StockPhotography, Digital Cameras & Making Money

You perhaps already know that there are really only a couple of principle ways of making money from photography. In fact, there are only two. There's Assignment Photography and Stock Photography - both are lucrative if they are handled correctly and professionally. Assignment photography is based on you taking pictures at a predetermined function or event. Stock photography however, is based on you taking the pictures and hoping that someone will buy them later. Remember, this is in principle only. There are ways to ensure that you do in fact sell stock photography. More on that later. It's true that stock photography demand a lower price in general but they have a wider audience and base. Their sales can also be ongoing.

There are Stock Libraries all over the internet which are keen on being the agent between the photographer and the buyer. The system is pretty much the same between most of them except for a few. You take a clever picture, they post them on their highly visited sites and 'on sell' them to agents, production houses, designers, advertising, publishers etc. This is a highly popular vehicle and has grown tremdously over the last decade. This manner or niche of photography has many benefits including when you are just starting your photography business part time or looking for some compounding income so that you may one day move into your planned business. The list goes on.

This way of marketing photographs has more distinct advantages, if you are a part time freelancer, or have just started your own business. Either way you are probably too busy making portfolios, and taking pictures to market them. Another factor, which makes this method of marketing advantageous, is that when you are starting you do not have the network of contacts to market your photographs. Added to that there are some people who won?t or can?t perfect their marketing skills.

A downside of this marketing method is that there is a little more to it than taking photographs and waiting for the Royalty cheques to come in. Most stock libraries, will want to re-caption your pictures to fit in with their image, this can be a time consuming process and it can take months to get them online. However, you can avoid these stock houses and work with those who have better systems too. Like many aspects of selling it is a ?numbers game?, the more photographs you have available to sell the more you are likely to sell. This is a fairly general aspect of marketing, but it is more specific in this instance, as prospective buyers may look at other images, if they like one particular one. Because of the time factor of getting your work to the buyers or the public, many stock libraries, have insisted on a minimum contract, which means that they typically ask to retain your work for a minimum of two years.

Some of the stock libraries are general and some are more specific. Marine Themes obviously specialise in underwater photography, and they scan and correct all their images before sale. They are then color corrected to ensure that any prints will be the best quality. All this takes time, to get the images actually for sale on the Internet. The benefit is that marine photography is highly specialised, and this process does increase your chances to merchandise your work.

In the past the market was limited to buyers who were sent colour brochures and made their selection from them, now the market is expanding, as many libraries have widened their sales base by allowing customer?s to make their purchases directly on line. This factor alone has increased the numbers game the more people who have access, the more who are likely to buy. Some stock libraries are general and some are highly specific such as South African images. Some cover specialist areas such as marine photography, or nature.

So how do you choose the stock library that will be the most beneficial to you? There are independent reports covering the various strengths and weaknesses. The annual Freelance Photographer's Market Handbook in the UK features a section on stock libraries and is an excellent reference guide. Some of the stock libraries have been established for ten years. They have hundreds of photographer?s and hundreds of thousands of images. As a result of this they may be reluctant to take on new clients. However if you have a large portfolio available immediately it may be worth trying one of the older companies. However you will be competing with established photographers who have built up a client base. Many of the new companies have less than a hundred photographers and you will start by being a bigger fish in a smaller pond. However, I will soon show you a good way to beat the bigger fish if you so choose - stay with me!

At the end of the day, the choice has to be your personal decision, and there is nothing to stop you from registering with more than one library. Whilst the market is growing and will continue to grow to encompass on line sales, remember to consider that sales from a printed catalogue will be important for a while, and it may be advantageous for you to choose a library with a well referenced catalogue.

Many stock library have different terms and conditions. In general most give you a straight 50% of the earnings. However some do let the images go into the hands of ?sub agents?, and they will expect an additional cut from any sales. Read your contract well before you sign and beware of copyright issues. Normally when the photograph is sold the buyer is issued with a license number, which only allows them to use the image the once. You minimise your royalties if you allow a buyer to pay once and then get multiple uses out of it.

All in all if you are prepared to look at your market strategy over a long period of time, stock libraries offer you an option. There are forums for professional photographers that do address the issue, and it may be worth you looking into othe peoples style and work. In a second, I will show you where you can get some great information on making good money with your digital camera related to all of this.

There are also available a huge number of royalty free sites. You may question why buyer?s would consider paying for an image whilst they can obtain other?s free? The answer here is that royalty free photographs don?t make them free, you do purchase them, but you have the rights to re-use the stock photos and CDs for as many different projects and clients as you choose without paying additional licensing fees.

