Microstock Photography

Blair Howard - AIOP

Microstock - Nice Work if You Can Get It.

By Blair Howard

Someone, I can’t remember who it was, once described stock photography this way: “you throw your photographs into a large bin (the stock photo agency) and people looking for photographs to advertise their goods or websites come be and rummage through the bin until they find what they want” I don’t think I can say it better.

The image you see above sells steadily a couple of time a month on each of three microstock agencies.

I’ve been following the Microstock phenomenon now for maybe a couple of years. And I’ll reiterate, there’s absolutely no doubt that a lot of people are making real money in the MS industry. But is it really a viable way to earn an income?

Now I don’t have as much experience in the industry as Scott Benson does (see Scott’s article), but do know what it takes to succeed. I have tried it out for myself. Not to make a career out of it, but so that I can talk knowledgably about it. Did I give it a fair shot? I think so. As I write this I have images on three MS agencies and, considering the chronic lack of numbers, those I have up there do seem to be doing quite well.

Before we get into how you can make MS work fort, though, let’s talk a little bit about my results and what they mean. The numbers, small as they are, do tell a story.

I had heard, from several sources, that if you could upload ,say, 2,000 images to one of these sites, they would sell for a return of approximately $1.50 per image per month. My initial thinking was that such a sum seemed to be a ridiculously low return for my images. But then I did the math and came up with a figure that if my calculations were correct, the said 2,000 images would bring in $3,000 per month, and that figure would continue to grow as new images were added to the bin, whoops, sorry, stock.

So I set some goals. I figured if I could upload 500 a month I would have my 2,000 in about four months and I could sit back and take it easy. And that is where things began to fall apart. I soon found I didn’t have the time to spare and so it just wasn’t possible for me to upload 500 images a month. For someone with time enough to spare, though….

So, here’s what I did: I decided to treat the whole thing as an academic exercise. Over a period of a couple of months I uploaded 42 images to Istockphoto and then I quit – I just didn’t have the time to do any more. Over the past four months at Istock those 42 images produced 112 downloads for a grand total of $88.60. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? But hang on a minute.

At Dreamstime I have a few more opportunities, I think about 80 images all uploaded at the same time as those at Istock – downloads = 60 plus for $48 and change.

At Fotolia I have the most images, almost 100 – the sales: dismal – Less than $25.

As I said, the numbers do speak for themselves. If I had 2,000 images on Istock I would be making some serious money, there’s no doubt about it.

Now, bear in mind that I uploaded THE SAME IMAGES to all three agencies – I wanted to see how differently they would perform. Ok, if you add up my total earnings you come up with about $161 over a four-month period. So let’s go back to the idea that we have 2,000 images working for us. What could we expect using my own numbers? Istock would be producing something like $1,000 per month. The same number at Dreamstime would produce about half that much. Fotolia? Forget it, it’s not worth the effort.

This image of the Alamo has sold 11 times and has been turned into 100,000 postcards

Now, considering that it didn’t take too much time and effort to get this thing working, I think the return is quite good. I do think that you need more than 2,000 images to make a significant income, but there’s no doubt it can be done.

How about this scenario? Upload, over a period of a year, 500 images per month. That would give you a portfolio of some 6,000 photographs. The income then would be significant and the project could easily turn into a full-time career.

This image of the 17th Green at TPC Sawgrass was downloaded 7 times within 24 hours of it being uploaded.

Consider this email I received from someone who’s making a full-time career from Microstock. It came in response to my question: is it worthwhile and can you make real money?

“For sure mate, I would think I am one of the bottom feeders for the guys making a living from stock, I know some of the other figures, and a few basic calculations confirms it's accuracy...

As for myself, this is all I do. It pays my new SUV, my apartment, my kit and upgrades, insuruance, medical, the whole shebang.

My growth has been systematic with three months standing out as non-growth (Dec05, and Nov, Dec06) but, three months over the last few years, isn't bad in my book.

Currently I have about 4000+ images online (give or take a few on the various sites) and my average upload+acceptance rate remains at about 5 images per day.

All things being equal (yeah... right!) in a perfect world the math is wrong in the time it takes to earn the money. Most people seem to forget that it's not once off sales.

So, if it takes you 1000 hours to get a salary, it means it can take you 20 hours to sustain and grow the salary.

A little calculation some time ago indicated that we (my wife and I) have spent just under two hours a day on stock over the last 25 months (that is some days we put in 16 hours, and other days, nothing)

So yes. If I put in a full workday, every day, like the bigger earners, I would double my income before the year is out.”

Not bad for someone who considers himself “one of the bottomfeeders.” And I do know there are dozens of people making in excess of 1k per week. Yes, it can be done, and the rewards can be significant. There are, however, a few things you need to consider.

This image continues to sell a couple of times per month.

First, I do believe, after browsing the pages at Istock, that almost anyone with the required skills can make a living in the Microstock industry.

Second, anyone who wants to get into Microstock is a serious way must know how to produce SALABLE images consistently and to order (if not the rate of rejection will be prohibitive). That means perfect focus, perfect composition, and perfect exposure EVERY TIME. Now that’s something that not everyone knows how to do, but it can be learned.

So, what do you think? Is Microstock for you? It seems to me to be a great way to make a living doing something we all love to do, right. It would certainly be a great way to add to retirement. And then think of the traveling you’d get to do hunting photographs.

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