Selling for Stock Photography

[swwack91]

I've got some excellent, print quality photos that I'd like to sell as stock photographs.

As photographers, which sites do you suggest as being reputable?

Also, do most stock photography resellers/databanks/whatevers pay a flat rate for the photo or give the photographer cuts from each sale?

 

[grafikat]

I've only had experience with istockphoto, which is good for the beginner and/or for photos that get rejected by the larger houses like corbus, getty or jupiter.

I'm sure some more experienced folks will stop by with better info.

 

[Blue Velvet]

Snap. You could dip your toe into the water at http://www.istockphoto.com

http://www.istockphoto.com/introduction_photographer.php

 

[swwack91]

what about getting photos in print?

like in a photo store that sells wall-photo sized art to be framed?

how would i go about getting into a catalogue or something along those lines?

 

[seenew]

I'd like to see your work.

 

[Clix Pix]

Not to burst your bubble, but most of the professional stock agencies have specific requirements in terms of equipment, resolution, etc...... A DSLR with excellent lenses and decent resolution is a MUST.

As has been suggested, try istockphoto.com first.....

 

[redrabbit]

Not sure if the shots you took were with the "Panasonic Lumix FZ7 Camera" in your signature, but I don't think stock photog companies would be interested in photos taken by that camera.

 

[srf4real]

It's worth a shot - I have some photos taken with the Panasonic Lumix FZ50 that hold their own compared to a dSLR... but bigger resolution is better money. And the noise factor/ image clarity would rule out most images from any p+s available at this time. Point in case: the images from my 7.5 megapixel Pansonic L1 blow away anything the FZ50 can do with 10 megapixels! Better sensor, superior lenses. Gotta sell some pictures just to pay for it, tho.

 

[ChrisA]

what about getting photos in print?

like in a photo store that sells wall-photo sized art to be framed?

how would i go about getting into a catalogue or something along those lines?

The way you make money in stock photography is to have thousands of images. Basically you get pocket change when one of your iimages is used. But if that happens a few thousand times it adds up. The trick is to shoot the images that sell. These tend to be people (modles) in profesinal situations, Medical people, bussines people. Construction workers, package delivery,... all with model releases. And, they need to be in a style that people want. Many times you have to compose in a way that let's the end user have a place to pt text over the image.

I think a lot of those cheap prints you see are just stock photos. The higher priced fine art photos, I think, are sold much like other fine art.

 

[Doylem]

Shooting stock is not the easy option. And folk who think a picture library is somewhere to park second-rate images will either have their work rejected... or find that it doesn't sell. There's some good photographers out there, who can shoot large quantities of saleable pix, and who know the potential markets inside-out.