Good smartphone cameras have become extremely accessible. They are always at your fingertips to capture meaningful moments and appealing scenery. Undoubtedly, your phone gallery is full of eye-catching shots worth presenting to a broad audience.
Aspiring photographers can sell their shots on specialized websites and get a passive income. You just need to understand basic photography principles, take pictures, and upload them to popular stock platforms. Keep reading this article to learn more about selling your artwork on stock photography marketplaces.
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Can Beginner Photographers Sell Their Visuals As Stock Photos?
The stock photography industry is accessible to aspiring content creators. Numerous web sources have minimal requirements for collaboration. You can even capture stock images for sale on your smartphone camera without using professional equipment.
However, you should be familiar with principal photography techniques to be successful in this field. Your selected sceneries also play a crucial role. The more users buy your files, the higher your profit.
5 Tips To Remember When Selling Photos On Stock Sites
A lot of pro-skilled photographers sell their work on content marketplaces. Amateur creators need to stand out from competitors to increase their earnings. Here are some tips to better market your photos on stocks:
1. Monitor Your Image Quality
Although most stock content platforms do not have strict photo requirements, you should make your visuals appealing. After all, customers buy content that fits their commercial tasks. Make sure your photos have high resolution and eye-catching compositions.
2. Post-process Your Photos
Even when captured with professional equipment, images can have noise or blur. You can quickly fix imperfections in your visuals using editing software. Post-processing also increases your chances of successfully passing stock site examinations.
3. Capture Understandable and Simple Scenes
Beginner photographers frequently try to capture extraordinary shots to show their skills. However, your target audience is often commercial organizations. They seek simple scenes which can accurately demonstrate their product value. For example, photos of food or smiling people are generally in demand.
4. Explore the Most Demanded Topics
Each stock content marketplace customer has different goals. Generally, platforms provide user-friendly statistical tools allowing creators to monitor demand. Make sure you use every possibility to get good selling results.
5. Create a Diverse Portfolio
Some images can lose their relevance, as users shift their preferences over time. Creating an extensive collection of uploaded images boosts your chances of attracting and selling to more customers. People appreciate it when there’s a lot to choose from. The more files you add, the greater your passive income probability will be.
Where to Sell Stock Photos
Photographers can choose to sell their work on different stock content marketplaces. These platforms can be divided into two types: macrostocks and microstocks.
Macrostocks
Macrostocks are platforms providing exclusive content. They collaborate with professional photographers and introduce strict requirements to their contributors. You need to be proficient in photography to start selling your work on macrostocks.
Microstocks
Microstocks are platforms offering high-quality content for an unlimited number of users. For example, several customers can buy and utilize the same picture for numerous purposes. Microstocks have minimal requirements for their contributors, therefore, being suitable for beginners.
Top Beginner-friendly Photo Stocks To Sell Your Images
1. Depositphotos
Depositphotos is one of the most popular marketplaces for selling stock photos. Around 100,000 contributors from 173 countries collaborate with the platform, making regular monthly profits. Browsing depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html, you can study the royalty-free content available and learn what photos are in demand.
The library also features HD vectors, illustrations, clip art, icon sets, videos, music tracks, and sound effects. This means customers can find various files needed for their projects in one place.
Depositphotos has simple requirements for its contributors. You must be at least 18 years old, be the author of your uploaded content, and have the necessary documentation proving the files can be legally displayed and sold (e.g., property and model releases).
To become a Depositphotos contributor, you must upload up to five of your best images to pass a brief examination test. Photos must fit into technical specifications—JPEG or JPG format files with RGB color space and a minimum resolution of 3.8 MP.
2. Dreamstime
Dreamstime is an international stock content marketplace that allows you to sell your photographs. You can also upload vectors, illustrations, videos, and music to the library. To become a Dreamstime contributor, you must upload high-quality content. Your visuals shouldn’t have excess noise, poor lighting, pixelation, or over-filtered scenes.
The platform admins check each file for compliance with the requirements. Accepted photos and detailed statistics are available in your contributor account. If your photos are declined, you will get a detailed rejection explanation in your email.
On Dreamstime, you can upload photos with RGB color space in JPEG format weighing up to 1 GB. The stock content marketplace accepts files with a minimal size of 3 MP.
3. Alamy
Alamy is a large stock content library cooperating with 60,000 contributors all over the world. The platform features photos, panoramic images, vectors, and videos.
To become an Alamy contributor, you should pass the Quality Control Test. The exam implies uploading your best works on the platform for review. You must have basic photography skills to complete quality control successfully. After passing the registration, Alamy provides a user-friendly personal account where you can view accepted photos and monitor sales statistics.
On Alamy, you can upload JPEG formatted files with a minimum size of 17 MB.
How To Upload Stock Photos On Content Marketplaces
Stock photo uploading procedures can differ depending on the platform. However, the general pattern includes the following:
- Visit a chosen stock content marketplace’s official website.
- Get acquainted with general cooperation terms set by the platform.
- Create your contributor account and upload your best works for examination.
- Wait 5–7 days until your files are reviewed.
- Upload more files for sale, add descriptions and keywords, and wait for your first buyer.
Final Thought
Aspiring photographers can easily sell stock photos to make passive income. Regular smartphone cameras are capable of capturing eye-catching pictures, so you don’t have to buy professional equipment. Most online photo banks pose minimal quality requirements for the uploaded files.
To become a successful stock content creator, you need to understand basic photography principles and have a diverse portfolio of eye-catching images. Check out the platforms presented in this article to choose a popular, beginner-friendly stock site.