Article courtesy of Roy Barker who has supplied you access here to cash from your camera or if that link is inactive try http://photography-business-tips.com/2007/02/28/stockphotography-digital-cameras-making-money/

Where To Find Free Stock Photography, Clip Art, And Other Graphics For Your Web Site

MorgueFile

The name "MorgueFile" refers to a popular newspaper business term that describes a file that holds past issues flats. Here you can have access to a sizeable database of downloadable images, without the need to even register. Pictures are grouped into several categories. Just click on what you want, and thumbnails of the selections pop up for easy browsing. You can even give a little something back by submitting your own pictures, although you will have to register for that. Chat rooms and forums provide a community of people to ask if you need some advice. An online store of books, computers, and cameras round out the package. A highly recommended site for bloggers and web designers alike.

Webweaver's Free Clipart

Clip arts are tiny illustrations that can help to get your message across. With these little pictures, a website can look alive and full of activity, catching the attention of anyone who just happens to be passing by. For web designing newbies, Webweaver's Free Clip art is a good place to start browsing for these webpage ornaments. Just like the MorgueFile, images from this site can be used for free, with no copyright or usage rights to worry about. The clip arts are in sets of well planned categories, and finding the images you want is easy. There are Christmas and New Year clip arts, as well as most other major holidays. Cliparts for entertainment, animals and nature are also available, though the size of their selections can be inadequate. Good thing they accept submissions, too. Though some of the clip art seems outdated, there's enough here to justify a visit.

Adsen Favicon

See that little icon on the address bar on top of the webpage? That's a Favicon, and if you ever wondered how you can change that into something that's more to your liking, then Adsen FavIcon is the program for you. It is a simple editor that can convert a GIF, JPEG, or PNG into a favicon.ico file. When done the image shows up on IE's favorites list. It works with other browsers as well, such as Firefox and Opera.

Daily Clip Art

Every day, Daily Clip Art (www.dailyclipart.net) adds one or two new pieces of clip art. It doesn't sound like much, but over a period of months they've built up an impressive library of colorful and fun clip art on a wide variety of topics. The images there include animal clip art, music clip art, sports clip art, and much more. Every image is available for free use. Or, you can pay $4 for a hi-resolution version of any image.

Making sure that everything corresponds to a central idea goes a long way to establishing a website's professional feel. To do that, you need just the right images and design to make everything feel whole. Free image archives and simple image editors can certainly help you make everything look just right.

Kevin Savetz is creator of www.FreeForYourSite.com, a blog that covers free webmaster tools including SEO tools, keyword tools, graphics utilities, and more. All of the utilities mentioned in this article are linked in the web site graphics category at FreeForYourSite.

Stock Photography

Today when it comes to finding the right kind of stock photography which you can then use as part of your advertising campaign or website design there are plenty of places where you can find the right ones for you. No longer are you restricted to finding an agency close to where you live to provide you with the photographs that you want a quick search of the internet will bring up a whole list of agencies around the world.

As you will soon discover once you start looking more closely at what these agencies have to offer they will all provide you with a system that makes it very easy for you to search and find what you want. Most will have their photographs divided up into various different categories and so if you know exactly what it is you are looking for within a matter of minutes you will find what it is you want. But if you are unsure they will also have search facilities available that allow you to search by selected keywords, types of image as well as what the options are in relation to the licences on the photographs.

When it comes to the licences that are placed on these photographs you will have to choose between either rights managed, released, non exclusive, exclusive and royalty free ones. With the rights managed images or photographs you will be required to pay the agency a fee which then entitles you to use them for a set period of time and for every time that you use them. Therefore if you are looking to use the same photograph in both a brochure as well as part of a print advertising campaign then you will be required to pay the agency 2 fees as this counts as you using the same photograph or image twice.

As for released images these are photographs which the owner of the image has signed a release and so making them available for licensing through which ever stock photograph agency has them. If you choose to use these kinds of images or photographs you need to make sure that they are released or you may have to end up trying to contact the owner of the image to see if they will release them to you.

The final kind of stock photography images that we are going to be looking at now are those known as Royalty Free ones. These are the kinds of images where you do not have to pay a usage charge every time that you choose to use them. Instead once you have paid the initial fee then you are licensed to be able to use them as many times as you want for as long as you want. But be warned unlike the other methods mentioned above with these you do not have sole and exclusive rights to use them and so they can still be used by others. Also it is important to note that although you hold a licence to use these stock photographs you do not have the right to then sell them on to others.

P Abbey owns and operates http://www.imagebankguide.com/stockphotography.html - Stock Photography

Are You Looking to Sell Your Photos as Stock Photography?

There are a number of sites that accept photos to sell as stock, ranging from microstock sites that accept amateur photographers to the big-name players in the industry. Stock photography can be very rewarding if your pictures are the type they need. This is not the same as setting up a photo gallery - stock houses don't want another sunset picture or a shot of your backyard rose bush.

It's important to read all the instructions for submitting your photos. Most sites have a minimum resolution requirement and list the subject matter they are looking for. And most require model releases and possibly even property releases. If you're looking to start making some $$$ for your photos, here are a number of sites to try.

