to come. Residual Income in terms of Stock Photography (or for purposes of this article) is income that you get periodically that does not require any work. This does not include the initial work of taking, and then placing the images online for sale.
Why is Residual Income Better?
The best part of residual income is that you can stop at any time, and the income keeps flowing as normal. The work you do is only to grow that monthly income, and not to keep it coming in (like would in a job). If you stopped working your sales may start to decline a little, but it should be very slowly.
How Much Can I Make?
Keep in mind that you can resell the same images many times, and also on different agencies as long as you don’t mark them as “exclusive” images. The average image can be sold to make you an average of $0.10 to $2.00 per sale depending on the license the buyer chooses, or which stock photo agency its sold on.
Is stock photography a good investment?
Overall, stock photography is a great investment for any serious amateur looking to earn some extra money. The important thing here is that it will take a lot of patience, dedication, and consistency to revel in the fruits that microstock agencies offer.
How to make your photos more marketable?
To make your photos more marketable, you need to offer something that end-users are looking for. Businesses, bloggers, and marketing agencies are the end users that determine what sells and what doesn’t.
What are keywords in photography?
Keywords are the basic way in which prospective clients find photographs to buy. As such, the appropriate keywords are pretty crucial if you expect a buyer to bump into your images.
How to make a photo gallery?
For example, you can do the following: 1 Optimize your images for faster loading times 2 Include video content from YouTube, Vimeo, or self-hosted galleries 3 Add watermarks and passwords to your work to prevent image theft 4 Organize your images into albums 5 Create automated sliders and slideshows 6 Add social sharing options 7 Enable hover effects and animation 8 And much more
How to sell your work on your website?
But the advantages of selling your work on your own website are: 1 You can set your own competitive prices. 2 Nobody else takes a cut from the sale of your work. 3 You have full control over how your work displays on your website. 4 You can define your own terms and conditions. 5 And, once again – you’re in full, total control.
How much of the world's population owns a smartphone?
Over 48% of the world’s population owns a smartphone, which means that essentially the same number of people now have access to the Internet. The Internet has made communication easier than ever before, united the whole world, and created the archetype of the information exchange. The Internet has also made it easier than ever for photographers all ...
What is Adobe stock?
Adobe Stock has the credibility of being the makers of the most popular photo editing software on the market. Plus, any photos you upload to the marketplace are easily accessible in other Adobe products.
Is Foap a profitable app?
Foap has been featured in ABC News as being a profitable app for photo selling. Users make 50% of the profits from it even when big brands, such as Sony and MasterCard buy their photos.
How many customers does Getty Images have?
Getty Images is one of the most popular names in the stock photo industry. With over 1.5 million customers in over 200 countries, large audiences around the world will see your photos.
How old do you have to be to be a contributor?
You must be over 18 and can only submit original images, videos, diagrams, or vectors to be a contributor. When your content has been accepted, you can opt to donate or license out your content. Exclusive images earn you money. Plus, you can track your earnings when a customer buys the rights to use your content.
What is Realistic to Earn from Stock Photography Today?
You can read my 2018 Stock Photography Earnings Report to have an idea of how much some random dude from nowhere can earn from stock photography in 2018. For short, my stock photography earnings in 2018 was approximately $1800. It is not much, but I’m happy with it. It covers my photography expenses and more.
Stock Photography 2019 Q1 Earnings
Like said, my 2019 stock photography earnings in the three of my best selling stock photo sites have been excellent so far. However, Alamy has performed poorly compared to others. Alamy is a very different site though as it is more or less midstock site and more concentrated on editorial images.
Conclusion
So what is realistic income from stock photography? Doing $200-$300 a month after 2,5 years and uploading 8 images in a week on average into 4 stock sites is pretty realistic in my opinion and I’m sure you can do better than that if you really have a heart for it.
