"How To Earn Money By Uploading Photos"
What is Stock Photography?
Stock photography refers to photographs that can be licensed for either public or commercial use. They can usually be found on professional stock photography sites. Stock photographs can be used for many purposes such as marketing, advertising, web designs, graphic designs and so on. Rather than hiring a professional photographer to take photos, many advertising companies, graphic designers, web designers, and other professionals frequently use stock photographs.
There are different types of stock photography licenses. When you purchase a “royalty free“ license, you have the permission to produce the image a limited number of times for a fixed price. To use the image beyond the permitted number, you have to pay a certain amount for each additional usage. With royalty free stock photography, you are not the only owner of the image. It can be purchased and used by multiple buyers, so one photo may appear in numerous ads or brochures. Royalty free images are priced as low as $0.1.
When you buy a “rights managed“ stock photography license, you must pay for each use of the image, and the fees can be much higher than those for royalty free images. It might even cost thousands of dollars. However, with a rights managed license, the buyer has exclusive possession of the image for a certain period of time, generally one year. During this time, no one else can use the image for any purpose, and the photographer does not have the right to resell the photo until the rights managed license has expired.
Today, many photographers take photos exclusively for the purpose of stock photography. If a photographer has a large portfolio of stock photos, he can earn several thousands of dollars a month uploading photos online to stock photography sites even if he does not add new photos on a regular basis. Many stock photo sites keep an option for contributors to become exclusive if they want. An exclusive contributor should sell royalty free images only through the particular website. He can however sell rights managed photos on other sites as well.
Below I have compiled a detailed list of the top 20+ Stock Photography sites where you can earn money online by uploading photos; the only thing you have to do is to upload good photos. This list is sorted by Alexa.com ranking so that the site which receives the highest traffic is listed first. I have also provided links to all sites so that you can join them with ease.
shutterstock.com
Stock Photography Sites where you can earn money online by uploading photos
"how to earn money"
The most visited stock photography site. Millions of people depend on iStockphoto for affordable prices and great quality. For becoming a contributor to istockphoto, you have to join as a member. Then you have to read the manual to learn the basics of stock photography and then take a quiz. After you pass the quiz, you will be asked to submit three of your sample images. Submit your best collections so that they don’t find it difficult to accept your application.
Royalty Rate: 15% to 20%
Exclusive Program: Yes (22% to 45%)
Minimum Payout: $100
File Format: JPG
Minimum Resolution: 1600 x 1200 pixels
shutterstock.com
Shutterstock is the largest subscription based photo agency in the world and probably the toughest stock photography site to get into but one of the highest paying once joined. To join as a contributor, initially you will need a valid form of identity, an International passport serves the purpose very well. As I am from India, I submitted my PAN (permanent account number) card, but was rejected by shutterstock.
Royalty Rate: 20% to 30% (depending on contributor’s lifetime earning)
Exclusive Program: No
Minimum Payout: $300 (cheque) or $75 (electronic payment)
File Format: JPG or TIFF
Minimum Resolution: 4.0 megapixels
Create a contributor account and start uploading. The more images you sell the higher your commission percentage gets.
Royalty Rate: 20% to 46%
Exclusive Program: Yes (35% to 63%)
Minimum Payout: 50 credits (paypal or moneybookers) or 500 credits (wire transfer) {credits can be converted into cash at the time of payout}
File Format: JPEG
Minimum Resolution: 2400 x 1600 pixels (4 megapixel)
A very easy to enter and photographer friendly site. 123rf is great for amateurs as well as pros. Just join as a contributor and upload your best shots. 123rf allows you to mark 5% of your portfolio of images as favorites and these images are given better search rankings. View my portfolio on 123rf.com.
Royalty Rate: 30% to 60%
Exclusive Program: Yes
Minimum Payout: PayPal $50; MoneyBookers $100; Cheque $200
File Format: JPG
Minimum Resolution: 6 megapixels
join 123rf.com now and start selling your images.
Dreamstime is a popular choice in stock photography and a marketplace of awesomely shot high quality digital images at very affordable prices. A new comer to stock photography will surely find dreamstime his first choice to display his photographic talents. As soon as your application is accepted, your files will be available for sale on dreamstime.
Royalty Rate: 25% to 50%
Exclusive Program: Yes (60%)
Minimum Payout: $100
File Format: JPG
Minimum Resolution: 3 megapixels
join dreamstime.com now and start selling your images.
And Other online earning sites