Microstock Sites

Shutterstock - this is a subscription based stock site. It is free to submit photos, however users pay a monthly membership fee. The payout is $.0.25 for each photo download. Because this is a monthly fee, users will typically download multiple photos per month. Shutterstock is also now accepting Video Footage, with a payout of 30% of the purchase price which typically ranges from $69 to $199.

Dreamstime - this site has a generous compensation model. Purchases by users are done on a credit model, with a small photo (800x600) selling for 1 credit - up to a very large 8MP+ file selling for 4 credits. Photographers earn 50% of the sale - 60% if the image is exclusive to Dreamstime. There is also a sliding increasing scale based on the number of total downloads you have as a photographer. So as a beginner selling the smallest size photo, the payout starts at $0.50 and can range all the way to $4.80 per image for an exclusive 8MP+ photo. Definitely check these guys out if you are serious about selling your photos!

Fotolia - this is another credit based site, with the photographer payout starting at 33% for a non-exclusive photo. Currently 1 credit = $1.00, and Fotolia also has a increasing scale for number of files sold. The photographer has some control on setting the price for the image based on the file size and their overall ranking. At the top range for a 15MP+ photo the maximum selling price can be 100 credits for an exclusive photo - with a payout of 64%. This is a strong contender in the microstock industry and well worth a look.

While it may be difficult for amateur photographers to break into the world of stock photography, microstock sites like the ones above provide a good opportunity to start making money with your photos. If you want to make money with a hobby you love, these sites could provide your start!

Be sure to visit Shutterbug Source for more great photography tips, techniques and resources

An Overview On Stock Photography

One way that photographers share their work with the world is through stock photography. The average person may wonder what exactly stock photography is. Stock photography is when photographs are shared with licensing attached.

Anyone can use it, but in order to do that, understanding of all the legal aspects is critical in order to avoid being sued.

Stock photography has been around for a long time. According to wikipedia.org, H. Armstrong Roberts started the first agency for this type of photography in 1920, and the company is still going strong today under the name Robert Stock. For years, photography stock was composed of "outtakes ("seconds") from commercial magazine assignments."

But, in the eighties, it had become unique, and photographers began making photographs just for photo sharing. Today several online photography stock houses exist, but before being used, the legal terms and aspects must be completely understood in order to avoid being sued.

One type of stock photography is royalty-free. This does not mean that the photograph can be used for free. What royalty-free means is that in order to use a specific picture, a photo buyer pays a one time fee to use the picture many times for a multitude of purposes within certain guidelines. Usually a time limit does not exist as to when the image can be used.

However, a royalty-free image does have a limit on exactly how many times the photograph can be reproduced. All of these restrictions will depend exactly on the contract that is decided upon.

One thing to consider with stock photography regarding royalty-free is that exclusive rights are non-existent. If a publication wants to be unique from the others, than royalty-free images are not the way to go. The best bet for uniqueness is to have an photographer on staff.

Stock photography has another kind called rights-managed that is sometimes difficult to understand. Rights-managed photography stock is when an image is negotiated exclusively for a certain allotted time frame.

During this time frame, no one else will be able to use that particular image for any reason. How long that this will go on will depend on the contract negotiations that are made for the image.

Because of online photography sharing, it has become readily accessible for all to use. Some agencies allow for images to be used for free, and others are based on contracts for their photography gallery.

Photojournalism uses it regularly, but the in's and outs of the business must be fully understood to take advantage of all of the images that are flooding the market.

Whether or not to use rights-managed or royalty-free images will depend on what can be negotiated within a contract, and the legalities can get sticky.

Before using stock photography, make sure that research is done in order to avoid any lawsuits that will ultimately take away from any profit of the images used.

The art of digital photography brings great memories to anyone. Browse to Mike Selvon portal to find out more about stock photography

We greatly appreciate your feedback at our photography blog.

Selling Stock Photography - How To Be Clever And Profit

Online marketers (info-preneurs) often talk about just how important it is to find what the market wants, then sell them what they want. In other words, find out what people really want, and then provide the solution. I've no doubt that this approach will work just as well with selling stock photography.

Let's say you've created a hundred photos that, although they make great eye candy and tell a unique (photo) story, no stock agency wants. They may have said we have too many of this type of images already, and have their reasons. At this point you can choose to see this as a learning experience and try a new approach, or continue creating similar stock photography that you hope will be accepted, one day.

However, I'm sure you'd agree, it's better to work smarter than harder. This means that with stock photography you'll need to get flexible and bend your creativity a little, perhaps shaping it towards a more profitable approach. And the good news is that this is very do-able. After all, you are in charge with what the camera sees and what it doesn't. You decide on what pictures you want to take.

