In 2009 I finally got the confidence to take that next step in photography. I started with baby steps and started in October with submitting images to various microstock sites. In keeping with the theme of my blog I thought I would give you all some insight about these microstock sites.
Microstocks were first introduced by Bruce Livingstone, who created istockphoto. This site was originally a free photo stock site which grew rapidly. Livingstone sold istockphoto to Getty Images in 2006 for a reported 50 million dollars. Today the number of microstock sites continue to grow. A few of the larger ones include dreamstime, fotolio, bigstockphoto, shutterstock.
Microstocks are all fairly similar in submission and selection criteria. Most offer submissions via java enabled uploader and a easy HTML platform. Still other offer photographers that have large volumes of files to upload via file transfer protocol (ftp). Photos must meet certain file size requirements, usually 3MB. If you meet the file size requirement and successfully upload your photo you must enter keywords that describe your photo. These keywords are essential in getting your image seen. Once you have established your keywords, your images are submitted for a stringent review. If your images are approved your are set.
Here are a few of my portfolios for examples. While you are there if you see any thing you like feel free to purchase and use as you like.
Dreamstime Portfolio
Fotolio Portfolio
Big Stock Photo Portfolio
Thanks for looking and you too can get your images to be making money for you, just take that step outside your comfort zone and post some images. As for me, I am attempting to get the benchmark of 100 photos uploaded and accepted by June 2010. With any luck and some creative photography I may be abel to achieve this goal.