So, maybe it's obvious, but if you want to sell more stock photos, find out what the stock agencies want (and need). Believe me, they'll tell you. Most, if not all, of the stock agencies or micro stock agencies out there will have a 'needs list or wants list' at their website. Make that your first destination. Be diligent in your research and you will have better success selling stock photography.

Your next step would be to create a theme of photographic work that's tailored exactly to the stock photo agencies needs and wants and then submit these specific images to them. Obviously there'll be themes that you won't be able to shoot, but there will be some that will fit well with your own lifestyle, environment, location and photo style. This should increase your chances of making photo sales.

A quick search on a few stock photo agencies web sites revealed that they are keen for photographers to "...provide something more unusual, or sought after... and it might make the most downloaded page." In other words, don't create photographs too similar to every other photographer. Just make sure your unique, individual style makes your images stand out, and at the same time be aware of what the stock agency really needs.

Another simple way to realize selling stock photography success is by going to photo agency or stock libraries web sites and looking at what types of images they have, promote, use and sell... often. You're looking for the type, and styles of images that they prefer. Is there certain image themes that get downloaded (sold) often? What styles seem to sell regularly?

Check to see if there are images similar to what you create, or check the downloads section... the micro stock sites will usually show you how many times an image has been downloaded... of course, the more the better, that means it's more popular (more money for the photographer). And then you can ask yourself "can I create images similar to this...?"

Being honest with yourself and your abilities as a photographer is important... It's a huge time decision to submit images to stock photo web sites... you really do need to ask yourself how likely will it be that I can make sales through this website? And also, is it the best use of my images and time?

If you can stay open minded about what themes you shoot (especially with the great flexibility of shooting digital photography), and focus on moulding your passion into 'what the market wants' then you might find that your unique little approach to selling stock photography keeps photo buyers happy and you in profit. Go for it.

Martin Hurley, the Selling Photographs Online dude is an unconventional modern day artist and photographer who helps people uncover their inner talents and passions... and make money from taking photos! Why not start selling your photos online? Visit now to get powerful tips, ideas and secrets and sign up to my free ezine. Get the full story about Selling Stock Photography here.

How to Make Money Online With Stock Photography

One time-honored way of making money from photography is by the use of stock photography. More often than not, this meant only film photography, however at this time; digital photographers can license their work in this manner as well. Stock photography is photographs that can be licensed and then used for exclusive reasons.

Many people use stock photography, since it is faster and more inexpensive than hiring a photographer to take exclusive pictures. Many creative professions use stock photographs, such as ad agencies, graphic artists and web designers as well as filmmakers and publishers, although this is not a total list as there are many other businesses also use stock photos.

A collection of stock photography may also be called image banks or photo banks and photo archives as well as picture libraries.

Where do you and your digital photography service fit in to all of this?

Well, photo banks are in desperate need of good photographs. They will license from photographers just like you, the digital photography that they hold in interested. You will have a good many hits while searching on Google for one of the terms mentioned above.

You should understand these three terms when you license your photos with a photo bank.

1. Royalty Free

When using a Royalty Free agreement the photographer is able to sell the image as many times as you wish. The user pays a one-time fee and then uses the photo as many times and for many purposes, according to their needs. A Royalty Free license normally will specify the number of times the image can be legally reproduced by the buyer.

The print run is what is known as the number of copies and if the buyer makes more copies that the print run they then pay an additional fee for the use of each copy. Therefore, those who have large print runs such as magazine publishes do not use Royalty Free images.

2. Rights-managed

Rights-managed is also known as licensed images. With this typo of agreement, the buyer may or may not have the exclusive rights to the particular image. However, the licensing terms will negotiate its exclusivity.

Each time the photo is used the buyer pays for the privilege. However there is a time limit place on the image licenses of rights-managed photographs, this means that if exclusivity was part of the negotiations, the photograph can be resold upon expiration of the time limit but never before. The geographic location and length as well as distribution and exclusivity determine the applicable fee.

3. Editorial

Editorial is a term that refers to subjects within the photos and whether or not they need a special release to be shown. Only for news or educational purposes can the photographs be shown without a release from the subjects therein. On the other hand, a signed release will give allowance of using the photograph for display with controversial material as well as in advertising.

It should be noted that stock photography licensing has become somewhat complex with the use of digitization. Special licensing agreements must be reached for a stock image to be used on an electronic product that can be copied or even used on a website. A lawyer who is versed and licensed in entertainment or copyright can be of aid if you are planning to offer your digital photography as stock photos.

No matter if stock photographers practice digital photography or film, the Stock Artists Alliance is a worldwide organization that protects their rights.

John Renolds is a Photopreneur that shares his strategies for generating different sources of income with digital photography at his blog... To learn how you too can turn your love for photography into a money making home business, check out John's blog now at http://photopreneurblog.com